Author: Biblica Europe

As you may have heard, some of our team here at Biblica Europe had the pleasure of travelling to Serbia to film stories of those people who had recently received the new Biblica Serbian Bible. Prior to the publication of this Bible, Serbian Christians only had access to old Bible texts (more than 150 years old) or had to teach themselves other languages to be able to read the Bible for themselves.

One of our partners in Serbia, Ikonos Publishing House, were the first to receive and deliver the 10,000 copies to Christians across Serbia. Drasko Djenovic, CEO of Ikonos, meets many people through his work in Serbia.

He shared with us a story about a young boy called Boris. Boris never had a bible he could call his own for many years. Now with the new Serbian translation he can finally read and understand it for himself!

Boris has written his own testimony below to share with you all. Some of the text has been edited to ease readability– as you can imagine it is very difficult for any of us to write our testimony in another language.

My name is Boris, I am 13 years old and I live in south Serbia, not far away from the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.  As a baby I was found next to a rubbish bin. Due to my health and my family situation I was then taken to an orphanage. Afterwards, I was taken in by a single fostering family as nobody else wanted to adopt me due to health issues and because I was Romani. Usually it is very difficult for single people to adopt, but because of my circumstances my social worker agreed.

A few years later my Mum met some Christians from Pirot and she became a Christian. Since then we have travelled regularly to Pirot, which is about 30km each way, to go to Christian meetings and services. A few years after that, through “Uncle” Grozdan, she has started to listen to TWR programs in the Serbian language. That has influenced us to change our view on Bible understanding. We listen to mainly TTB (Thru the Bible) but also other Christian programs as well.

Then Mum has started to receive literature from Ikonos. Even though I regularly attended church, I wasn’t so interested in Christianity. Then, in the autumn of 2016 I received a Children’s and Teen Bible from Drasko. As it was Winter, there was no way for us to travel from village to other locations– so the radio had become our only church. Unfortunately, there wasn’t always a good connection and we weren’t able to afford a better internet.

So, Drasko sent my Mum DVDs with some sermons. However it was in Croatian so I wasn’t able to understand everything, but with Mum’s help I understood some of it. Later, he sent us sermons from the Karaburma Church of Christ where he and Zarko Djordjevic preach. I have started to read the Teen Bible and finally I was starting to understand some things that I didn’t understand before.

In February 2018 I received the New Serbian Bible translation. For the first time I am able to read and understand “the real Bible”. I have started to read the Bible often, but I have to read it with my glasses and a magnifying glass as the words are too small for me.

In the Summer months, I am helping my Mum on a field as her health is not good anymore and she cannot carry anything heavy. Sometimes I am working for wages in fields to help my Mum as she had to retire early because of back problems.

When I wake up each morning at 4.30 am I pray, have a snack and do morning work (in winter I go into the woods and cut the wood up) and then at 5.45am I walk to the bus stop so that I can catch my bus at 6.15am, to be at school for 8am. This gives me time to read Scripture on the bus. When I return home, I take care of the animals that we have, then I have to study for school. I’m now in 8th grade – which is final grade and I have mainly A and B+ grades. Because of working so hard I don’t get to bed until 9PM. I like to listen to TTB on tablet and I have the New Testament in MP3 as well.

I had the opportunity to get free dormitory at school, because of my eyes, but I didn’t want to go because it is in Belgrade, some 300 kms from Babusnica and I didn’t want to leave my Mum on her own. I know that trip would be too expensive and that we wouldn’t be together very often.

My goal is to be baptised in a river but Drasko told me that I will need to wait until the Summer. Anyway, I hope that by then I will have even better understanding of Scripture and grow in faith and Bible knowledge. I know it is not easy to be the only believer in school but… I have grown up knowing Jesus because of my mother who really loves so I am not really worried about it anymore!

Exodus is a Christian Youth Organisation in Northern Ireland with a passion for Disciple Making.  Every year they run a programme called ‘The Influencers Academy.’

In it’s first year, the group of 16–21 year old ‘Influencers’ were challenged to give away a Bible to people that they know who don’t yet know Jesus. Exodus contacted Biblica to get 200 low–cost Bibles and the stories of impact are incredible!

One of those influencers was very apprehensive about giving a Bible to someone, but she invited one of her friends for coffee and brought the Bible with her just in case. They were casually chatting, when her friend, out of the blue, asked her about a Bible verse she had just seen on a poster on her way in. The influencer took out the Bible she had brought for her friend and started to explain God’s Word and then gave her the Bible.

This influencer was so honoured by how God could’ve used anyone to do that with her friend but He chose her:  “A few days ago I would never have thought I would have been able to do that, prayer changes things, God gave me the opportunity, and God helped me take that opportunity

Another student gave a Bible to the girl in the room next to her in student halls. For weeks they sat together, reading the Bible.  The influencer took the time to answer her friend’s questions as they read through God’s Word. A few weeks later the Influencer took another bold step and invited the girl to her CU where she gave her life to Jesus! Isn’t it incredible how God’s Word prepares and softens the hearts of others?

The Influencer’s Academy has now spread to 7 regions across Ireland, and as the project has developed, so has the partnership between Exodus and Biblica Europe.  This year Exodus produced customised copies of ‘Acts: The adventure of Radical Obedience,’ using the NIV text.

“We would like to express our sincere thanks for the use of the NIV version of Acts, as it has enabled us to equip over 150 young people with the devotional booklet ‘Acts: The Adventure of Radical Obedience.”
– Jose Cummings, Exodus UK & Ireland Director

 

To start your own story, you can invest in low–cost Bibles here, or find out more about producing a customised project by clicking here.

Find out more about running an Influencer Academy with Exodus here.

Over the past few years, we have had the joy of providing Bibles to Seafarers Christian Friend Society for their mission across ports in Northern Ireland. We recently caught up with Sam Cowan, Chaplain of the organisation in Belfast to hear about this important ministry:

Seafarers Christian Friend Society (SCFS) has worked for many years ministering to millions of men and women who live in the twilight world of big shipping. People who work on these ships can roam the oceans for up to twelve months at a time – it’s a lonely time for many. SCFS have teams based in 40 ports around the world, boarding ships to offer friendship, a chat and have opportunities to speak of the Good News of Jesus Christ. These workers come from more than 100 different nations and speak dozens of languages.

Sam Cowan leads the SCFS team in Belfast and has used English NIV and foreign language Bibles from Biblica for his pastoral visits to crew members on board cruise ships.

Sam explains, “Many of the seafarers I meet come from different religious backgrounds, some Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindi and some claim to have no belief in God. I am always amazed how seafarers ask for English Bibles as they want to improve their English.”

He continues, “I sometimes hear back from seafarers how they have found faith in Jesus through reading the Bibles they receive. One of the privileges I have is to give Bibles to the Christian Fellowships on board the cruise ships as they have crew members coming without a Bible and they want to learn more about Jesus.”

Over the last few years many cruise ships have docked in Belfast which has provided Sam amazing opportunities to take Bibles on board for the crew members. He tells us below of three stories which are particularly powerful and just prove how the Word of God can change people’s lives:

“Firstly I think of a Filipino seafarer who ended up in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast with TB. I was asked to visit him twice a week for three months. During those visits I took him a Tagalog Bible and he began reading it. On each visit I read a portion of the Scriptures to him and prayed with him. When he went home he has continued reading the Bible to his family.”

“The second story is about a lady from Nepal who kept asking me questions about the Bible and the Christian life. This lady came to faith on board the ship and now five members of her family, her daughter, niece, sister and husband have all trusted the Saviour and each one has a Bible from Biblica. This same lady has just asked for five more copies to take back home with her in a couple of weeks time. Her niece is planning to start a three month course in a Bible College in Kathmandu.”

“The final story is of one man from Mauritius who asked if he could have a French Bible and while looking at the other Bibles he also asked if he could have an Arabic Bible. He explained that French is his main language, but as a young boy he was taught the Quran in Arabic and now he was holding an Arabic Bible so he could compare them both.”

Guy from Mauritius holding an Arabic Bible

What incredible stories of people receiving God’s Word in their heart languages. We pray for these people as they read these Bibles and pray their families would also be impacted by the Word of God.

A massive thank you to Sam for sharing these powerful stories. Please remember Sam and his team in your prayers as they seek to spread the Gospel to ship workers who dock in Belfast.

‘A day in the life of a translator’ with our friend and colleague Jim Courter.

Jim working away at the Serbian and Portuguese translations of the Bible1. What is your name and where do you come from?
Jim Courter from, among other places in the USA, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

2. Can you tell us how you ended up becoming a Bible translator? Tell us a bit about that journey.

While attending New Mexico State University, in 1974 I heard about a Wycliffe Banquet downtown. A representative from Wycliffe was recruiting Bible translators and the presentation convinced me that my life should head in that direction. I asked the speaker what I should be studying at the university and he suggested Anthropology with focus on linguistics. I changed my major from Geology to Anthropology after 5 semesters at the school. I had been taking Russian and Spanish until then, but added German as well. I started learning New Testament Greek on my own. In the summer of 1975 I went to the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) school in Oklahoma. After a few years of being involved in other things, particularly smuggling Christian literature into Communist Countries while living in Austria, I got an M.A. degree in Bible translation at the SIL center in Dallas in 1983. I was a member of Wycliffe in Austria until 1987, and in 1988 I was recruited to work for Living Bibles International. There was a merger with IBS in 1991 which is why I am now with Biblica.

3. What does your typical working day look like?

My main work is checking new translations and revisions verse by verse by comparing with the original–language biblical texts. Quite often I have to consult any one of a number of translators’ aides available, such as Translator’s Workplace, dictionaries, biblical terms lists, parallel passage checks, commentaries, etc., in order to assure accuracy and consistency throughout the text. There is a large percentage of verses where the exact interpretation is in question, so much thought has to go into those kinds of passages.

4. Which translation projects are you working on for Biblica Europe?

Serbian OT translation along with a revision of the NT, the Portuguese full Bible revision, NIV Study Bible translations into Romanian and Russian.

5. Is it true that a translator’s job is never done?This is very true. The more I learn about the original languages, the structure of the way the biblical text was put together, historical and geographical information, etc., there is always room for improvement. There is an ongoing need for careful harmonisation of key terms, parallel passages and key phrases that were meant to be noticed by careful readers of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. These kinds of harmonisations are part of the meaning of the biblical text, so cannot be overlooked. Sometimes this work is not straightforward because word–for–word correspondence is not always possible. Languages work very differently in the way they divide up reality. Accurately transmitting the meaning of a passage in the most clear way in the translation is an elusive goal that a translator does not ever completely feel has been fully accomplished.

6. Why is it important for Biblica to focus on Bible Translation?

There are in many cases already translations available in the languages where we are working, but they are not adequate. Often the language is outdated, the translation was done from some other languages besides Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek or the language is stilted rather than natural. The tools we have now, such as Paratext and others mentioned above guarantee much better quality because of the easily–accessible wide range of exegetical helps, computerised means of checking, formatting, analysing, harmonising, etc.

7. Is there anything that we can do as Christians to profile the work of Bible translation better?

I will quote Scott Munger here: Bible translators are;
• Farmers, making “food” for the world
• Journalists, giving access to vital information
• Revolutionaries, overthrowing falsehoods
• Church planters, laying a foundation for the Church
• Entertainers, telling the greatest story ever told
• Soldiers, protecting the defenseless and invading Satan’s terrirtory
• Economists, helping people manage life’s real resources
• Transporters, moving people from one kingdom to another

Martin Luther confessed: “I have also undertaken to translate the Bible into German. That was necessary for me; otherwise I might have died someday imagining that I was a learned man. Those who think themselves scholars should try to do this work.”

8. What is your favourite Bible verse and why?
Proverbs 4:18: The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” This verse presents our path in life out of the darkness of night to where the sunshine begins faintly lighting up the eastern horizon and finally rises and we see the full light of day. This is the story of all of us, and now that we as believers have the light, we should walk in that light with our eyes opened through study of the Word of God and living in fellowship with him who is the Light of the world.

A big thank you to Jim for letting us interview him. May God bless him and the wider translation team as they aim to translate and update the Bible so that the Word of God can be accessed across Europe in many languages.

Biblica and the Naval Military and Air Force Bible Society have been partnering with us for many years, producing NIV Bibles and New Testaments for their mission to supply Bibles to the uniformed services.

Thousands of copies of military and seafarers NIV Bibles have been printed and sent to NMAFBS for distribution. It has been a pleasure for Biblica to work with an organisation that seeks to make the Word of God accessible for those who serve our Country.

Some images below capture the importance of NMAFBS’s work. We look forward to keeping you updated in how these Bibles have been used.

Biblica are delighted to be able to partner with churches and ministries across Europe. Recently we partnered with Hillsong Church in Stockholm, helping them to custom their own Swedish Bible called ‘I have decided’ for their outreach work.

In the last two years the church have given away 4,000 bibles to people who are new to their faith or don’t have a bible. David Rindefors who is part of the church leadership team tells us his story:

“I have been part of the team in Hillsong Stockholm since 2012. To be part of giving a Bible to someone who has just decided to follow and build a relationship with Jesus is something that never ceases to be incredibly special. I can think of multiple occasions when the Bible has been given out as a gift and it has enabled people to progress in their faith, opened up new revelation and brought light and life in hopeless situations.”

Here are just a few stories that David has shared with us:

• A girl, not raised in a Christian family, came to church with her friend one Sunday. She raised her hand during the invitation to salvation. She was given a Bible and she decided to start reading.
• One girl in David’s fellowship group shared about her journey to the church. She had her Bible, the one she received the first time she went to church and made her decision, about a year ago. Written at the beginning of her Bible is the date she made her decision, which will always serve as a reminder to her.
• A girl in David’s prayer group has struggled to read the Bible since she became a Christian four years ago, but it wasn’t until she started reading the ‘I have decided’ bible that it really fell into place. She has now read the entire New Testament and has grown enormously in her faith.

Biblica partnered with New Generation in Sweden to produce a new edition of a Swedish New Testament which has been given out across schools in Sweden.

The New Testament contains 64 colour pages to help the reader understand what the Bible is all about and explains, among other things, what Christians believe and who Jesus is.

Christian school groups in Sweden distributed the Bibles at celebrations or to a friend over a coffee. The work continues across Sweden and it is amazing to hear some of the good news stories:

Ebba Rose, Tenhult

On the 17th of December 2015 Ebba wrote a note and put it in a Bible and left it in the common room at her school. She wanted to inspire people to take it up and read it and also hoped that someone would take it home. On the note she wrote a suggestion for the reader to find anything they wanted (a song, a film etc) that would fit what they were reading. Ebba comments, “I wanted to try and involve the Word in everyday life.” On the 3rd February someone had taken the Bible home!

One school in Sweden

Over the Christmas period one school wrapped these bibles up and stuck personal notes in them to each student. Over 18 people came to Christ in just one school!

Anton Fust, Linköping

Anton and his New Generation group of 14 people ordered 30 Bibles. They took the Bibles and handed them out personally to people as Christmas presents in 2015. Anton himself gave Bibles to three people, he wrapped them and wrote little cards. These presents have since become great starting points for conversations about faith.

Hillevi Herrmann, Uppsala

Hillevi bought Bibles and has started handing them out to people. Some of them she has given to people in her school but she has also given them to some people she met in town. She gave one to a bus driver which led to a long conversation about faith! It turns out he had a Christian neighbour that had led him to the Lord but as he said “he didn’t live actively with Jesus now”. Hillevi giving him a Bible out of the blue felt important to him and he said that he needs to come back to Jesus. He contacted Hillevi after this incident and thanked her again for giving him the Bible.

The World Police and Fire Games were hosted in Northern Ireland in the summer of 2013. 7,500 athletes from all over the world gathered to compete in the games which is often referred to as the third largest sporting event in the world (after the Olympics and Football World Cup).

Christian police officers and firefighters from Northern Ireland met before the games to discuss the best way to communicate with so many of their colleagues. They decided that producing a Gospel of John unique to the games would be a great way of marking the event.

After much prayer, they partnered with Biblica to produce their own customised Gospel of John to give out at the event to competitors. The event organisers agreed that each and every competitor would receive their own personal copy, neatly packed with their joining instructions and registration material. Volunteers from a local youth offenders detention centre set about packing the 7,500 Gospels on their behalf and, as a result, competitors received a copy and took them home as far as Europe, China and South America.

Those involved were delighted that the Word of God was so easily placed into the hands of so many and trust the Lord will use these Gospels to His glory in the months and years to come.