We are so thankful to God for the many ways we are able to partner with incredible men and women around the world who are working to bring Christ’s hope and peace in many places that are entrenched in suffering and fear.
Recently, we were contacted by a publishing company in Ukraine that was looking to create a bilingual Bible using a Ukrainian translation by Ivan Ohienko alongside the English New Living Translation. This translation pairing would bring hope to the people who remain in Ukraine, living in constant fear of bombings and invasions, as well as to those who have been forced to leave their homeland and relocate to English-speaking countries, such as the United States.
This Bible released earlier this year and is already drawing people into the arms of Christ. Our partner hopes to also create a Russian/NLT bilingual Bible soon. We continue to pray for peace and for brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Russia, and around the world who are affected by this horrible war.
We are excited to share their story and this update with you:
“The idea of publishing a parallel Ukrainian–English Bible had been on our minds for a long time, but since such a project is quite costly and challenging from an editorial perspective, we kept postponing it. However, with the onset of the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine and the opening of the US borders for Ukrainians, we realized that people greatly needed such a Bible. We began actively searching for which English version of the Bible we could use for our project. I believe the answer came from God. God led us to where I would not have thought to search.
“While discussing publishing matters with a manager from Tyndale, I learned that they also have their own English translation of the Bible, the NLT. We read it and found that this translation is very similar to the Ukrainian translation of the Bible, and people would find it easy to read and study the Bible. So we quickly gathered the maximum number of editors and designers for layout work, and within a year, we were able to release the edition.
“It is difficult to assess the impact of this project on the spread of the Kingdom of God, but I can already see that the fruits of this work will be good. The Bible is being purchased by ordinary churchgoers (Ukrainians), and I see that many Americans who are sponsors of Ukrainians under the U4U program are buying the Bible as a gift for Ukrainians. One church even bought Bibles as gifts for the ordination of pastors. Therefore, I am immensely glad that this work has been realized and is serving people far from their homeland.”
Join us as we continue to pray for peace and that God will use this Bible to surround people with hope and comfort.
