Missionary leaders from over 34 countries convened at the Museum of the Bible on Monday morning to launch A.D. 2020 Global Year of the Bible, a first-of-its-kind evangelical initiative endorsed by Roman Catholic Pope Francis.
The movement, which is a collaboration of like-minded organizations, aims to affirm and promote the value of the Bible for all people and calls for an end to Bible poverty at a time when over 1,600 languages lack New and Old Testament translation.
The movement also seeks to restore the significance of the Bible in traditionally-Christian Western cultures where children are increasingly growing up without exposure to the Gospel or a biblical worldview.
Organizers hope that the Global Year of the Bible will ultimately spur momentum to make the 2020s the “Decade of the Bible.”
“Many of us have envisioned A.D. 2020 Global Year of the Bible as a catalyst for perhaps a second Reformation that is centered around the word of God united by the grace, the power and the wisdom of God,” said Lloyd Estrada, global advocate for Bible engagement with the World Evangelical Alliance, a network of evangelical alliances in 130 countries.
“By the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can make this happen.”
As part of the initiative, several stadium-sized events will be organized by various organizations in which thousands will come to pray and worship. The initiative will also facilitate partnerships between like-minded organizations worldwide to accelerate Bible literacy efforts.
Along with WEA, organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, Youth With a Mission, American Bible Society, Call2All and others had representatives present at the launch event in the nation’s capital this week. Over 500 leaders and organizations from 200 countries are endorsers of A.D. 2020 Global Year of the Bible.
“The 600 million evangelicals in local churches all over the world are the potential partners of the plans, [the resources], the programs or the products that you are thinking of for A.D. 2020 Global Year of the Bible,” Estrada told leaders during the event. “With a local church, the effectiveness of this year-long campaign could be limitless.”
While there have been Year of the Bible efforts held in the past — such as the national Year of the Bible declared by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1983 — there has never been an initiative like this held on a global scale, according to Call2All president Mark Anderson.