Iran (MNN) — Bible translation builds up the Church in a Middle Eastern nation that is full of more gospel hope and good news than you might think.
Transform Iran serves in the foundational areas of evangelism, discipleship, church planting and much more in Iran to see the power of Christ transform peoples’ lives.
(Graphic courtesy of Transform Iran)
One of the tools they use is Bible translation. Today, that tool is critical to reach Iranians.
Lana Silk with Transform Iran says, “There are more than 39 languages in Iran. Some organizations will say hundreds. It depends on how you slice and dice it. But we believe 39 are the core languages, and within them, the dialects understand each other. Only four of them have the Bible. So you’re talking coming up to 30 million people in Iran who do not have the Bible in their language.”
Transform Iran partners with unfoldingWord among others to translate Scripture into these other languages. (More about that here.)
“We have worked together in learning and rolling out the concept of church-centric Bible translation, which is so dear to our hearts because we are not in the business of translation, we’re in the business of building the church and expanding the kingdom of God,” Silk says.
“As we go through translating the Word, we’re also inadvertently building (the) Church as people come together and worship and study and learn together in languages that they have not used before in the context of the Church.”
She adds that Transform Iran and unfoldingWord have worked together on “making sure that the Open Bible Stories are available in as many languages as possible. Now we are working together to bring the New Testament in some of the key languages. We’re at the early stages.”
(Learn more about recent projects completed such as an audio Bible dramatization in the Gilaki language as well as a mobile app called Cheshme.)
(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)
Silk says that many Iranians are disillusioned with Islam and are looking elsewhere for answers. “Iranians are open and they are hungry. When they look, we want them to find Jesus.”
Silk invites believers around the world to “pray and give where you can, but help us raise awareness because I see so much misinformation in the West about what God is doing in a country like Iran. If the Church can be aware, then more people can be praying and more people can be engaged in this exciting harvest.”
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Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Timothy Eberly via Unsplash.
