Celebrating Our First Audio Bible in South Sudan

First Audio Bibles in South Sudan

March 2021 marks the completion of our first audio Bible recordings for the people of South Sudan. Of the nearly 12.6 million people living in South Sudan, 73% of the population is illiterate—roughly 8.15 million people—and half live below the poverty line. Educational attainment is extremely poor due to the lack of schools, qualified teachers, and materials.

With strong elements of Christianity, African Ethnic religions and Islam, there is an incredible opportunity for audio bibles to make an impact in South Sudan. The country is made up of 73 languages and one primary linguistic grouping—the Nilotes. Chief among the Nilotic people are the Dinka (35.8%) and Nuer (15.6%) which make up over half of the language population.

By God’s grace, and your generous support, the 4.7 million Dinka Padang speakers and 1.5 million Neur speakers in South Sudan now have access to the recorded Word of God in their home language. Recording these two languages alone allows us to reach over a third of the people in South Sudan.

100 New by 2022

As a part of our larger goal to record 100 new audio recordings by 2022, we are seeking multi-year funding to provide nine new language recordings in South Sudan by 2022—including two New Testaments and seven full Bibles.

Our goal is to provide audio access to the full Bible so the millions of oral learners can have a full understanding of, and hope in, the God who created them and live transformed lives. Thank you again for partnering with us to make God’s Word available to those waiting to hear. He has been faithful to increase our efforts over the years. We pray the recorded Word of God would continue to go forth in great power and transform lives for his glory!

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. — Isaiah 55:11