Life without a bible app

How many times has your youth worker at church asked you to, ‘Pull out your Bible app’? Amazingly, the Bible app (YouVersion) has been installed on more than 500 million unique devices all over the world!

In the UK, it looks like the Bible has never been more accessible, as we download so many different versions of free Bibles. These include:

360 million Christians persecuted around the world

Sadly, there are still many countries where it’s illegal to download a Bible app or have a Bible in your house. Places where Christians caught carrying a Bible could be arrested, tortured or killed.

YouVersion Bible app — contains many different Bible translations, including The Message, and aims to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading of the Bible:

According to Open Doors, an amazing charity which delivers Bibles and other resources that bring hope, ‘Over 360 million Christians suffer persecution and discrimination. They follow Jesus, no matter the cost.’ The organisation helps Christians in more than 60 countries, trains leaders and raises awareness about global persecution.

No shops. No Wi-Fi. No Bibles.

Streetlights Bible app — aims to engage teens who struggle with reading but connect with music:

The Bible Project app — captures whole Bible stories in accessible and interactive video form.

The Bible, according to Guinness World Records, remains the bestselling book of all time, having sold between 5 to 7 billion copies worldwide.

In countries where thousands of communities don’t have access to the Bible, MAF not only delivers copies of God’s Word to people living in isolation but works with organisations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, whose mission is to bring the Bible to remote communities in the language which speaks to them best.

Bibles by boat, preachers by plane

MAF regularly flies organisations like Open Doors, Wycliffe Bible Translators and many other incredible agencies, helping missionaries who’ve dedicated their lives to making the Bible accessible to the world’s people.

In Timor-Leste, MAF’s planes mainly carry out more than 250 life-saving medical emergency airlifts each year. They also help missions, relief and development workers to serve some of the country’s remotest and most isolated areas.

Kadi, one of the organisations we fly, supports churches across Timor-Leste and provides people with basic needs such as clean drinking water, food security and healthcare.

Pastor Samuel Soares, Kadi’s director, said they’d worked with local churches to prepare books in Tetun, one of Timor-Leste’s widely spoken local languages.

Although MAF has flown thousands of Bibles to some of the world’s most isolated areas, the plane had only enough room for Pastor Soares’ team to either reach some high school teenagers on a remote island or transport the 12 boxes of Bibles they wanted to give them.

So it was decided to send the Bibles ahead on a three-hour boat journey from the capital Dili to Atauro Island. The 15-minute MAF flight, however, prevented Pastor Soares’ team from taking a dangerous and tiring 3-hour boat trip!

MAF Pilot Jan Klassen and the Kadi team distributing Bibles

As Pastor Samuel Soares explained, 'We sent the 12 packages containing a total of 400 translated Bible books by boat the day before, and we're going to distribute them to the students at the high school. We hope the translated Bible books are the way God can communicate to the people of Timor-Leste through their mother language.'

MAF Pilot Jan Klassen was delighted to help the organisation share God’s Word in such a relevant way, saying, 'It's a privilege for me to provide the transportation and to help overcome barriers for the Kadi missionary team.

‘Since MAF shares the same vision with many Christian missionary organisations, I believe it's very important for us pilots to have a good relationship with them and to serve their needs as well as we can. Rather than serve ourselves, we serve isolated people in need, and our God!'