How to get new Bible translations into hungry hands

God’s Word and message transcends borders and cultures. Still, it’s easier to study Scripture when it’s in your own language.

Many organizations and individuals around the world work at translating the Bible into other languages, but what happens after translation ends? The next step is usually putting the translation through the paces – local pastors and church leaders check to make sure the theology and language line up.

Then it’s time to print. Traditionally, that takes resources that rural communities or small language groups don’t have. So how does a group like Wycliffe Associates get physical copies of their translations into the hands of Christians who need them?

One solution is a print-on-demand unit. These units are small, low-maintenance printers that can be easily operated to print individual books of the Bible. “Once that awareness is built, and once people start seeing that small portions of Scripture are being distributed, then what we want to do is try to make the Scripture acceptable to the local community,” says Tony Tophony of Wycliffe Associates. ”We meet with them far before the translation is complete, and start putting the plan into works for a printing solution and printing it in a way that would be acceptable to the local people as a holy book, as revered Scripture.”

That last part is more important than you might think. While God’s Word doesn’t need a specific colored binding or particular font to have divine power, different cultures have certain expectations as to how a holy book should look.

“We’ve got to start trying to find solutions immediately before the Bible is finished in their language to start putting the wheels into motion to partner with printing facilities,” Tophony says. “We’re trying to use modern technology as much as we can because we know our people in the field don’t have the resources to get a lot of that done on their own.”

While some cultures require Bibles that look appropriately solemn, others require the opposite. “If you go to, say, Iranian refugees that are living in exile from their country, and some of them are hunted and have a price on their head, they don’t want words on the book at all. Putting ‘Holy Bible’ on there could be a death sentence for someone. They will print books that are blank or have a very innocuous cover so that they can be used in that culture without drawing attention to them.”

If all of this sounds like something to which you want to contribute, you can do so with this link.

You can also pray. “We need prayer for them to be able to make those journeys [and] be safe while they’re translating, be safe during distribution,” Tophony says. “Also pray that the Lord would bless us with the funds necessary to enact the printing.

“When I do go to these foreign nations, I see what people are willing to sacrifice to get the word of God in their heart language. I see that hunger, I see that thirst and desire to understand the character of God, and to grow deeper in a relationship with him. I’m humbled.”

Header photo courtesy of www.wordonfire.org