Middle East/North Africa (MENA) — Depending on who you ask, the Middle East/North Africa region comprises between 400 and 800 unreached people groups.
Joshua Project estimates there are 483 unreached people groups in the area, while The International Mission Board (IMB) reports 739. Regardless of which figure you use, both represent millions of people who do not know or follow Christ.
The Bible is available in Modern Standard Arabic – a dominant trade language for the MENA region – but Dane with unfoldingWord says, “Many have a tribal language or a heart language which is not Arabic, and millions of people do not have their own translation of the Bible.”
Now, unfoldingWord is working to change this disparity by helping believers in the MENA region translate God’s Word for themselves. Learn about unfoldingWord’s strategy here.
“All of our Bible translation tools need to be translated into Modern Standard Arabic, and from Modern Standard Arabic, they can then go into all of the languages that cover the Middle East and North Africa,” Dane explains.
Modern Standard Arabic: A gateway for the region
Modern Standard Arabic is the “gateway” language for 20 to 24 countries, many of which lack their own Bible translations.
unfoldingWord’s Middle Eastern translation partners “are experts in Modern Standard Arabic, and they are deeply committed to sharing God’s love with the whole Arabic-speaking world,” Dane says.
He adds, “They are translating unfoldingWord’s book packages into Modern Standard Arabic. From Modern Standard Arabic, you can then translate the Bible and unfoldingWord’s Open Bible Stories into other languages that are connected to Modern Standard Arabic.”
In places like the Middle East, Christians strive to draw closer to God, yet regularly worship with precious few Bible stories and verses available in languages they understand.
(Photo, caption courtesy of unfoldingWord)
unfoldingWord’s “book packages” are software tools containing everything needed to translate an entire book of the Bible — including “a literal translation, a simplified translation, a verse-by-verse translator’s guide, definitions of key terms, short articles about handling Bible translation issues, and they’re all linked to the words in the original languages,” Dane says.
The ministry’s partner “is translating book by book so that you could have a book package of Mark, a book package of Matthew, a book package of Ephesians, and things like that.”
Translating hope
While restrictions abound in the MENA region, the hunger for God’s truth is unparalleled. Help believers translate Scripture for their people by supporting this work through unfoldingWord.
This massive project, only a few years old, is already having a tremendous impact. Dane says in December 2024, a young man from Sudan shared the following with the Middle Eastern staff:
“Thank you for the book packages that you translated. We have, for the very first time, translated God’s Word into [the language of] my people group. My people group has never had this before. People are coming to Christ. We’re planting churches in Sudan and South Sudan because of your work.”
Millions across the MENA region are still waiting to hear God’s Word in their own language. unfoldingWord and its partners are making that possible — one translation at a time.
Learn more about unfoldingWord here.
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Ben White/Unsplash.
