At Bibles International, we mirror the Lord’s heart in wanting everyone to “be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim. 2:4). We want evangelists to proclaim the truth from God’s Word, pastors and teachers to expound it in their local churches, and believers to know it and live by it. But the ministry of the truth cannot be effective if people only have access to the Bible in a language they don’t know very well, or if pastors must give on-the-spot oral translations of another language’s translation. They need to be equipped with a reliable translation in their own language to rightly divide the Word of Truth. This is why Bibles International (BI) was founded.
For forty-five years, missionaries with BMM and other like-minded agencies and national church leaders have turned to BI as a trusted Bible society with whom they can comfortably partner to produce reliable translations of God’s truth. Our trained linguists, literacy specialists, and experienced translation consultants see their mission as preserving God’s truth of the original texts of the Bible in accurate vernacular translations.
Throughout our history, we have seen God deliver both His people and His Word. Nationals have worked under the radar of a communist regime. New Testaments have been delivered through government checkpoints by being comingled with shipments from other vehicles. Translators have traveled great distances through jungles and across borders to meet with consultants. BI personnel have even been incarcerated for a short time upon arrival. Translators have fled their villages during civil war, some even hiding their laptops holding their precious work in the jungle. Chad, Haiti, and Venezuela are closed to most BI personnel even though we have active projects there.
Our spiritual Adversary tries to disrupt the process of Bible translation, but our trust in God, proven by forty-five years of watching Him work, remains strong. When civil war in Côte d’Ivoire almost destroyed New Testaments still in storage, God protected them through the soldiers’ failure to burn down the church holding them. COVID-19 increased the output of our translation teams and introduced online workshops. Even the delivery of a shipment of Bibles that disappeared for six months at sea is proof of God’s desire for His Word to go forth.
Bible translation, however, is not just a ministry of providing Scripture to the people of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We want the translated Word to transform the lives of those for whom Christ shed His blood on the cross. Our ultimate goal is for national churches around the world to fulfill the Great Commission in their own communities and edify the Body of Christ through the Bibles that we helped translate into their own languages.
Throughout the translation process, we work with local church leaders in their language groups. We strive to learn how they use the Bibles or Scripture portions that they currently have. Then we train these leaders to better equip their churches to use God’s Word more effectively to accomplish His purpose in their lives. Through the translated Word, the eyes of the blind come to see the truth. Believers deepen their trust in the Savior. They are transformed into the image of God through His beloved Son.
As we look back at the past forty-five years of God’s blessing and provision, we also look ahead to the coming decades and even centuries, knowing that the translated Word of God will continue to transform the lives of those around the globe who hear and read it.