About unfoldingWord
unfoldingWord exists to see
THE CHURCH IN EVERY PEOPLE GROUP
THE BIBLE IN EVERY LANGUAGE
Home > About unfoldingWord
Our Mission
We work with Church leaders around the world who are seeking to establish their churches in sound doctrine but lack access to Bible translations in the languages their people speak. By equipping these leaders with biblical resources and effective training, they are empowered to translate the Bible with excellence and efficiency in every language that needs one.
Imagine a world where ...
- ... the global church has expanded into every people group such that everyone in the world is within reach of the gospel.
- ... every disciple of Jesus has a pathway to grow to full maturity in Christ as part of a local body of believers led by godly leaders who teach the Scriptures faithfully.
- ... every disciple in every people group has unhindered access to excellent translations of the Bible and abundant biblical resources in their own language, in formats that make them immediately useful in evangelism and unlimited in ministry impact.
- ... the number of people across the world who are directly involved in expanding, establishing, and equipping the global church is 1,000x greater than it is today.
Our unified strategy
By purposely integrating Church-Centric Movements, Church-Centric Theological Formation, and Church-Centric Bible Translation, young churches can be established in previously unreached people groups and grow to full maturity while also learning Bible translation skills.
The outcome of this integration of theological formation and Bible translation is leadership of the church in any people group equipped to produce trustworthy Bible translations. It also helps to build a strong church that continues to expand while also using the translated Scriptures to build itself up in the faith, growing to full maturity in Christ.
Projects
- Leading the unfoldingWord project to provide unrestricted biblical content, technology tools, and training resources (including translationAcademy) to empower the global Church for Bible translation.
- Extending the Gateway Languages Strategy in collaboration with Church networks worldwide in order to provide essential biblical resources to 100% of people groups in their own languages, through languages of wider communication.
- Promoting the use of and encouraging translation of Open Bible Stories, an easy-to-understand, visual overview of the Bible. These fifty key stories, from Creation to Revelation, are effective for evangelism & discipleship, in text, audio, and video, on any mobile device, in any language, for free.
- Developing translationCore, an innovative, open-source Bible translation platform with a focus on empowering the Church to improve and confirm the trustworthiness of their Bible translations.
You can help us achieve these audacious goals.
Give today so that Church-Centric Bible Translation can flourish around the world!
Give NowIn 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 ...
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...