Mission: To glorify God by promoting and participating in a movement of the Church worldwide to make disciples of all nations through Bible translation. Vision: By 2025, a Bible translation program will be in progress in every language needing one. Vision 2025 is an impossible vision that will only be made possible through God's guidance and the partnership of national Bible translation organizations, churches, governments, universities, other missions, communities and individual believers. Working together, the "impossible" is possible in this generation. FACTS
Wycliffe International is an integrated family of 49 Wycliffe Member Organizations in more than 40 nations, plus 15 official partner organizations. Wycliffe International facilitates strategies and activities among these organizations to fulfill the mission and vision through:
Engaging the Church worldwide to meet the challenge of reaching people groups without adequate Scriptures. Building and maintaining effective relationships among member organizations. Cultivating and participating in strategic partnerships.
Wycliffe organizations mobilize prayer, people and financial support for Bible translation. Wycliffe International helps equip these organizations to share the vision, maximize resources, and minister effectively so that all peoples can have access to God's Word in their heart language.
Wycliffe was founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend. A short-term missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala, Townsend caught the vision for translation when he saw that the Spanish language Bibles he was distributing did not reach the hearts and needs of the Cakchiquel-speaking people.
Townsend resolved that every man, woman and child should be able to read God's Word in their own language. Borrowing the name of the Reformation hero, John Wycliffe, who first translated the Bible into English, Townsend founded "Camp Wycliffe" in 1934 as a linguistics training school. He also completed a New Testament translation with the Cakchiquel people. He was a lifelong champion for all the world's Bibleless peoples.
Young Townsend's "failed" short-term missions trip led to the creation of two international organizations, Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now known as SIL). Today thousands of people from around the world are dedicated to seeing lives transformed through Scripture in the heart language.
FIGURES Worldwide Bible Translation Statistics*
- World Population—6.5 billion
- Languages spoken in the world—6,909 [Ethnologue, 16th Edition, 2008]
- Languages with probable need of Bible translation—2,393 representing 200 million people
- Languages with some or all of the Bible—2,454. Of these, 438 have an adequate Bible; 1,168 have an adequate New Testament; 848 have Scripture portions [UBS 2007] (Wycliffe has participated in work for over half of all languages receiving translated Scriptures.)
- Languages included in translation, linguistic, or literacy programs known to be in progress
worldwide—1,998 reaching an estimated 1.2 billion people (all known programs being carried out by any organization)
- New language programs begun in Bibleless language communities since October 1, 1999 (the beginning of Vision 2025)—641 (Wycliffe involved in 526—82%)
Wycliffe Participation in Bible Translation
- Countries represented by the languages in which Wycliffe personnel are working—93 (including work among people who live outside their traditional homeland).
Translation— Over the more than 70 years of history, Wycliffe personnel has been involved in the translation of 740 New Testaments and Bibles representing over 82 million people.
Production—In 2007, Wycliffe personnel were involved in the completion of 1 Bible; 6 New Testaments; 5 JESUS film productions, 4 Luke videos and 2 Genesis videos.
Wycliffe supported personnel—6,486 workers. Partners at the local, national, regional and international levels include thousands of additional people committed to Bible translation, literacy and the other language development needs of minority peoples.
- Personnel needed—Over 3,000 ongoing needs for linguist/translators, literacy specialists, trainers, project managers, computer specialists, accountants, administrative support workers, and a wide range of other professional roles.
- Organizations that are a part of Wycliffe International—48 member organizations, 29 recognized partner organizations.
*These statistics offer the most current estimates available. Ongoing improvements in information gathering may result in occasional discrepancies in the totals from year to year. Statistics presented here cover July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008.
Wycliffe's vision is to see that a Bible translation program will be in progress in every language that needs one by the year 2025.
For more information about Wycliffe Bible Translators please visit www.wycliffe.net |
