An international organization is making the Bible accessible to overlooked oral-based cultures.

The World Evangelical Alliance has declared that 2020 will be the "Global Year of The Bible." That statement is based on the goal that has been in the works for centuries. The is that by 2020 they would like to translate and distribute the Bible in every written language in the world.

 However, not everyone communicates through the written word which is why Spoken Worldwide's Ed Weaver says it's important to reach those who share history orally. He believes that many groups around the world are being overlooked when the Bible is not available orally.

“There’s a contingent of people that we still have to convince the oral learning is legitimate."

Spoken Worldwide works with oral ministry partners that work to make the Bible more accessible. The organization works to teach others to share the Gospels or the Old Testament and has been developing oral formats for non-narrative sections of the Bible as well. 

"I think all 66 books need to be made available to everyone, regardless of their ability to read,” Weaver says to Missionary Network News.

He believes there is no limit to what oral learners should have access to. “The Global Year of The Bible is really exciting to me is we can start focusing on this and truly make it available to everybody,” Weaver says.

"God loves the reader and the nonreader and He wants both of them drawn to Him through His Word."

Unfortunately, Weaver says there are some barriers to Spoken Worldwide's growth. “There’s a contingent of people that we still have to convince the oral learning is legitimate.

“Those that are literate, let’s give them literate means to study the Word of God. Those that are oral learners, let’s give them oral meaning. So let’s take a passage of Scripture and instead of putting it to paper, let’s use recordings to be able to make that passage available. It’s not necessarily a quicker process, but it’s a natural process,” Weaver says.

Weaver hopes that this 2020, minds and hearts will be opened and "everyone begins to see that God loves the reader and the nonreader and He wants both of them drawn to Him through His Word," Weaver says.