Bible App Ministry Asks for Help With 'Alur' Recording

By Alex Murashko, CP Contributor Thursday, June 23, 2011

Makers of the Bible.is app are asking their social network community to help cover the cost of recording a dramatized translation of the New Testament into Alur, a language spoken in Uganda.

Launched this week by the non-profit group, Faith Comes By Hearing, the campaign offers the chance to fund three Bible verses in the Alur language for a donation of $9.90. Alur is spoken by more than 1.3 million people in Uganda.

Bible.is is one of several platforms on Faith Comes By Hearing’s Digital Bible Project, which aims to “disciple the poor and illiterate people of the world in their heart language by digital audio devices,” said the group’s media specialist, Bill Lohr.

“We’re asking people to come alongside us and join us in getting the word of God out,” Lorh said. The ministry’s average cost to record a word-for-word, dramatized version of the New Testament is about $25,000. About 2,600 people sponsoring three verses each will pay for the Alur recording, he said.

“Imagine, for less than $10 people can come alongside us and partner in fulfilling the Great Commission in our lifetime,” states Troy Carl, the ministry’s national director and architect of the Digital Bible Project. “And when the recording is done, you can actually say, ‘Hey, I played a part in bringing God’s Word to this people group.’”

Carl explains that “as the community of believers around the world are brought closer together” through digital technology and Internet access, they are beginning to realize “the power they have as a group to impact the planet with the Good News of the Gospel.” The Bible.is “Reach the Alur People” campaign is also promoted on Facebook.

Currently, FCBH has a catalog of 553 New Testament language recordings. Accompanying text is available on 218 of those languages offered by the Bible.is app.

Recent translations added to Bible.is include languages from the countries of Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Brazil, Peru, and the Philippines. The goal of the ministry is to have complete New Testament recordings in 2,000 languages by 2016.

FCBH is also the designer of a self-contained, digital audio playback device that is distributed to Christian leaders in third-world countries. Named the “Proclaimer,” the device is used to help start “listening groups” for Bible studies, Lohr said.

“Our mission is simple,” Lohr said. “We just want to fulfill the Great Commission.”