Five hundred years ago, William Tyndale helped change the course of history by translating the New Testament into English, driven by the conviction that ordinary people should be able to read the Bible for themselves. For that belief, he was forced into exile and ultimately executed, but his vision transformed how millions of people encountered Scripture.
Half a millennium later, that same conviction continues to inspire Christians around the world. As churches mark the 500th anniversary of Tyndale’s New Testament, Bible ministry EEM is launching its largest-ever distribution campaign in his name, aiming to place more than a million Bibles into the hands of people across dozens of countries.
Dirk Smith, president of mission agency EEM, recently visited Britain to retrace Tyndale’s footsteps and meet church leaders to explore future partnerships.
Christian Today spoke with Smith to hear more about the reformer’s enduring legacy, the growing demand for Bibles around the world, and what the Church in Britain can learn from places where Bible engagement is flourishing.
CT: You visited places connected with Tyndale’s life while in Britain. As you’ve retraced his footsteps, what has struck you the most and why do you think his story is still so inspiring after 500 years?
Dirk Smith: What’s inspiring to me is that he gave us the New Testament in English - 80 to 90 per cent of our present-day Bible is Tyndale's translation. Many scholars have looked at it and nobody has been able to improve on that.
The second thing is his brilliance. As a young man, he learned eight languages and became fluent in them. This is the 1500s - life was a lot harder back then - but he stayed the course because he… knew from the Greek that Scripture brought freedom. It's really what Jesus came to provide for all of us - to know the truth so it will set you free. And that's the very thing that people at that time didn't have.
Now, why is it relevant? Unfortunately, today, people don’t know what this man went through - his commitment and passion, even when being strangled and burned to death. Even in that moment he cried out, "Lord, open the eyes of the king." That's the dedication he had to get the Bible into the common man's hands and to let them read it and meet Jesus and to recognise there's only one way to the Father - through Jesus. He knew that to get to know Jesus, people needed to have the Bible in their heart language so that they could open it up and read it for themselves. That was Tyndale's commitment.
Unfortunately, for us in the English-speaking world, we are so spoiled. We have more than 500 translations and yet the research shows that we don't open our Bibles; we don't read it. We're not engaging with the Creator of this world. God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us; that's the message you get through Scripture and yet we don't care. We are so self-reliant, so self-sufficient and arrogant. We live like we don't need anything, especially not the Creator. We deny His existence and do exactly what Scripture tells us will be our downfall. It’s all because we’re not in His word; we're not meditating on it.
So, Tyndale’s work has never been more relevant. In London, it’s just awe-inspiring to walk around and see the Tyndale statue, the Tyndale Bible in the British Library, and another original text in St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s such a small book - and deliberately so, so that it could be smuggled into the hands of people who wanted it. It was such a complex operation to smuggle it in. Yet here we are today, we have it and we don’t care.
This book has survived all this time; it has been tested and retested. So Tyndale’s is a name that needs to be known. He shouldn’t just be a statue in some park that people walk by and have no idea who that old guy is.
CT: EEM distributes more than two million Bibles a year across 35 countries. What does that scale of demand tell us about spiritual hunger in the world today?
Dirk Smith: Last year we delivered 2.2 million books in 33 languages across 37 countries. People who’ve never had a Bible before are asking for one and we're delivering it to them. Yet the sad thing is that the total number of books requested was 4 million. So to these people we have to say “not yet” simply because we don’t have enough funds or personnel. I don't get a lot of sleep when I'm faced with that reality.
Obviously one of the translations that is highly sought after is Ukrainian because there are many Ukrainian refugees who have left their countries and internally displaced people whose Bible was destroyed so we're providing replacements for them. We're getting requests from Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Poland, all the neighbouring countries around Ukraine.
But we're also seeing an increase in demand for Bibles in Russia. It's so easy for us as human beings to go, "Russians bad; Ukrainians good." No, everybody's just people and we are faced with the reality that we can't put our hope in anything but Jesus.
With so many wars and conflict and turmoil, the foundation is shaking and people are questioning the purpose of life and looking for hope. Jesus tells us not to put our hope in the world because it’s going to let you down every single time. But people are seeing Christianity lived out through Christians who are engaged with their Bibles and they’re saying, “Man, I want what you have.” It's truly Christianity lived out and authentic discipleship.
CT: In a world where digital content is everywhere, why does a physical Bible still matter so much to the people you serve?
Dirk Smith: We’ve been asked numerous times, “Are you doing any digital Bibles?” My answer is: we're going to provide what they ask for and they're asking for print Bibles. They're not asking for digital Bibles; they want a physical Bible and there's a number of reasons for that.
In the part of the world that we're working in, there’s electronic surveillance; Christians can be tracked. Even with radio, the government can block signals and scramble it. But they can't stop a book. Also, ebook content can be changed. Instead of ‘God’, it might be changed to ‘a higher power’. But print cannot easily be changed.
The other reason comes from an educational and a learning perspective. More countries are going back to books - Sweden being one of the most recent. They are getting rid of electronic devices in their schools and going back to books. Why? Because reading comprehension goes up exponentially when you have a book due to tactile learning. When we physically read and turn pages and use a pen to highlight or take notes, it locks information in our brain better than on a device, just swiping. Plus, I can't give somebody my phone necessarily and I can't easily share what's on it. But I can share a Bible.
Of course, 15 years ago, we thought electronics were going to take over everything and wondered if people would even want Bibles. But like I said, we had 4 million requests. That’s 4 million people saying, “I want a Bible in my heart language because I’ve never had one before.” So we’re going to provide whatever people ask for and the only requests we get are for print books.
CT: What might the Church in Britain learn from parts of the world where Bible engagement is growing fast?
Dirk Smith: The fastest growing movement of the global church is in Iran. And the crazy thing is that the people doing the discipling are the women - they are turning and discipling their abusers. Now that’s an upside-down Jesus economy right there. That’s a life that’s been transformed and has said, “You abuse me because you’re hurting and I love you enough that I’m risking everything. I’m going to talk to you about Jesus and risk being abused again.” To the outside world, that doesn't make sense, but that’s a life that’s been transformed. That’s a William Tyndale life that says, “I know I’m going to the stake and I’m going to be burned.” He knew that, but I’m doing it anyway because people need to know Jesus. When a life is truly transformed, risks go out the door.
CT: You’ve spent years helping distribute God's Word around the world. How has that shaped your own faith?
Dirk Smith: I’ll never forget the Roma Gypsies. We had just completed a dialect in their language, and a lady got a copy of it for the first time. She’d never had a Bible in her dialect and she opened it and started reading it. With tears, she said, “Oh, you mean God speaks my language?” And I’ve seen that in language after language, and people group after people group. When somebody gets a copy of the Bible, and they open it up and can read it, tears fill up. That just absolutely inspires me because it reminds me that I have this already. But am I really engaging? Am I meditating on it? And that’s why for the last 15 years, I don't say I have a job. I say I’ve got a calling.
