Christ’s Ambassadors to the Ambassadors

“They represent their nation, they have to shoulder all its burdens; it’s lonely.”

Geneva, Switzerland, is home to a very unique community. The UN European headquarters brings in about 10,000 diplomatic staff representing 193 nations and 40 other agencies.

In 2008, a man called Dr. Benjamin Levi Moses felt a call from God to come alongside these ambassadors and leaders with professional and spiritual guidance, and a unique organisation called Global Leadership Geneva-Bern (GLGB) was born.

His wife, Jessy, has helped develop the ministry and told us a bit about it:

“As ambassadors these people represent their nation, but they are lonely. They have to shoulder all the burden of their nation at the United Nations and various councils, and their families are moving from country to country, every two to four years. It’s a lifestyle with a lot of pressures and tensions.

“Benjamin is qualified in public administration as well as being a theologian. We connect with ambassadors, give them professional solutions, coaching and take Kingdom principles to them.

“90% of the diplomats we work with are either from no faith background or from a different faith background but they really appreciate our support and perspective. Very few of them have said no to a prayer.

“We are heavily involved in peace initiatives too, and God has given us opportunities at a very high level. So we use all these professional platforms to show non-Christians that there are solutions from a Biblical perspective. There are also plenty of diplomats who are Christians, but do not engage their faith at work, so we train them how to translate their Biblical values into the policies they’re working on – policies that impact the whole world.”

The Ambassadors’ Gospel

“They say, whoa! This is beautiful and amazing, what a nice tool!”

GLGB wanted to have a high-quality book to give to the ambassadors they know, and one of Jessy’s colleagues put her in touch with Biblica.

“My idea was just to have a small Gospel of John printed, but Biblica produced this special version for us called The Life of Jesus Christ – Good News for Ambassadors. People really like it. There’s no one who has ever looked at it and didn’t say, Whoa! This is beautiful and amazing, what a nice tool!”

This ‘Ambassadors’ Gospel’ is a special multi-lingual edition of John’s Gospel with text in French, English, Spanish and Arabic, alongside images and quotes from famous global leaders.

We printed over 2,000 copies for GLGB, and it’s become very popular among ambassadors, diplomats and also young people in Lausanne who can read all four languages. Jessy says:

“It’s such a beautiful tool; Benjamin carries it everywhere where he goes to give it away.

“I remember we had a delegation from Saudi Arabia in September who came to learn from us. We talked about some Swiss business principles, and also Biblical principles. We gave them a few gifts including the Ambassadors’ Gospel. One person forgot to take it home but all the others did. For us, the very fact that they took it, knowing that it is the life story of Jesus Christ, that is a big thing.

“As for the Christian ambassadors who take it, they say they really appreciate the layout, the way it’s presented, and the encouraging quotes that are in this Bible. They tell us that they love it as a beautiful and relevant gift they can give away to their peers as well.

“We believe that the Word is so powerful, and that this book been prepared with so much prayer and passion, that it will definitely reach anyone who needs to hear from God. Thank you Biblica!”

You can find out more about GLGB’s unique ministry at glgb.org

What’s next for Biblica? 2023 and beyond…

The New Year is a great time to think about your hopes, dreams, aims and plans for the year to come. At Biblica, we’ve been making plans for the next three years – to help us reach the goal of everyone, everywhere having access to God’s Word in a way they can understand.

More translation projects

For the last few decades, Biblica has been working with an alliance of other Bible translators to produce high-quality Bible translations for the top 100 majority languages around the world. Achieving this will allow an enormous number of people to access the Bible.

Amazingly, this task is now almost complete! So we’re looking at the next important goal.

There are still an estimated 1,900 minority languages without an accurate, contemporary Bible. That’s hundreds of millions of people around the world who have no meaningful access to a relevant and reliable Bible in their own language.

We’re going to use our resources to tackle this challenge. Over the next three years, we plan to grow our active translation projects from 62 to 140.

Using technology to get there…

But how can we double our translation speed? Technological advances are really helping here. One innovation we plan to make much more use of is AI-assisted translation, which has performed well in pilot projects. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) we’ve been testing can produce a rough first draft of a translation into a new language very quickly, ready for expert human translators to work on and fine-tune. This will radically reduce the time needed to make a new translation, so that we can reach more people with the Gospel sooner.

Investing in digital versions

It’s not just fashionable to do things digitally – it’s strategic. In many places around the world where Bible access is the most difficult, people could actually download and read the Bible on their phone, if there were a digital translation available in their language. This would be a much easier way to get God’s Word to a huge number of people who have been very hard to reach until now. We’ve already made progress in this area, and we’re committing to making more digital versions of the scriptures available in more languages and more accessible formats as a priority over the next few years.

Working strategically with others

One other aim for 2023 and beyond is to partner more strategically with the organisations around the world who have the best infrastructure and contacts – those who can distribute Bible resources effectively to the most people in need.

When we put this all together, the number of people worldwide who can open a Bible for the first time will grow hugely by 2025. We’re excited – thanks for being part of it!

Far from home, but God is close

Support our Christmas appeal here

Last Christmas in Ukraine, children were experiencing all the usual festive excitement of food, family, fun and presents, just like children everywhere in Europe.

This Christmas, how different things are.

For many, many Ukrainian children, the presents they got last Christmas are miles away now. They’ll be spending Christmas in a totally different place, having left behind their homes, schools, possessions – and even their dads. How will they celebrate?

Roksolana shares her family’s experience:

Not so long ago we lived in our home and had no idea someone would want to take away our peace, happiness or even our lives. We are now refugees; we left everything to save the lives of our children.

The war and the move was very stressful for my six year-old daughter and she had many questions for God. She wondered why we had to hide during the sirens, why Russians want to kill us, why many people die, whether a rocket would hit our house and whether her parents and little brother would survive.

I was glad that I could draw her attention to God in this catastrophe, because He is near. We left everything we had, but every day we feel God’s care and see real miracles. Trusting in Him, along with conversations and prayers with us, has helped our child to calm down.

Roksolana is part of a Biblica team preparing a special Christmas present for the children of Ukraine. It’s called The Treasure Hunt Bible.

You can read all about this wonderful study Bible for children here.

Roksolana explains:

Currently we have a lot of demand for children’s Christian literature, specifically in the Ukrainian language. I understand that God took care of this need and prompted certain people to get the Treasure Hunt Bible translated for Ukrainian children.

And we’re excited to have finished the translation in time for Christmas. Here are our translators to explain more:

For a Ukrainian child facing a strange Christmas away from home, it’s a great time to get immersed in an exciting adventure book – where they can hunt and find answers to the big questions they face, dig up words of comfort and hope, and find the treasure of God’s great love for them.

The great news is, it only costs about £5 to print and deliver each copy of The Treasure Hunt Bible in Ukrainian. You can buy and send one for Christmas!

Click here to send this great gift to one, five or ten children.

It’s not just the children who will benefit from learning to study the Bible. Our translator Tetiana believes:

This wonderful, exciting book will influence not only children but also their parents and teachers. And that is very important right now. Many people feel absolutely negative emotions due to the war. Directing the Word of God into children’s hearts will be an incredibly effective way to heal many people.

The team in Ukraine would like to say ДЯКУЮ for your generous support this Christmas. (Thank you!)

I felt God’s presence with me for the first time

Back in July, Scripture Union Scotland held a 5-day event that gathered nearly 900 young people from 63 churches to worship Jesus and learn from the Bible.

Youth leaders from Baptist, Episcopal, Brethren, Independent, Charismatic and Pentecostal churches and the Church of Scotland brought their youth groups to Magnitude, along with sisters, brothers and friends who were on the fence about faith in God.

“Arrived an atheist and have given my life to Christ who saved me.”

Biblica was very pleased to create a special New Testament with a cover designed just for the event, to give out to new believers. We wanted this edition to remind the young people of the experience they had at Magnitude and what God said to them there as they returned to ‘normal’ life.

These Bibles were part of a ‘new Christian pack’ that also contained some helpful follow-up materials for anybody who came to faith for the first time.

We couldn’t know how many of these packs would be given out at the event – that part was up to God. In the end, it was 85.

Kirsty from Scripture Union said: “We believe these 85 young people made commitments to Christ for the first time. A significant number also re-dedicated their lives to his service. We did a survey afterwards, and 51% of the young people there said that attending Magnitude had totally changed their faith for the better. The fruit of what God was doing in and through young people and youth leaders at Magnitude was very evident.”

Here are a few of the incredible testimonies left by Scottish young people at Magnitude:

“Thank you Jesus for helping me, my sister and my brother this week. My brother and I have become Christians and have felt his peace.”

“After feeling abandoned for years, this week I have found faith in the Lord again.”

“I was set free from anxiety and worry. Arrived an atheist and have given my life to Christ who saved me.”

“God has given me the courage to share my faith in my community.”

“Before I came to Magnitude, I was quite sad with life in general. I felt confused and really tired, emotionally, physically and mentally. I didn’t believe in Jesus, and I was overall alone and somewhat unhappy. And when I arrived, I met the most incredible, kind, genuine and sincere best friends ever and within five days, Magnitude changed my life. For the better. I encountered God and his love. And I felt genuine happiness which I was seeking for so very long.”

We are excited to think of all the young people who went back to school or college with a life-changing new faith and who are now getting to know God through their very own Bible.

We work with other organisations and ministries to provide custom-made Bibles, gospels, New Testaments and resources that will be useful to their mission. Read more here
Magnitude website

Dionne Mutambisi

Finance Officer

Dionne joined Biblica in January 2023. As a detail-orientated accounting and finance professional she has been meeting the accounting needs of companies, not-for-profit organisations and individuals for over 12 years. Dionne lives in Bournemouth with her husband and three children, Heavenly-Joy, Daniel-Jesse and Josiah-James. Together they attend City Gate Church. Dionne serves as a governor for two local Church of England schools.