The Market Evangelist
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 neighbors had not waned, but he had been frustrated at the tepid response to the gospel. *Pseudonym
Chad has 80 distinct people groups. The problem is that most gospel presentations available to Christian are in French or Arabic, trade languages that don’t connect to the heart of most of his listeners. The people like his Christian music but they don’t understand the lyrics, and visiting street preachers have always needed translators.
But today would be different. Christian was carrying audio versions of unfoldingWord® Open Bible Stories that our Chadian partner had translated into the languages of several Chadian unreached people groups.
The impact was huge! “When Muslims heard it,” said Christian, “they searched the Quran for the salvation story, but they could not find it there. Now they want to know more. When backsliding Christians heard it, they wanted to go back to church!”
With joy, Christian returned, asking for more copies of Open Bible Stories because “Every time I play it for the people, they are really impressed! When it is time for me to leave, they say, ‘No, no, no! Don't leave! Please give us the SD cards with these stories!’”
Why such a powerful impact? “For the first time, Chadian people can hear the gospel story from Genesis to Revelation in about two hours. And they hear it in their heart languages, not through a translator or a trade language. They are really touched,” he says.
One man was so moved that he said, “Now I believe you are giving us the real truth to follow. But now that I believe in Jesus, I don't want to stay here because they will persecute me. They will try to force me to worship the idol again. Please take me with you.”
According to Joshua Project data, our Chadian partner’s current work can impact 28 of the 80 unreached people groups in Chad, representing about 7.8 million people. With your help, they want to reach all of them!
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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 ...
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...