Final touches underway for Bible House

During its 39th annual general assembly held in Kampala on April 26, the Bible Society of Uganda (BSU) celebrated the construction of the Bible House which is in its final stages of completion, according to Justice Mike Chibita, the president of the Bible Society board of governors.

 “The New Bible House Project initiated in August 2021 has faced delays due to financial challenges. However, I am pleased to report that we are nearing completion with only the final stages remaining. Potential tenants have expressed interest and we are optimistic that our engagements will yield positive outcomes,” Rev Fr Dr Mark Sajjabbi, chairperson BSU board of governors said, adding that the contractors will hand over the building in the coming few weeks.

 The event also revealed BSU’s new general secretary, Peter Serumaga Lumbuye who replaced the late Simon Peter Mukhama who passed away on May 12, 2023.
 Serumaga explained that international support and contributions from churches and bible society life members have enhanced the construction process.

 “If every life member recruits at least three or four members, we shall be able to pay back our bank loan so that the house can be operational.  The seven floor building is open for rent from which we hope to raise money to save us from the challenge of looking for donors from outside, “Serumaga said.
 The Bible Society propagates the work of the Bible by translating it into different languages and distributing it as affordably as possible.
 
Bible translation
 According to Serumaga it takes eight to 12 years to translate a Bible, “with more finances, we shall be able to engage more people to help us in the translation and engagement projects. We call upon churches to encourage all christians to read the scriptures, because with the scriptures, they will have a foundation that will help us to grow spiritually within our hearts and within the body of the church.”

 Serumaga added: “The new Bible house will also help to subsidise the cost of the Bible so it can be affordable to the common man. We have dedicated one floor to support providing scriptures for the blind. Because their eyes are in their hands  and getting this scripture into their hands is quite costly. A braille Bible costs $500(approximately Shs 2 million).”

 In September 2023, BSU launched the New Testament through the Rufumbira Translation project which fulfilled Rufumbira speaking communities’ dream of accessing scripture in their language and strengthened their bonds with the Bible Society of Uganda.

 Other projects committed to bridging the linguistic divides and nurture spiritual connections within diverse communities included, Kebhutu and Ludadiri Oral Bible Translation projects, Lukhonzo, Kupsabiny and Ma’adi North Translation projects as well as Ateso and Acoli Bible revision projects. Among these projects, the Acoli Bible revision is nearing its completion.
  Despite the increase in the number of people embracing digital versions of the holy book leading to a decline in the use of physical bibles, Serumaga underscored the importance of printed Bible distribution.

 “Printed Bible distribution is a key pillar emphasised by the World Assembly. This year, distribution was affected by the global economic challenges that tampered with the availability of raw materials that are used for printing, and the wars that affected shipping routes. We continue to pray to God for sustainability,” he said.

Membership
  “When you become a life member of the BSU, you are committing that you are willing to support the BSU work for life as long as the Lord provides,” Serumaga explained, adding that they have been able to run eight Bible engagement projects reaching 250,000 people directly targeting special audiences such as the blind, prisoners, illiterate, traumatised children, the elderly, women and market vendors.

 “A new project known as the Young Samaritan was launched in November 2023. This project aims at empowering, equipping, and enabling young people to integrate responsible decision-making for themselves and the community development,” said Serumaga.
BSU has so far translated the Bible into 21 languages and has nine translation projects running with a target to have the Bible in all the languages in the country.

 To date, BSU has 2,000 life members who pay Shs1million to BSU at once or in installments within one year which enables it to carry out different programmes.
 The general assembly consists of  members of the Bible Society, who include members from all the Christian denominations, Bible-believing churches who come together to support the work of the Bible Society.