How is God's Word Reaching Those in Nations Hostile to the Gospel? Here's How...

News Release : Dec 3, 2014
Wycliffe Associates

"Just like the apostle Paul, these are first-generation Believers. They risk their lives to live what they believe. More than anything, they want to share the hope of God's Word with their people. They are willing to do whatever it takes."

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, a global organization that empowers national Bible translators around the world, is enhancing its efforts to provide indigenous Christians in one of the most dangerous regions of the world with resources for Bible translation. (Photo via Wycliffe)

In an endeavor called Scriptures for New Frontiers, the Orlando-based nonprofit is providing national Bible translation teams with training and technology in geographical areas where Christians and Westerners are viewed as enemies.

"Wycliffe Associates is committed to equipping these brave Believers with the training and technology they need to keep them as safe and productive as possible," says Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.

In the Scriptures for New Frontiers area, there are nearly 1,000 languages without the Scriptures, representing 280 million people.

Wycliffe Associates is helping to facilitate training for local, underground Bible translators and is also providing digital Scripture distribution and open-source Bible translation technology.

In addition, the organization has recently launched Open Bible Stories, 21 Old Testament and 29 New Testament Bible stories that can be typically translated in six weeks or less. (Photo via Wycliffe)

Some members of the national translation teams are former members of well-known terrorist organizations whose objectives were to expose and eliminate Christians. Now those groups are targeting these translators.

"Just like the apostle Paul, these are first-generation Believers," says Smith. "They risk their lives to live what they believe. More than anything, they want to share the hope of God's Word with their people. They are willing to do whatever it takes."

Wycliffe Associates is seeking to raise more than $204,000 to provide the necessary resources to support Scriptures for New Frontiers translation efforts in the next year.

There are currently 2,195 languages in the world in which Bible translation is in progress. Of the nearly 7,000 languages currently spoken in the world, there are 1,860 languages that need a Bible translation project started. Of the 2,883 languages that have Scripture, 531 have an adequate Bible, 1,329 have an adequate New Testament, and 1,023 have at least one book of the Bible.

About Wycliffe Associates
Organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators, Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God's Word in their own language; partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God's Word; and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to read the Scriptures in the language of their heart, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God's Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. So far this year, 2,544 Wycliffe Associates team members worked to speed Bible translations in 66 different countries.