Expect explosive growth in faith movements to Christ
Quotes from Christian leaders about Bible translation into the heart language:
DR. RALPH WINTER, FOUNDER - U.S. CENTER FOR WORLD MISSIONS (QUOTE FROM MISSIONS FRONTIER MAGAZINE-SEPT/OCT ’06)
“As I have often reported in this column, the Bible itself is now clearly ‘out of control’ in many parts of the world. Wycliffe Bible Translators are right: once people get the Bible into their own language, you can readily expect what in many cases will be explosive growth in ‘faith movements to Christ.’”
GEORGE MURRAY, PRESIDENT, COLUMBIA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
“I rejoice in the work that Wycliffe is doing and heartily support Vision 2025. The translation of God's Word into the heart language of every people group is critical for the accomplishment of the Great Commission.”
JERRY RANKIN, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD, SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
“God is moving in unprecedented ways to reach a lost world as we move into the 21st century. Previously unreached people groups are systematically being engaged with the gospel and restricted nations are being impacted by creative access strategies. One of the most exciting factors in this global mission advance is the 2025 Vision of Wycliffe Bible Translators to accelerate Bible translation. Innovative strategies are providing the Word of God to more people and in more languages, anchoring them in the truth of the Scripture. With God's Word, indigenous leadership are equipped to nurture new churches and spread the gospel far beyond the limited witness of missionary personnel. As the Bible becomes more accessible our vision of the Great Commission being fulfilled becomes more of a reality.”
MORGAN JACKSON, INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, FAITH COMES BY HEARING
“We believe that Bible Translation and Vision 2025 are critical to fulfilling the Great Commission ‘to make disciples of all nations (languages).’ We are honored to do Audio recordings of all the Bibles that Wycliffe so faithfully translates. We are one of Wycliffe's and Vision 2025’s greatest supporters, and we urge everyone to join us in supporting Wycliffe in their Vision 2025 with your lives and resources.”
STEVE DOUGLASS, PRESIDENT, CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST
“We cannot do what we do in the Jesus Film Project without the work of Bible translation and Wycliffe Bible Translators. People deserve to hear the good news in their heart language. The partnership between JFP, CCCI, and Wycliffe is one of the means God is using to accomplish this and thereby help fulfill the Great Commission.”
RICK HICKS, PRESIDENT, OPERATION MOBILIZATION
"God chooses to reveal Himself through His Word. It is crucial to have God's Word available to every people group, especially in their own language. Therefore, Bible translation, and the work of Wycliffe, is of the utmost importance in fulfilling the Great Commission, not only to present the Gospel, but also for the discipling of new believers."
A LOCAL PASTOR, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
A pastor in the Central African Republic urged his fellow pastors to promote literacy programs in their churches. He said, “We should not think that we pastors are the only ones who have the right to read the Bible and share its contents with Christians. If we monopolize God’s Word, we actually prevent the members of our congregations from growing spiritually, and we should not be astonished to see that they are unable to practice the things that we tell them are from the Lord. On the day that many Christians are able to read God’s Word for themselves, we will have less trouble communicating God's will to them. They will be able to check directly in the Word of God for themselves the truth of what we ask them to do.”
DR. J. RONALD BLUE, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR IN WORLD MISSIONS & INTERCULTURAL STUDIES, DALLAS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
"Many people think that cross-cultural church planting is very complicated. It isn't. It involves essentially just two things: First, live among the people and win their friendship. Second, at the earliest possible moment get them into intimate contact with this Book."
INDONESIAN PASTOR
(After attending a translators workshop)
“In this one week I learned more than in all my years of theological training in terms of how to get the meaning out of a text and translate it. This is good for my ministry. I though having the Bible in our own language was too lofty a dream for reality. But now I see how important and do-able it really is.”
PA BATES, AN EJAGHAM MAN IN CAMEROON
(upon hearing that the New Testament would be completed in his language within a year)
“I had never thought that God could understand and even speak Ejagham, because I had never met any preacher since I was baptized 50 years ago who preached in Ejagham, much less read God’s Word in Ejagham. Now… I am pleased to know that God will understand me when I talk my language to Him.”
LAMIN SANNEH, AUTHOR, WHOSE RELIGIOIN IS CHRISTIANITY: THE GOSPEL BEYOND THE WEST
"Translation is the church's birthmark as well as it missionary benchmark: the church would be unrecognizable or unsustainable without it.
"Translation is profoundly related to the original conception of the Gospel: God, who has no linguistic favorites, has determined that we should all have the Good News in our native tongue."
BEDIAKO, REV. DR. KWAME — DIRECTOR OF AKROFI-CHRISTALLER MEMORIAL CENTRE FOR MISSION RESEARCH AND APPLIED THEOLOGY, AKROPONG-AKUAPEM, GHANA
"Mother-tongue Scripture has a fundamental place in the engagement of gospel and culture... Our mother tongue is the language in which God speaks to each of us. He does not speak in a sacred language, but in ordinary language, so that we may hear Him and realize that the gospel is about us and that we have been invited to join a company drawn from every people, tribe, tongue, nation and language."
"No language group should be considered reached until they have the Scriptures available in their mother tongue as the foundation for building sustainable Christian thought, life and community."
NOLL, DR.MARK— AUTHOR, PROFESSOR AT NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY
"If it were necessary to find a single turning point symbolizing the movement of Christianity from the North to the South, a good candidate might be the founding of Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1934. This organization . . . . has been the most visible promoter of Bible translation in the twentieth century. The translation of the Scriptures, in turn, may be the most enduringly significant feature of the global expansion of Christianity that has been taking place since the start of the nineteenth century. . . . [M]uch can be expected in cultures where the Bible has been rendered into the common language for the first time in the twentieth century. . . . For these reasons and more, the founding by William Cameron Townsend (1896-1982) in 1934 of the Wycliffe Bible Translators may stand symbolically for one of the great Christian events of the age."
ALDRED, RAY — DIRECTOR OF THE FIRST NATIONS ALLIANCE OF CHURCHES
"You see, God is very condescending; he has this way of speaking to us where we really are! The Christian God is a personal and intimate God who knows people's hearts and identity. Who we are is profoundly shaped and tied up into our own culture and heart language, so God speaks to people in that language."
THE AMSTERDAM DECLARATION —
"The Bible is indispensable to true evangelism. The Word of God itself provides both the content and authority for all evangelism. Without it there is no message to preach to the lost. People must be brought to an understanding of at least some of the basic truths contained in the Scriptures before they can make a meaningful response to the Gospel. Thus we must proclaim and disseminate the Holy Scriptures in the heart language of all those we are called to evangelize and disciple."
