Critical Tools for Courageous Translators

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 illumiNations Bible translation alliance are adopting Church-Centric Bible Translation strategies, including developing open-source Bible translation tools. Your financial partnership has enabled unfoldingWord to serve as a leader in that space. In collaboration with church network partners globally, unfoldingWord has developed seven innovative Bible translation tools now in use by church-planting partners in dangerous places like Sudan, Iran, and Ukraine.

Bincy Jobby, unfoldingWord’s Project Coordinator for Tools and Content, explains the significance of this vital set of digital resources: “The big vision is to be a Bible translation tools catalyst. As a catalyst, we increase the global church’s capacity to solve its own Bible translation needs, to translate, produce, and use Bible translations and other Biblical content in any language and format required to plant the church.

Skilled technologists are already in the church networks,” says Bincy. “Often, they know what software solutions the church needs, but they don’t have the tools. Spending years developing software from scratch is not efficient. That is why, along with creating Bible translation software, we foster a global community of developers contributing to a growing ecosystem of open-source software libraries and applications. These tools are modular, reusable, and customizable, freely available for anyone to modify and share without any restrictions, and to use as a foundation to build new Bible translation solutions efficiently.”

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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 ...

  • Will AI Eliminate Human Translators?

    • October 21, 2024

    Will Artificial Intelligence accelerate Bible translation? Will it produce better translations than humans can? Will it eliminate the need for human translators? These and other questions swirl around...

  • 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...