John Chesnut, President and CEO of Wycliffe USA, recently visited a church translating Scripture in Madagascar.

Chesnut says, “They drafted four full Bibles in four years. And then they said, ‘Hey, we want to get the quality better. Can you come help us?’”

They will dedicate four completed New Testament translations this summer. The translations are part of a goal Wycliffe USA set 25 years ago and hopes to complete next year. They called it Vision 2025 and started praying for Bible translation to begin in every remaining language.

“It was really a God-sized prayer saying, ‘Lord, what would we need to do in order to see all these languages started by 2025?’” says Chesnut.

The number of languages isn’t the only challenge. Chesnut says that the remaining languages are yet to be started for a reason.

“They’re in some of the hardest places globally. That may be the remoteness aspect of it, or behind political barriers, or often major religions. And so access to a lot of these areas has been very difficult,” he says.

Praise God that churches like in Madagascar are stepping up to the challenge. Wycliffe USA reports more and more churches are engaging in Bible translation for their local languages.

“An answered prayer is that God is raising up His Church around the world within these contexts,” says Chesnut.

“We’re seeing God move already in ways that we could not have even imagined just a couple of years ago. He’s raising up his global Church to carry this out.”

Pray that the remaining languages without Scripture will start translation by next year, including over 300 sign languages that are waiting for God’s Word.

Photo and caption from Kabwa Scripture dedication courtesy of Wycliffe USA. Two men hold the newly printed New Testaments at the Scripture dedication in Tanzania on March 14, 2023. Kabwa population: 14,000.

In a sense, the Bible is helping A.I. learn other languages. Does A.I. ever help Bible translators?

“Wycliffe Bible Translators [USA] has been using machine-assisted drafting for a couple of decades. It continues to change and modify as time goes on,” Wycliffe USA‘s V.P. of Global Partnerships at  Andrew Flemming says.

“Using technology to accelerate Bible translation is absolutely a priority for Wycliffe and other Bible translation organizations.”

While emphasizing that A.I. will never fully replace human Bible translators, Flemming acknowledges A.I.’s role as an essential tool in the translation process.

“Like any tool, you need to understand what it can and can’t do and make sure that you fill those gaps,” he says.

“Using A.I. to help with basic idioms, grammar checks, spelling, and ensuring that key terms and phrases have been translated similarly throughout an entire translation process will reduce the overall time.”

How A.I. helps Bible translation

A.I. is notably beneficial in sign language Bible translation. Putting a Deaf believer on camera is too risky in some countries. That’s where the Chameleon avatar project comes in. More about that here.

Deaf editors work on a sign language Bible translation.
(Photo courtesy DOOR International)

Now, A.I. is not perfect. “The avatar technology would sometimes have hands crossover or merge into the avatar’s chest,” Flemming describes as examples.

However, “as you train it and correct those things, it helps the overall rendering of an avatar be smoother and more accurate.”

Less than two percent of the world’s Deaf population can access the Gospel in a known sign language. That’s about to change for Deaf people in sensitive countries.

“We are testing avatar technology in the field in [several] different places,” Flemming says.

Find your place in the story!

“We’re not interested in producing books. Our vision is for people from every language to understand the Bible and be transformed,” Flemming says.

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

“In the U.S. culture, if you’re sick, then people take care of you by putting the water and medicine [within reach], and then nobody’s in the room so you can have a full rest,” Wycliffe USA’s Sunny Hong says, describing a “cultural norm.”

Clashes happen when your actions don’t meet another person’s cultural expectations or “norms.”

For example, when someone falls ill in collectivist cultures, “then people have to come and stay with you the whole time to take care of you,” Hong says.

Imagine a person from a collectivist culture who moves to the U.S. One day, this person gets the flu, and none of their American friends visit. “They don’t understand that as a kindness because nobody was around them when they were sick,” Hong explains.

The same principles apply to mission work, whether at home or abroad.

Wise cross-cultural communication is essential because culture affects how we share the Good News of Jesus. The people around us may – or may not – receive the truth about Christ because of how we communicate.

Whether the people around us are immigrants or “they are refugees, [recognizing cultural differences] does matter,” Hong says.

“Different expectations make it difficult to share the Gospel with people from different cultures. They don’t take it as the Good News.”

Learn how to engage in God’s global mission, no matter where you live.

“You need to understand their culture. Behave the way you are expected from their cultural understanding, not your cultural understanding,” Hong says.

“If you try to [behave] the way they expected you to [behave], then it communicates to them that they are cared for.”

Header image is a representative photo courtesy of Christina @ wocintechchat.com/Unpslash.

“PNG is the most linguistically diverse country in the world,” Wycliffe USA Field Coordinator Estella Trostle says.

Yara and Trostle pose for a picture.
(Photo courtesy of Estella Trostle/Wycliffe USA)

There are about 300 language groups that have no Scripture in their heart language. However, “a feast is happening now in Papua New Guinea. It started when scores of Bibles communities drafted the Scriptures, and they tasted the deliciousness of God’s Word in their own language,” Trostle says.

“Church leaders came to our team and asked for training so they could learn how to follow the globally recognized recipe to produce quality, assured translation. The result is more translation starts in Papua New Guinea in 12 months than in the past 12 years.”

Trostle credits the acceleration to a closer partnership between Wycliffe USA and local churches.

“People there are now willing to take ownership [of the] work, and as a result, Bible translation is accelerating at a faster rate than we’ve ever experienced in our history,” she says.

Working in tangent with local churches, Wycliffe USA translates God’s Word into minority languages.

“One of the people leading this initiative is a young, talented, passionate PNG woman named Yara [who] is about 35 years old,” Trostle says.

A child of missionaries, Yara has “a passion and understanding of the need for having God’s Word.”

Her leadership is unusual because “Papua New Guinea is a male-dominated culture; by and large, it’s just difficult for women,” Trostle continues.

“She is well respected among the leaders because she has been very well educated [and] she is a missionary to her own people. A few years ago, she got involved in Bible translation. There were some challenges, but she was committed to seeing her people get the Scriptures.”

Praise God for Yara and others like her. Thanks to their efforts, long-lost communities are finally hearing the Gospel in their heart languages.

Header and story images courtesy of Estella Trostle/Wycliffe USA.

“I want to highlight African American women who played a huge role in Bible translation,” Wycliffe USA’s Estella Trostle says.

Josephine Makil, the first African American woman to join Bible translation efforts.
(Photo courtesy of Estella Trostle/Wycliffe USA)

April 19, 2008, marked the first New Testament translation completed with the help of an African American woman – Jacqueline (Jackie) Huggins. Huggins holds a master’s degree in linguistics.

In 1959, “Josephine Makil [became] the first African American woman to join Bible translation, and she was my mentor,” Trostle says.

“She was a literacy specialist with the Gullah Sea Island Creole translation team, and as a widower, she raised three children and served faithfully in Wycliffe for 42 years.”

Following her mentor’s footsteps, Trostle began working in Bible translation 14 years ago with her husband and two sons.

“In 1994, we landed in Papua New Guinea for the first time with a group of college students. We fell in love with the people there [and] moved to Papua New Guinea in 2009,” Trostle says.

“We worked under the Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association; that is, Papua New Guineans who are missionaries to their own country.”

Today, Estella and her husband are field coordinators in PNG. You don’t have to go overseas to be involved in the Bible translation movement. “Anyone can pray [or] give,” Trostle says.

“The needs are still great. There are over 7,000 languages worldwide and over 800 in Papua New Guinea.”

Find your place in the story here!

Header image depicts Josephine Makil, the first African American woman to join Bible translation efforts. (Photo courtesy of Estella Trostle/Wycliffe USA)

“Sometimes you don’t see your cultural blind spots, just like when you look at your body. You can see from shoulder to down [but] not your face unless you [look in] the mirror,” says Dr. Sunny Hong, Senior Anthropology Consultant and Wycliffe USA partner.

Culture affects everything from speech to behavior; cultural clashes can break relationships. Knowing how to navigate across different cultures helps you be an effective witness for Christ, whether on a foreign mission field or walking down the street to chat with your refugee neighbors.

Find three tips for cross-cultural ministry here.

For example, some cultures prefer indirect communication rather than direct. “They think that’s the most elegant way to communicate – if you can convey the meaning indirectly, not dishonoring the recipient,” Hong explains.

“You may have a hard time [understanding] why people don’t like you because you just tell the truth. The Bible says [to make] ‘yes, yes, and [your] no, no,’” she continues.

“[You think] you’re just being biblical, but in the (collectivist) culture, that was a very big [mistake].”

Sometimes, before people engage with Scripture, they encounter Christ through believers. Ask the Lord to give you opportunities to share Christ’s love with refugees or coworkers from a different country. Maybe they can tell you about their cross-cultural journey.

“Usually, refugees go through many different cultures before they come to the U.S.,” Hong says.

“People scattered and leaving their country don’t come to the U.S. immediately. Sometimes they walk for many months to travel to neighboring countries [before reaching] a refugee camp.”

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

A dependable constant sounds really good right now.

“I don’t know how anyone can do life without God. And the Scriptures are where we not only learn about God, but also where He reveals His heart to us,” says Kelly Chesnut, Director of Spiritual Development at Wycliffe USA.

Troubled times often lead to “tunnel vision,” where “we put blinders on, or have a perspective that only sees the ‘hard’ in our own lives, or the ‘hard’ in the lives of those closest to us,” she continues.

“We forget that God is a God of hope and joy, and He is moving. He is doing work in people all over the world.”

A new resource from Wycliffe USA explores this concept in depth. Deeply Rooted, a 30-day devotional book, describes how lives have been changed when they’re rooted in Scripture. A companion journal allows for personal reflection.

“You’re not only learning about communities impacted by God’s Word in their own language, but you have the opportunity to stop and reflect on [the] Scripture’s impact in your own life,” Chesnut says.

Deeply Rooted, a 30-day devotional book, describes how lives have been changed when they’re rooted in Scripture.
(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

Kelly wrote the book with her husband, Wycliffe President/CEO John Chesnut.

“This book is a compilation of some devotionals that we had written for our staff, and stories about what God is doing around the world,” she says.

“Just as our passion is for seeing lives transformed around the world, we want to see our staff engaged in their own transformational journey as they continue to be rooted in God’s Word.”

As the holidays approach, consider surprising your loved ones with a resource like Deeply Rooted.

“If you’re going to give a gift this Christmas, look at giving something that will have an eternal impact. All the proceeds go to Bible translation projects that Wycliffe is working in,” Chesnut says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Matt Botsford/Unsplash.

The same principles apply to Bible translation. When everyone works together, more gets done. Andy Keener sees this firsthand as the Executive Vice President for Partnerships at Wycliffe USA.

“I get the privilege of working with churches and Bible agencies worldwide to help identify Bible translation needs, develop projects with local leaders and churches, and provide funding and monitoring,” Keener says.

Bible translation used to be done by the West for the rest. Now, the workforce and process are shifting. More about Bible translation trends here.

The Kaninuwa of Papua New Guinea see Bible translation as a primary way to shape, equip and revive the next generation.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

“Over the last generation, the center of gravity of the Church has been moving south and east from traditional Europe and North America,” Keener says.

“It’s not that there are fewer Christians in North America and Europe. It’s just that the growth of the Church in South America, Africa, and Asia has been so phenomenal.”

Western organizations like Wycliffe USA still have an essential role to play. It’s just different from before.

“More Bible translation workers [come] from these local communities. These [local church] leaders are saying, ‘this (Bible translation) is the responsibility of the church,’” Keener says.

“But [they realize] it’s a very technical thing to deal with the Word of God and Bible translation. So, through a variety of networks, we connect with them; we say, ‘how can we support you?’ it’s really about meeting them where they are; bringing the tools, resources, and networks that we have; and connecting with needs on the ground.”

The Great Commission workforce may be shifting, but that doesn’t mean believers in the West get a free pass. Find your place in the story here.

“One of the things you can do immediately is to pray. Sign up for a monthly PDF file you can get through email; that will share specific prayer requests from communities around the world doing Bible translation,” Keener says.

You can also “find ways to give towards projects around the world,” he adds.

Header and story images courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

“We come alongside the local churches and communities in a region, and we ask, ‘what are your needs for Scripture? Where would you like to start?’” Wycliffe USA’s Mark Taber says.

“It’s all focused on responding to the local needs of the church and community.”

Some churches want God’s Word in story form for oral learners. Others seek evangelistic tools in their language, like the JESUS Film or Scripture-based songs.

“My role is to bring in the right organizations with the right skill set to partner and meet what the local churches are saying, ‘This is what we need,’” Taber says.

This matchmaking process typically takes two or three years, something Taber calls accelerated impact.

“By the end of that two or three years, they’ll have a product or products ready for use. As soon as it’s done, we want it out there being used by the churches,” he says.

The Bible translation movement is bigger than linguistics alone. There’s a place for whatever talents God has given you. Connect with Wycliffe USA here to learn more.

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

In one country, unnamed for security purposes, “there is a Christian minority presence, and they’re very enthusiastic about [getting] God’s Word in their language,” Wycliffe USA’s Mark Taber says.

“But there are large populations that are resistant to the Gospel.”

There may be opposition, but the Lord is working through His people. “This is an amazing period in history; we’re seeing the Holy Spirit move in a way that, in my 40 years on the field, I’ve never seen happen before,” Taber says.

“We’re seeing this unprecedented collaboration in Bible translation and synergy of effort.”

For example, eight organizations signed a collaborative agreement last month to start Bible translation in seven of the region’s language communities. “That kind of thing hasn’t happened in the past,” Taber says.

“It used to be one or two organizations involved in Bible translation. But now, local churches and organizations are seeing the value and the need [for] God’s word, so they want to be involved.”

Team members participate in an exercise during a recent Global Partnerships team meeting.
(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

As a Partnership Facilitator, Taber coordinates efforts between different groups involved in Bible translation. “We’re a larger collaboration of organizations and denominations called Global Partnerships,” Taber says.

“We’re seeing real unity of the Spirit as we come together as multiple organizations and churches.”

If you like working on or leading a team, reach out to Wycliffe USA today.

“Whatever your expertise, there’s a place [for it] in the Bible translation movement,” Taber says.

Header image depicts participants at a recent training event for Global Partnerships staff. (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)