
Discover the heart behind Church-Based Bible Translation.
Here you’ll find research papers and short teaching videos that explain the biblical and theological reasons for this approach. Each resource is designed to help churches everywhere understand and apply God’s Word in their own language and context.
White Papers

Trustworthy and Trusted
This paper describes the difference between the trustworthiness of a Bible translation and the trust that a local church has in it. It argues that the creation of a systematic checking model will allow local churches to align their level of trust in a translation with its trustworthiness.



“Signing off”, “Giving Input”: The Changing Role of Bible Translation Consulting in the 21st Century
This paper discusses the changing role of Bible consultants, specifically detailing how the rise of the church in the Global South has sparked too many translation projects for traditional consultants to keep up with. Consultants have started serving in other ways as the church takes the lead in Bible translation.

Factors for Effective CBBT
This paper discusses the key factors for effective Church-Based Bible Translation. These factors are local ownership and leadership (foundational elements), translation capacity, ecclesial climate, and practical scalability.

Innovation Lab Quality Assurance Recommendations
This paper discusses multimodal Bible translation for greater trust and accessibility and urges local church leadership in the process. It also advocates for iterative quality assurance and a flexible definition of translation completion in Church-Based Bible Translation.

Evaluating Bible Translation
This paper discusses evaluating Bible translation through multimodal methods, church-led decision-making, and iterative quality assurance. It highlights the shift from end-stage checks to ongoing community involvement, ensuring translations remain relevant and widely accepted.

Overview of Church and Community Based (CBBT) QA Cycle
This paper discusses the Church and Community-Based Bible Translation (CBBT) Cycle, emphasizing a sustainable, church-led approach to quality assurance. It outlines a five-stage process that includes capacity building, community engagement, quality review, church leader authentication, and iterative revision to ensure ongoing, high-quality Bible translation.

Quality Assurance Mentor Job Description
This paper discusses the role of a Quality Assurance Mentor in Church-Based Bible Translation (CBBT), emphasizing collaboration with a Quality Assurance Community rather than a traditional expert model. The mentor provides training, coaching, and support to church leaders and translators, ensuring high-quality translation through community engagement and multimodal Scripture interaction.

What is Different with Multimodal Translation (MMT) in Practice?
This paper discusses the practical benefits of Multimodal Translation (MMT) in Bible translation, emphasizing holistic engagement through oral, visual, and textual methods. It highlights how MMT enhances comprehension, community participation, and artistic expression, ensuring translations resonate deeply with users across various communication modes.
Biblical Theology Video Library
Themes
This video briefly discusses the major themes of the biblical narrative, the common threads running throughout Scripture, and their importance for faithful translation.
Reasons
This video emphasizes the importance of placing the text to be translated within the broader context of the biblical metanarrative.
Resources
This video highlights resources for exploring biblical theology and the metanarrative of Scripture at a deeper level.