Resources in other languages

Almost 30 years ago a number of popular and relevant Christian teaching books were translated into one or more languages, printed by Sovereign World Trust ‘in-country’ and distributed to relevant audiences in the developing world. At the time, there was no facility to digitise these translations but the titles have had enduring relevance and demand..

Given this ongoing need, we have now arranged to have around 100 of these books scanned and we are currently working towards adding these valuable resources to our burgeoning collection of accessible materials on our resource website. 

Making these scans fit for purpose and 'chunking' them out into chapters or sections suitable for teaching or sermon series is an enormously time-consuming job, but one which we feel is important if we are to ensure that such valuable materials remain accessible. We also need to make sure that each file is small enough to be downloadable in a third world setting. 

Books have been chosen for their relevance to the developing world with plenty of emphasis on physical and mental healing, discipleship, repairing relationships in church life, marriages and bringing up children, as well as spiritual healing. 

For some titles, we will need to contact authors, publishers and translators for relevant permissions, but you can already see the fruits of our project via the foreign language section of our resource site: www.ibtr.org.uk. 

In the past, given the cost of mobile phones, tablets and pcs and the poor internet access particularly in many areas of Asia, South America and Africa, our focus was on supplying Biblical teaching and preaching resources in hard copy – sending regular mailings of books and other resources to our global recipients. More recently, however, with better internet access and the widespread reconditioning of smart phones and IT equipment from more affluent countries, the developing world has seen a digital revolution. This, coupled with vastly improved internet access and speeds, has given us an opportunity to harness the power of the internet and to create and extend our resource website and regular digital teaching. 

In addition, post pandemic, we have found that the cost and reliability of couriering books to some countries to be prohibitive. Prices for sending even the lightest titles have soared and all too often even though or packages are marked ‘no commercial value’ customs charges are levied at the destination countries and our recipients must pay them if they are to release their precious parcels. 

The future is digital and we must continue to take advantage of this to maximise our opportunities to reach those most in need. Whilst we appreciate that there are still some recipients who are not in a position to benefit directly from online resources, we hope that those who do have internet access will be able to share resources locally. As the use of smart phones surges it is not necessary to have an expensive computer and printer to access these teaching materials. .