Open a Gateway Language Project
How to Open a Gateway Language Project
You can take on the challenge of adopting a Gateway Language, connecting with church leaders, building a team, and collaborating together to equip the church.
This is not for the faint of heart. But if you really want to make an immense impact toward the establishing of a mature church in every people group, with a trustworthy translation of the Bible in their own language, read on!
In order to achieve this objective, there are critical things you will need to understand just before jumping in. These are the steps we suggest taking:
- Learn – World missions in the 21st century is changing rapidly, becoming more scalable and effective. In order to understand how this affects and drives our strategy (and your involvement in it!), please read everything on our Strategic Overview page, as well as the Church-Centric Bible Translation website. (You may also find this video from a recent conference helpful.)
- Connect – Discuss what you are learning with others in your network who may be willing and interested in joining the movement, and pray together for God’s direction and for open doors. You will need to build a flexible, capable team that works together well.
- Do – Prayerfully choose a Gateway Language to focus on (the list is here). You will need to connect with leaders of the church in that region of the world to develop relationships and learn from them how you can collaborate together to equip every people group in that region with effective and unrestricted biblical resources.
Contact us with any questions, and let us know when you are ready to begin! We will connect you with others and do what we can to help.
In the News
Stories From the Field
Like nothing we've ever used
- August 05, 2024
Following an Open Bible Stories community check in Chad, the local imam made an astounding comment, declaring, “If any Muslim says that Jesus is not the savior, he is not a real Muslim, and he should ...
Like the man from Macedonia
- August 05, 2024
Greater Reach Alliance reports that Church-Centric Bible Translation gives them the tools they need to reach Muslims in Sudan. Like the man in the Apostle Paul’s dream calling for help in Macedonia, M...
The Market Evangelist
- August 23, 2024
Christian* slung his satchel over his shoulder, swung his leg over his bike, and pedaled off for another day of evangelism and outreach in the market. His faith and dedication to reaching his Chadian ...
Amazing Grace
- September 10, 2024
Grace,* married at age 14 and a mother of two soon after, suffered physical abuse, endured the humiliation of an unfaithful husband, and finally fled to save her life. Divorce forced her to the fringe...
The Angry Imam
- May 03, 2024
“It is dangerous for us to go,” said Stephen, “We cannot avoid the dangers, but when we think about what Jesus has done for us, we know that God will help us, and we are not afraid.” Stephen serves wi...
Progress Against the Odds
- July 09, 2024
In southern India, Hindu nationalists persecute Christian leaders. Families drive from their homes and villages their sons and daughters who convert to Christianity. Courageous evangelists continue pr...
New Believers in Iran
- April 08, 2024
Thanks to the first-ever translation of unfoldingWord® Open Bible Stories into another Iranian language, twenty people have come to Christ, and a new house church has been launched in Iran. While help...
Hope in harrowing times
- April 08, 2024
As the world worries over the horrific events in Israel and mullahs call for global jihad, a hopeful fact remains. The more Islamists promote jihad, the more average Muslims are open to the gospel. In...
Trust God and Get Going
- September 11, 2023
“God, this is your journey, your work. Please help us get out of here.” Let’s imagine that your family and close friends have a passing acquaintance with the message of Jesus, and some might even be b...
Critical Tools for Courageous Translators
- August 03, 2023
The global demand for Bible translation far exceeds the capacity of existing Bible translation agencies. Doing translation in dangerous places makes it doubly difficult. That’s why members of the illu...
Meesha's Story
- July 03, 2023
In the Republic of Iran, for the church to be planted, discipled, and grown, more than 60 people groups need a Bible translation in their own language. May was Iran’s bloodiest month in the last five...
UKRAINE: Bomb Shelter Bible Translation
- July 03, 2023
Ukrainian Great Commission partners are translating unfoldingWord’s suite of Bible translation tools to make God’s Word accessible to more than 540 languages spoken across the countries of the former ...
All 27 New Testament Book Packages Complete
- August 08, 2023
It used to take western experts at least 20 years to translate the New Testament into a Bible-less language. Now, every bilingual church-planting network has access to the open-license English tools t...
Making God's Word Accessible to Ordinary People
- September 11, 2023
Sofia Ivanov speaks on the impact of unfoldingWord’s Bible Translation tools Editor’s Note: Sofia Ivanov* is a project manager for unfoldingWord’s Eurasian Whole Bible, Whole Nation partner. Her thou...
Saved While Escaping
- October 02, 2023
“I was a terrible husband for the first fifteen years of our marriage. Every weekend, I would get drunk, abuse my wife, and ridicule her. We mistreated each other terribly,” said Siroos. “But God amaz...
Man on the Run
- July 03, 2023
Asim* serves on the Bible translation audio-video team for unfoldingWord’s Whole Bible, Whole Nation partner in Sudan. They use Bible translation as part of their church-planting strategy for 133 unre...
Ten Times Faster
- March 14, 2023
Imagine you are ordering a new internet connection or cable TV or maybe something new from Amazon and you get the message saying, “Your town is too remote and we can’t serve your area at this time. We...
Meet Amy & Priscilla
- March 14, 2023
unfoldingWord operates as a catalyst for the Church-Centric Bible Translation movement. We collaborate as part of the body of Christ to develop and implement strategies and unrestricted biblical resou...
Jeremiah and the Occult King
- May 04, 2023
When Jeremiah* first heard that his Chadian church-planting network needed his help translating unfoldingWord® Open Bible Stories (OBS), he was skeptical. “I thought Bible stories were for children, l...
The Exponential Journey
- April 10, 2023
Khartoum, Sudan, April 2021. I was sitting in a small hotel conference room with the leaders of Greater Reach Alliance and half a dozen representatives of unreached Sudanese people groups. We were ta...