What happens when nobody owns a Bible? How can you spiritually nourish a congregation if the pastor has had no formal training and has no good biblical reading material to accompany the Bible?
This is the reality in Africa. More new believers are baptised than Bibles can be printed. Let alone providing people with good biblical literature. Old Bibles have to be ‘kept alive’ with tape for as long as they last, simply because there are no replacements available. Church leaders have no access to the books and resources that would help them provide sound biblical teaching to their congregation. We call this ‘Bible poverty’. And in Africa, there is Bible poverty. At the same time, Christianity in Africa is growing enormously.
What does this have to do with the Online Bible and with me as a user of this app?
A few years ago, we discovered that the Online Bible apps were being installed in a growing number of African countries. That caught our attention. Gradually, we became aware of the role the Online Bible apps could play in Africa. Given our history, mission and experience, it appears that with the Online Bible apps we have a solution that helps address this growing problem. For instance, the multilingual nature of the apps plays a key role. Many different languages are spoken in every African country, with English, French and Portuguese serving as a unifying factor. Furthermore, the ability to use the app offline is essential because mobile internet is expensive for many people. The high compression of our data format is also important, as this means less data needs to be installed on smaller devices. The high speed at which data is accessible is important because people often use older devices. And the fact that we can offer a unique combination of Bibles with study notes, dictionaries, lexicons and books. At the same time the number of people using a mobile phone is increasing to numbers < 65% in most African countries. This led us to focus on Africa in 2024.
So we began adding Bibles in more languages to the apps. Virtually all the major languages of Africa are now available. We have also started establishing local contacts with churches, organisations, missionaries and pastors. We incorporate the information they provide into the apps.
One of the most important things we hear in feedback is the demand for locally relevant content written by local people. In Africa, people have to rely on Bible study books written from a Western context. The Western illustrations used in these books are alien to people’s everyday experience. Study notes and explanations accompanying the Bible in the online Bible must therefore also originate from Africa itself. We are therefore delighted that this month we have been able to start adding books written in Africa by local authors.
Adding an entire continent requires considerable effort from us as an organisation. For thirty years, we were able to meet the high demand in the Western world with just a handful of people. Now, suddenly, a great many languages are being added, completely new content is needed, the number of users is growing enormously, new questions are arising, and we must add even more content for free. In short, it is a massive challenge.
When the Online Bible was launched 40 years ago, it was the users who embraced the software and began helping to make the content available in all sorts of languages. It will be no different with this mission to Africa. We are looking for proofreaders in French and Portuguese, but also in Kiswahili, Chichewa, Zulu and Xhosa.
We are also seeking to connect with users in African countries who wish to help with the distribution and promotion of the apps. If you would like to get involved as proofreader or local distributor, please send an email to olb@cross-link.nl
It should be clear that this also involves necessary investments. We are seeing our costs rise significantly. We are looking for partners who wish to support this mission with a monthly donation. We estimate that our costs will rise by over $30,000 this year.
Please consider if you want to support this mission in Africa with your one-time or periodically returning donation? We collect this through the WhyDonate Platform.