Choros Bible & Literacy

• Location: Asia
• Pseudonym: Choros
• New Testament Completion Date: 2009
• Bible Completion Target Date: 2031

The Choros tribe in Asia numbers approximately 9,000 people. Predominantly Christian with 98% professing Christianity, at least 10% of the population claims to be evangelical. The Choros people have a higher literacy rate, partly due to the literacy training and materials that Bibles International provided during the Choros New Testament translation project.

A missionary began preaching the gospel to the Choros people around 1933. However, the churches quickly became liberal in theology. God later sent an independent Baptist missionary to the Choros community, and 13 new churches were established. While the evangelical Choros churches continued to grow and thrive over the years, none of them had a copy of the Scriptures in their language. Expressing their need, one Choros pastor said, "There won’t be any other greater thing for the Choros than to have God's Word in our own language. Churches will be greatly strengthened by the arrival of God’s Word in our language."

Their desire for the translated Bible grew, and in 1985, a man traveled over 1,500 miles to request Bibles International’s help with Bible translation. BI adopted the project in 1996 and in 2009 completed the Choros New Testament, which was well-accepted among the people. Then the community desired to continue partnering with BI to produce an entire Bible in their language.

The Choros believers formally requested BI's assistance in late 2011, and the Choros Old Testament project was officially adopted in 2013. Progress has been hampered by the health of the main translator, who suffered a stroke. However, by God’s grace, he has recovered and continues to translate the Old Testament. In 2024, the book of Genesis was printed, along with a portion of Psalms.