What did we do prior to creating the resources for
Mother Tongue Translators to translate the Bible? We gave them Open Bible
Stories! These are 50 stories moving
through the narrative of the Bible from Genesis 1 about Creation all the way to
Revelation 22 with the millennial kingdom! It is not a translation of the Bible
but it gives the whole narrative of the Bible fully illustrated and clearly
presented. These stories include 21
narratives from the Old Testament and 29 from the New Testament.
Why did we start with Open Bible Stories as opposed
to just beginning Bible Translations? That’s a great question! We began with
the OBS because it is the entire narrative of the Bible presenting everything
necessary for salvation in a complete package that can be translated start to
finish in only about SIX SHORT WEEKS! This is months if not years faster than a
Bible translation.
The goal, of course is to begin translations of the
Bible, but the OBS are the jumping off point for reaching people who have never
read the Bible, or even people who have never heard of Jesus! As important as
translating the Bible is, what is more important than that is to see people
becomes saved through the power of Christ! The Open Bible Stories allow both
things to happen faster and with more ease. Not only is this
the fastest and most effective way to reach people with the whole story of the
Scriptures, each copy of the Open Bible Stories only cost $2.00 to print. That
is less change than you can find in your couch if you looked hard enough. $2.00
is less than a Starbucks coffee. $2.00
is a double cheeseburger at McDonald's. It is literally eight quarters. 20
dimes. 40 nickles. 200 pennies.
Hypothetically let’s
think about this. If each printed OBS is used to teach a group of 100 people.
(which there is no reason it could not be more, but for the sake of the
conversation we will say 100) 10 printed OBS could reach 1000 people. 20 could
reach 2000 people. Get the idea? That is 1000 people reached by only $20! 2000
people for only $40! It’s insane! How
many Open Bible Stories could we provide if we gave up 1 $5 coffee per week?
That’s $20/month, $240/year. $240 could
provide 120 Open Bible Stories, which hypothetically could reach 12,000
people!! That is one person giving up
one coffee a week for only one year…how silly is it that we are not doing more
than this.
It’s all about perspective. Once more let’s think about if we made
coffee at home and never bought another $5 coffee for 1 solid year. That’s $20/week, $80/month, $960/year. That
provides 480 Open Bible Stories to people who have never heard of the Bible.
That could, according to our conversation, reach 48,000 people. Almost 50,000 people could be reached by ONE
person not buying coffee. Imagine what
would happen if you convinced your small group of 10 people to do that? Or your
church of 500 people. etc.
We have an incredible opportunity here to literally change the world! What better way to change the world than through the life-giving Word of God? It is such an exciting time in history the be a part of the Bride of Christ.
Thank you church for mobilizing and assisting the acceleration of Bible Translation. Remember all of this has a purpose :Go Bible Now
In Christ’s saving name,
Andrew J. Belcher
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