MISSIONS: Translating Training Tools to Strengthen Pastors and the Church

J.D. Bridges, Vice President of Global Outreach for Ligonier Ministries, tells us this week about Ligonier’s efforts to produce content and teaching materials to defend and teach the holiness of God—not only to American Christians but to Christians around the world, including persecuted Christians in hostile areas and restricted nations. Since 1971, when R.C. Sproul founded the ministry in the Ligonier Valley of western Pennsylvania, Ligonier has continued to produce more and more Biblical content. As people from other nations discovered the work and requested resources in their own languages, Ligonier’s international efforts have grown. Creating a strategy for translation and dubbing, Bridges and his team are focusing on the top twenty languages around the world—which creates the potential to access 80% of the world’s population with gospel materials and theology training. God has opened doors to provide resources in Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, Indonesian, Farsi and many other languages. Out of 5,000,000 pastors around the world, only 5-10% have any theological education. Listen as J.D. shares his heart to create more opportunities for more people to freely engage with Biblical content and how Ligonier works to equip pastors and churches. “For us the first impulse is to equip the pastor…because we know that the church will benefit,” he says. Bridges tells of the difficulties in translating theological concepts into a new language for the first time and the most important thing he gets to do as he builds relationships with persecuted Christians and how Ligonier uses many different and creative angles to provide these tools to Christians in places like China, Iran, Pakistan and other restricted nations. Pray for God’s blessings on continued translation work and distribution efforts. Also, check out the Things Unseen Podcast from Ligonier for thoughtful reflections on the Christian life and our relationship with God. Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast.