International (MNN) — Quick Bible quiz: what do Jesus, Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and Phoebe all have in common?
“Some people had leading roles, others worked backstage, but all of them were catalysts who equipped the Church and empowered it to reach the world,” says Dane with unfoldingWord.
unfoldingWord follows their example, acting as a catalyst for the global Church in today’s context, he adds.
“We want to see the Church go throughout the world, and it was always God’s primary means of reaching the world in the first place – the Church of Jesus Christ,” Dane says.
Breaking down barriers
unfoldingWord collaborates with indigenous churches and church-planting networks to establish a church in every people group and make the Bible available in every language. Learn more about that here.
Along with teaching believers how to do church-centric Bible translation, “We try to catalyze Bible translation organizations to adopt open-licensing strategies for their translation resources and software,” Dane says.
“It’s incredibly important for the global Church to have this (information), especially in the Global South. They don’t have lawyers that can negotiate copyright licenses year after year.”
unfoldingWord partners with the global Church to make Scripture accessible in every language through open licensing, translation, and collaboration.
(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)
Removing barriers is part of the ministry’s original purpose. unfoldingWord “has been advocating for open licensing of Bible translation resources since before we were founded in 2017. The people in leadership were doing that way back in 2010,” Dane says.
Today, “we count at least 32 Western organizations that are releasing open-license portions of their content for the global Church.”
Find your place in the story
Partnership is another key catalytic component. At unfoldingWord’s annual Church-Centric Bible Translation Forum, “We bring together church planting ministries, disciple-making ministries, [and] Bible societies, for networking, training, and collaboration,” Dane says.
“That benefits the global Church in its mission to translate and proclaim the Gospel.”
This collaborative effort includes you. “We have several ‘Whole Bible, Whole Nation’ projects around the world. If a church is looking for a mission [project] and they care about getting God’s Word out, that’s a great way to do it,” Dane says.
Check out unfoldingWord’s “Whole Bible, Whole Nation” projects and ask the Lord how He’d have you support this work – whether through financial means, prayer, or advocacy.
Header and story images courtesy of unfoldingWord.
