No Matter the Danger, 600-Plus Language Groups Request Bible Translation Training, Technology from Wycliffe Associates

Church leaders from more than 600 language groups around the world have asked Wycliffe Associates for the technology and training to start translating the Bible using a translation method known as MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation).

“They have the commitment to proclaim Christ, even in the most dangerous areas,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “But they don’t have the tools, the technology, or training.”

In 2014, Wycliffe Associates piloted its first MAST workshop in a nation where Christians face ongoing persecution. Thirteen mother-tongue translators, divided into teams of three or four, worked to complete an average of 34 verses per day. Using an eight-step process, they drafted passages from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John during the mornings and checked the quality of the verses in the afternoons and evenings.

“The work produced through MAST methodology is excellent,” said Dr. John Luton, who has checked the work of numerous translation projects around the world.

Since then, Wycliffe Associates has launched 1,275 Bible translation projects using MAST.

“The church is growing, even in countries where Christianity is cruelly oppressed,” Smith said. “But where the people have no Bibles in their own heart language, they struggle.”

The cost of a MAST workshop for launching a Bible translation in a new language is $19,500. Wycliffe Associates is working to raise funds to start new translations for every new language group that has requested one.
The organization provides mother-tongue translators with computer tablets, software, and the training to begin using MAST to translate the Scriptures for their own language groups.

More than 800 MAST Bible translations are currently underway.
“We are the first generation with the potential to see Bibles in every language on earth,” said Smith.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. 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 have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, 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. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,402 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 94 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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