7 Smart Phone Apps for Reaching the Nations Among Us

As we head out into diverse neighborhoods in our city, we often run into new Americans, people who've just recently come to North America and who have yet to master the English language.  Like first generation immigrants from years past, they'll probably never master English, working rather to earn a living and give their children a chance at a better life than they had.  

As someone interested in sharing the good news of Jesus with these new neighbors, this poses an interesting challenge. 
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• How do we communicate? 
• How do we build relationship? 
• How do we tell the story of Jesus?

Technology offers a way around this challenge.  There are some amazing apps that you can use to help  share the good news of Jesus with the nations among us.  These can be found by searching for the apps below on either your iPhone or Android phone.  

Here are seven smart phone apps for reaching the nations among us that we have found helpful.  As always, if you know of others, please share them in the comments below.

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Google Translate

Google translate is getting crazy good at translating. It's not perfect and it is capable of making interesting and at times embarassing mistakes, but it is very helpful for communicating with those whose languages we haven't mastered yet.  

The "conversation" function allows you to simply set your phone in between you and your new friend and talk.  It picks up your English and quickly translates it audibly to most target languags.  Your friend responds and it translates to English.  No typing. No pushing buttons.  

Google translate is not perfect but it can be a useful tool to begin a conversation.  You can use it online here:  https://translate.google.com/

Bible.is

There are a lot of Bible apps out there and others are probably better than Bible.is for functionality and reading plans and other bells and whistles.  Bible.is has more languages available than any other app though and so it is a must have for anyone interested in diaspora ministry.  With over 1,400 languages available, the Bible.is app is helpful when beginning to build relationships with new friends whose native language is something other than English. 

Bible.is has a number of features that are helpful.  If there is an audio version of the particular language, you can use it to listen to the language.  I know a friend who was doing a creation to Christ Bible study with a Somali family and he'd simply place his phone in a bowl on the table (for amplification) and play the chapter of the Bible they were exploring that week.  The family would listen in Somali and then they'd discuss the passage. 

Learn more here:  http://www.bible.is/

 Jesus Film Media

The Jesus Film has been used by the Lord for nearly 40 years and through it, millions of people all across the globe have come to faith in Christ.  Now the Jesus Film has found it's way onto your smart phones and the app is really pretty amazing.  

The Jesus Film has been translated into oveer 1,600 languages and by using the app's "Map" function, you can simply find the country your friend is from on the map of the world, click on the country pin and find the Jesus film in their language.  Push play and within seconds, they will hear their language being spoken as the Jesus film begins.  

Learn more here:  https://www.jesusfilm.org/

5 Fish

5 Fish is an app that has consolodated all the available audio and video gospel resources available for each language.  You can search by country name or language name.  When you find the language of your new friend, it will give you access to whatever resources are availble in that language.  

​A good way to explore the resources is to search for the resources in English.  This will allow you to listen in English first so you know what they are listening to.   5 Fish brings a lot of great resources (including the Jesus Film) into one place.

Learn more here:  ​https://5fish.mobi/

God Tools

Devleloped by Cru, the God Tools app has six great "tools" for sharing the gospel.  The app allows you to search through the list of tools and select the ones you want to use.  You can find apps in parallel languages that allow you to see each page of the particular study in English and in the other language with the click of a button.  

One tool that will be helpful is called Honor Restored and it shares the gospel through the lens of honor and shame.  This app is simple to use and there are tools available in over 70 languages.

Learn more here:  ​https://godtoolsapp.com

M28 Global Discipleship

When beginning to engage new friends with the word of God when you don't know their language,  discovery Bible study (DBS) is a helpful way to go.  With DBS, you don't need to rely on your ability to explain concepts but rather focus on allowing the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to be the teacher.  

The M28 Global Discipleship app will help you facilitate a DBS with your new friends.  It will equip you to lead a DBS and walk you through the process.  Coupled with the Bible.is app and Google translate, anyone can lead a creation to Christ DBS even if you don't know how to say anything more than hello in your new friends language.

Learn more here:  http://www.m28global.org/

Google Earth

​This may seem like a strange app to finish out our list with, but there is something special that happens when you open up Google Earth and find your friends home village on the map.  When you zoom into their neighborhood and perhaps even to their house -- well it's pretty special and a lot of fun.  

It also expresses a level of concern and shows that you want to really know about them and their story.  It allows you to enter into their story, to walk the streets of their home town, a place that they've left, probably for good.   And then it's interesting to show them the street that you grew up on.  

Learn more here:  https://www.google.com/earth/

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We hope that these smart phone apps will help you out in the harvest among the nations.  If you know of other helpful apps, be sure and share them in the comments below.

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