With tears in her eyes, the tribal woman stood up in the meeting, slapped her palms on the table, and said, “We could all be gone by the time you get to us!” That moment marked a change in Birhan*. From then on, no matter his challenges, he dedicated himself to making the word of God accessible to all languages and people groups in Islands-Asia. *Pseudonym
Birhan came to Bible translation from the business world. As a forensic auditor, he was accustomed to digging for facts. His investigation into Bible translation in his country revealed discouraging data. Islands-Asia has over 700 language groups, but after 70 years of work by many Bible translation agencies, only 100 New Testaments are complete and only 34 complete Bibles. The demand for Bible translation there far exceeds the capacity of traditional methods. Birhan says, “That is when I understood the crisis in Islands-Asia Bible translation.”
When will my people get a Bible?
The woman who slapped the table had asked Bible translation leaders: “When will my people get a Bible we can understand? We’ve been waiting for years and years!”
“We’ll have to meet about that and then let you know,” they said. Of course, they are not to blame. Dedicated mission agencies have served Birhan’s country for decades. They succeeded such that church growth has outpaced their capacity for Bible translation.
Strategic Language Resources
Similar situations worldwide drove unfoldingWord to develop our Strategic Language Resources (SLR) and make them available in a translation Book Package (BP) for each book of the Bible. A Book Package contains a literal translation, a simplified translation, a verse-by-verse translator guide, definitions of key terms, and short articles about handling different Bible translation issues, all linked to the words in context, each other, and the original languages, making the art and science of Bible translation accessible to the average church.
“The beauty of the Book Package is that each chapter they translate is immediately available to the church. They don’t have to wait for the whole New Testament,” says Birhan.
In partnership with unfoldingWord, Birhan’s ministry currently works with 130 language groups representing over 60 million people.