Week of Prayer daily devotions now reaching Arabic-speaking audience

Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

From The World Council of Churches Website

Source: https://bit.ly/2KuY0kA

For the first time, a Bible app is making daily devotions during the 2021 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity available in an Arabic translation provided by the Middle East Council of Churches.

This adds access for more than 400 million Arabic-speaking people, including a growing number of Christians, said Huguette Salameh, Communication director for the Middle East Council of Churches.

“In the Middle East, traditional ecumenical celebrations for the Week of Prayer had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Salameh. “So we are all the more excited to give Christians a new way of joining in the Week of Prayer: conveniently accessing daily devotions via their mobile or computer from their own home via the Bible app.”

WCC Communication director Marianne Ejdersten noted that the new Arabic material is a vital addition for an app that includes 2,062 Bible versions in 1,372 languages. “It’s important to be able to pray in your own language—the language of your heart,” she said.

The app, produced by YouVersion, has already been installed on more than 450 million devices by users across the world, allowing them to read the Bible, share verses via social media, and bookmark favourite passages.

Access the Week of Prayer 2020 material via the YouVersion Bible reader in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.