The Need
Theological Famine
There are almost 400 million speakers of Farsi, Azeri, Armenian, Kurdish, Urdu and Turkish with some of the oldest Christian communities among them. Muslims in the Middle East are seeking Jesus and converting to Christianity at unprecedented rates. Yet they have no systematic biblical training resources in their language to grow in their faith or teach others. This leads to Christian communities that lack depth in areas of the world that desperately need a strong foundation to live as Christ-followers.
For Christians, theology is the lens through which the Gospel is projected to the world. Therefore, good theological training is essential to the spiritual development of Christians and to their edification of society. While abundant training resources–seminary level course books, video series, small group workbooks for example–exist in English, there often aren’t similar resources available for Christians who don’t speak English.
In fact, for many Christian communities, there is little or no theological material available in their native language.
The consequences of this shortage are powerful:
There are almost 400 million speakers of Farsi, Azeri, Armenian, Kurdish, Urdu and Turkish with some of the oldest Christian communities among them. Muslims in the Middle East are seeking Jesus and converting to Christianity at unprecedented rates. Yet they have no systematic biblical training resources in their language to grow in their faith or teach others. This leads to Christian communities that lack depth in areas of the world that desperately need a strong foundation to live as Christ-followers.
For Christians, theology is the lens through which the Gospel is projected to the world. Therefore, good theological training is essential to the spiritual development of Christians and to their edification of society. While abundant training resources–seminary level course books, video series, small group workbooks for example–exist in English, there often aren’t similar resources available for Christians who don’t speak English.
In fact, for many Christian communities, there is little or no theological material available in their native language.
The consequences of this shortage are powerful:
- Pastors and leaders are ill-equipped to teach and care for their congregations and communities
- Earnest, motivated Christians aren’t able to have the Gospel impact they might otherwise have
- Many Christian communities are entirely dependent upon one or two trained pastors (and often falter when that pastor moves or–as in the persecuted church–is removed from his position)
Christians need sound spiritual development resources in their language.
Without them, there is theological famine and spiritual death.
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Languages
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Million People
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Our Solution
Jude Project has partnered with multiple agencies to translate and distribute a digital Pastor’s Library of 250 essential theological texts that would give a solid foundation for the spiritual leadership of the region.
Alongside this effort, we are translating a Spiritual Growth Library of another 250 books that will be helpful for believers of all maturity and leadership levels to be able to grow in their own faith and disciple or counsel others.
These 500 books will be translated into five strategically chosen languages; chosen because of the exponential growth yet under resourced nature of the church among those people groups.
Biblical training matters.
Biblical training makes a tangible difference in the lives of Christians around the world. Here are a few examples of how our work impacts the lives of others:
Why it hasn’t been done…yet.
Our work requires a very particular–and scarce–combination of skills and knowledge. Due to the complexity of the subject matter, our translators must be qualified linguists as well as trained theologians.
We have a gifted group of translators and editors who use their remarkable abilities to advance the Gospel. We support them with advanced training, financial assistance, and project management.
Your support helps us to fulfill our mission. We cannot do it without your help.
Alongside this effort, we are translating a Spiritual Growth Library of another 250 books that will be helpful for believers of all maturity and leadership levels to be able to grow in their own faith and disciple or counsel others.
These 500 books will be translated into five strategically chosen languages; chosen because of the exponential growth yet under resourced nature of the church among those people groups.
Biblical training matters.
Biblical training makes a tangible difference in the lives of Christians around the world. Here are a few examples of how our work impacts the lives of others:
- Pastors and other leaders finally have the resources they need to fulfill their calling
- Small groups (and even whole churches) are supplied with training resources in their language
- Individual Christians are able to personally study scripture and grow in their relationship with God
Why it hasn’t been done…yet.
Our work requires a very particular–and scarce–combination of skills and knowledge. Due to the complexity of the subject matter, our translators must be qualified linguists as well as trained theologians.
We have a gifted group of translators and editors who use their remarkable abilities to advance the Gospel. We support them with advanced training, financial assistance, and project management.
Your support helps us to fulfill our mission. We cannot do it without your help.
Our library will eradicate Biblical illiteracy and equip every Christian for spiritual growth.
One momentous effort can end the theological famine forever for the entire region.
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Pastor's Library
Books
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Lay Library
Resources
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Distributed
% Free
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VisionWe want every Christian to have access to sound theological resource in their own language. That is why we are working to build a complete digital library for Christians in the Middle East. |
MissionThe mission of the JUDE PROJECT is to translate and publish biblical training resources for Christians in the Middle East. We believe that making biblical training resources freely available is the best way to facilitate individual spiritual growth, build and support strong Gospel centered churches, and—ultimately—to advance the Gospel in the Middle East. |
Current Projects
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SHABAN Magazine
In December 2015, Jude Project TALIM Ministries started a partnership to renew and continue the publication of Shaban magazine. Shaban— meaning Shepherd in Farsi—is a quarterly magazine published to encourage, train, and equip Farsi speaking ministers and pastors all around the world. The new Shaban is heavily focused on pastoral training, biblical preaching to ensure house church movement among Farsi speaking world is focused on fundamental sound biblical doctrines. Today, our focus is to enrich the content of this magazine to be able to cover more topics the Iranian and Afghan church is wrestling with. |
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Christian Counseling Series
Through our partnership with the New Growth Press, we have started translating and publishing 100 mini-books on Christian counseling. These books serve as a quick reference guide to counselors and pastors among Iranian believers throughout the word who wrestle with whole host of issues from depression to abortion and pornography. We have completed 8 projects so far and we hope to finish this project by 2020 with 100 books available to our partners all around the globe working with Farsi speakers. You can support us to complete this project. |
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Reformed Catechisms Project in Farsi
Our team is working on translating and publishing three confessional reformed documents in Farsi: Westminster Shorter Catechism, Westminster larger Catechism, and Heidelberg Catechism. All three projects are funded by our friends and supporters in 2017 and we hope to deliver all three by Fall 2018. |