On 30 January 2015, the Institute for Bible Translation in Russia/CIS celebrated the 20th anniversary of our official registration as a bona fide Russian organization. Since 1995, IBT staff and our partners in other Bible translation organizations have been working on translating Holy Scripture into more than 60 languages in the former USSR. In these past two decades, IBT Russia has translated and published 2 first-ever full Bibles (Tuvan and Chechen), 19 New Testaments (including Bashkir, which is currently at the print house in Ufa), 15 Children’s Bibles, 5 Pentateuchs, 7 Psalters, and many other smaller Scripture publications. Audio recordings of Scripture portions are now available in 38 languages. Four more first-ever full Bibles (Crimean Tatar, Tatar, Turkmen and Uzbek) are on the immediate agenda for publication in 2016. 45 training seminars have been held for our translation teams since 1995.
At the present time, IBT is continuing to translate the Scriptures into 40 languages of Russia and its neighboring countries. The full Tatar Bible is currently being prepared for printing in our publishing department, and we likewise expect to print the full Bible in Crimean Tatar, Turkmen and Uzbek in the near future.
A hearty thanks to all who labored with us and supported us during the past two decades! The staff of IBT will continue working to provide Holy Scripture to many more ethnic groups in their mother tongue in the coming years.