Oklahoma Church Impacts
the World through Innovative App

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 8, 2016 – You might be surprised to learn that one local church has a strong connection to one of the most popular phone and tablet apps in history. Life.Church recently announced the YouVersion Bible App is now available in 1,007 languages on over 230 million devices worldwide. Through the gifts of generous donors and the contribution of Bible content from a global network of partners, it is now the first app to be made available in over 1,000 languages.

“Our mission is to use technology in any way we can to help people worldwide engage with God’s Word,” said Bobby Gruenewald, founder of the YouVersion Bible App and innovation pastor for Life.Church. “We’re thrilled to partner with the many Bible societies and translation groups that make it possible for us to offer the Bible in more and more languages every month because our goal is that eventually every person with a mobile device will have access to the Bible in their native language through the Bible App.”

The 1,000th language added is Sukuma, the primary language of 7.6 million people in Tanzania, Africa and home to Mount Kilimanjaro. With the Bibilia Ilagano Lya Kale 2015, developed by the Bible Society of Tanzania, people who speak Sukuma can more easily engage with God’s Word wherever they go, and share it with others.

“In this digital age, we tend to forget that people have spent decades of their lives, and in some cases sacrificed their own life, to make it possible for people to read the Bible in their own language,” said Gruenewald. “Though we’ve come a long way, more than two billion people still don’t have a Bible in their language, so we are dedicated to continuously increasing the number of languages offered through the Bible App to get it into more people’s hands.”

In some of the most populated areas of the world, people are opening the Bible App and accessing these languages, including cities right here in the United States. Nepali, spoken primarily in the Asian country of Nepal, was added to the Bible App in mid-July. After a little over one month, the Nepali language has already been accessed from 37 states.

Bible societies, Bible publishers, and copyright holders have worked together to generate a detailed list of languages that do not have their own Bible. Of almost 7,000 languages in the world, nearly 2,000 still need to start translation projects.

“By leveraging today’s technology and communication, we believe it’s within our reach to see the Bible translated into every language during our lifetime, and we’re committed to quickly and seamlessly offering the Bible in each language as it becomes available. The first 1,000 languages are just the beginning,” said Gruenewald.

To learn more about YouVersion’s mission to help people engage with God’s Word and to download the Bible App, visit youversion.wpengine.com.

 

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Rachel Feuerborn

918-282-4303

rachel.feuerborn@life.church

 

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