International (MNN) — Believers around the world are striving to reach the lost for Christ. Sometimes, that means introducing entire people groups to Jesus for the very first time.
However, growth remains limited without God’s Word.
“What happens in some of these disciple-making movements and church-planting movement networks is that the expansion is quite rapid, but where the Scriptures are not available, some of the strength of that development can be compromised,” Mark Flood of unfoldingWord says.
Equipping church planters for Bible translation
People groups often remain unreached because they’re in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places. When Bible translators are unavailable, church planters take on the task themselves.
“Due to the need, they were endeavoring to do Bible translation with little or no resources,” Flood explains.
unfoldingWord began creating tools for these church planters turned Bible translators in 2018.
“Because we’ve always had a heart to serve and equip the Church wherever it is, we began to look at how we could provide basic-level training to people across the globe who would never have the opportunity to attend a training event,” Flood says.
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Now, unfoldingWord is building a central hub to make access easier: FoundationsBT.com, which offers a suite of resources for Bible translators working among unreached people groups.
“We created the video series, then this coaching and equipping framework, and then the third component is the BT Servant, which is an AI-assisted chat that helps individuals to access the higher-level content that we have created,” Flood says.
Early results point to stronger discipleship
The work isn’t finished yet, but Gospel workers are already seeing results. “We’re early in the process, but we’re quite encouraged by some of the early impacts and stories,” Flood says.
“Where these translations can happen, you have this strengthening, equipping, bolstering effect. They’ve seen that fuel the disciple-making process and strengthen those disciples that are being made.”
Pray the unfoldingWord team will have wisdom as it completes work on FoundationsBT.com. Ask the Lord to guide and protect believers as they seek to share the Gospel with unreached people groups.
“This work of advancing the Gospel, strengthening the Church, translating Scripture, it’s a difficult one, fraught with a lot of barriers, and there certainly is spiritual opposition as well,” Flood says.
Header and story images courtesy of unfoldingWord.
