unfoldingWord exists to see the church in every people group and the Bible in every language. The Grand Strategy reintegrates church expansion, theological formation, and Bible translation into a single mission. unfoldingWord catalyzes and equips church networks so they can reach the least reached in their nations, translating the Bible into their own languages as part of establishing the church.
Throughout the 20th century, Christian mission specialized. Whole sectors devoted themselves to evangelism alone, medical outreach alone, Bible translation alone, or church planting alone. The result: many specialists working on individual pieces, few focusing on the whole system.
That specialization created an opportunity. Church-expanding movements are now reaching the least reached, and young churches of new disciples want to grow in obedience to Jesus. They need theological formation that does not pull them out of their context. They also need Bible translation integrated into that formation, because many of these churches speak languages that do not yet have Scripture.
The face of the global church has changed. If we were to pick a face that represents the global church today, it would not be from a Western culture. Strong churches now exist in nearly every country to which missionaries went, and the proximate church lives next to the people groups that remain unreached. The proximate church bridges the gap to the least reached.
A church-centric mission evaluates everything from the viewpoint of establishing and equipping the church (Acts 14:21-23; Eph. 4:11-16). The Grand Strategy rests on seven foundational principles.
The centrality of the church. God’s rescue plan works in and through the church (Eph. 3:10). Strategies and tactics ought to be measured by whether they build God’s kingdom in and through the church.
Complex networking. The global church functions as an interconnected network led by leaders who lead by influence, not positional authority. Modern transportation and digital technologies have created a connected world much like Paul’s, only larger.
Apostolic-type teams. Paul’s team included at least 69 named people. The biblical model sends multi-ethnic teams to evangelize, equip, and entrust the mission to newly formed churches. These teams pursue an integrated mission, not a singular function.
Unity movements. God works most powerfully when his people come together in unity as they seek his glory and carry out his mission.
Exponential scale. By training twelve who trained others, Jesus demonstrated exponential thinking. Strategies focused on equipping the few to reach the many outperform growth by addition.
Strategic languages. The Gateway Languages Strategy identifies about 50 Languages of Wider Communication that cover 100% of the global church through patterns of multilingualism. Heavy investment in resourcing these languages pays dividends now and into the future.
Open licenses. For thousands of years, the people of God shared his Word with no legal restrictions. Today, copyright law and “all rights reserved” licensing create friction that open-licensed biblical content removes. Open licenses give the church freedom to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute biblical resources.
The Grand Strategy distinguishes at least four modes of Bible translation beneath the labels “Established” and “Emerging.” On the established side, an outside actor owns the process. On the emerging side, the church initiates, plans, executes, and uses the outcomes. That emerging side is Church-Based Bible Translation (CBBT), and within it are projects focused primarily on producing Scripture (Church-Produced) and those focused primarily on maturing the church: Church-Centric Bible Translation (CCBT).
CCBT addresses least-reached people groups with young churches that have theological development needs. The church-centric sequence is Engage, Produce, Publish. The Bible-centric sequence is Produce, Publish, Engage. In the church-centric sequence, leaders of the church engage first: they study, receive training, and take responsibility. Translation proceeds at a pace the church can affirm.
Equipping servants strengthen that process. These translocal workers move between churches to encourage, train, and equip believers for the work of ministry, interdependent with local elders, and they leave the translation with the church.
unfoldingWord operates as a catalyst, not seeking a large footprint. The 2030 strategy asks: what if we could catalyze and equip the church in every region for excellence in Church-Based Bible Translation?
Five key results frame the answer:
Strategic language resourcing. The Bible Aquifer, an open platform for collating and sharing unrestricted biblical content, is stocked in all strategic languages and used by the global church in over 100 countries. Alongside illumiNations alliance partners and other organizations, unfoldingWord works to complete resource sets that give the church unrestricted access to Bible translation source and training materials.
First principles training. A first-principles approach to training adapts to any cultural or linguistic context. Trainers build community, connecting networks grounded in the same foundational principles, then back off and coach as needed. Every training event is identical in the principles taught and different in their application.
A church-based network. Expanding the network of capable training organizations ensures sufficient resources exist for every language community that needs help. Each group is fully trained in the first principles of Bible translation, technology, resourcing, sustainability, multiplication, and theological formation.
Sustainable funding. The New Testament model of mission is built on interdependent fellowship, koinonia: giving and receiving to participate in joint work. By including the people we serve in the service itself, we honor their dignity as image-bearers and create direct feedback loops between financial partners and the global church.
Whole Bible for the Whole Nation. A broad representation of the church in a nation is equipped to carry out its responsibility to steward theological formation, Scripture translation, and discipleship resource creation, both now and into the future. Outsiders may be called in to serve as peers when needed. The goal is the flourishing of the lingual churches in that nation.
Though the aim is the translation of the Bible, new translation teams often start with unfoldingWord Open Bible Stories (OBS). OBS provides the metanarrative of Scripture and serves as both an evangelism and early discipleship resource. Starting there gives new translators a safe way to learn basic principles and process.
As teams translate OBS, they work through a five-fold process: interpretation, dialogue, translation, proclamation, and teaching. Once OBS is completed, teams use the same process as they translate Scripture, often beginning with formational passages chosen by individual church networks. When they are ready, they move into full Bible translation on a book-by-book basis. By that point, they have already translated significant portions of Scripture while learning the fundamental translation and exegetical principles. The church produces a translation it can stand by because it has been formed through the process. That translation is trustworthy and trusted.
Church networks can follow the practical sequence described in how churches translate. Leaders pray, set a goal, form a committee, and translate with the aim of a text that is clear, natural, accurate, and church-approved. Training in translationAcademy and checking tools such as translationCore support that work. The FAQ addresses common questions about the process.
The Grand Strategy document itself addresses unfoldingWord’s organizational posture; it is not a full account of the broader Church-Based Bible Translation movement, which spans many organizations and is described at churchbased.bible. For the theological and missiological arguments behind each concept, see the individual papers linked below and the deeper pages in this hub.
Read the papers at unfoldingword.org/publications.
Original content © unfoldingWord, CC BY-SA 4.0. Last reviewed 25 September 2026.