What is Church-Based Bible Translation?
The Power of CBBT
When the church leads translation, the whole community is changed. Watch how Church-Based Bible Translation strengthens faith, unites believers, and helps God’s Word reach new mother tongues and homes.
The demand for Bible translation is greater than ever.
The church needs a solution.
Over the past one hundred years, the church has grown rapidly around the world, even multiplying exponentially in the Global South.
Because of this growth, the church faces an unprecedented demand for quality translations of Scripture and discipleship resources.
People groups around the world are turning to emerging paradigms of Bible translation.
Church-Based Bible Translation (CBBT) equips leaders of local churches to translate the Scriptures into their own language.
CBBT strengthens the church by engaging the community with Scripture throughout the translation process.
Church-Based Bible Translation is most effective when the following conditions are met.
Local Ownership
The church recognizes and takes responsibility for translating the Bible into their language(s).
Resourcing
The church has access to open-licensed Bibles, technology, and translation tools that are relevant to their needs.
Theological Formation
The church is established in the gospel and able to overcome obstacles to spiritual maturity.
Values, Skills, Training, and Experience
The church has existing translation ability and a high esteem of Scripture.
Connectedness
Local church networks are connected cross-denominationally and able to collaborate.
Unity
Local church networks value unity on essentials over disagreement on nonessentials.
Sustainability
The local church shares the vision of building a long-term capacity for translation work.
Multiplication
The local church intends to train other church networks in the process of translation work.
Hear From Others Then Take The Next Step!
Does CBBT actually work? Yes! Check out the impact stories of Church-Based Bible Translation from around the world!
You can participate in CBBT! Check out the Training page to get started.