Then, only two years later, Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia against a paramilitary group in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. That war ended in 2022, but in December of last year Eritrean troops were still present in Tigray. In the past two weeks, unrest has flared up again in Tigray, displacing nearly 29,000 people.

Even as concerns for the region’s long-term stability rise, an Eritrean Bible translation team is at work own people: the Kunama of Eritrea.

“They (the Kunama) have for decades experienced hardship through civil war in their country,” says Meg Hunt with Wycliffe USA. “Many of them have migrated to neighboring countries — and then actually several of them have come to North America as part of their refugee experience.” 

Population displacement due to Tigray conflict, 12 January 2021 (Photo courtesy of USAID via Wikimedia Commons)

Kunama translation teams live Ethiopia and North America. Together, they feel the effects of the regional tensions. 

“For the team that is translating the Old Testament (in Ethiopia), they are being targeted by the local government, so it’s been hard for them to continue to feel safe in that environment,” Hunt says.

“Although they have resettled into different cities (in Ethiopia), in more rural areas refugees experience fear of being relocated to refugee camps back in Northern Ethiopia where there is still unrest.”

For the North America team, who is working on the New Testament, their pressures are less dangerous but still real.

“It’s actually pretty incredible that it’s entirely volunteer-based in North America. The challenges for them are really that they’re balancing a lot. They’ve got a lot of things of care for their own families, their day jobs. But again, they’re so committed to translating God’s Word,” Hunt says. 

“One of the things that is really unique about the translation is that because they are a diaspora team, working together across multiple time zones and continents, keeping in step with one another is an opportunity and a challenge that they have.”

Meet this dedicated Bible translation team here. Several books of the Bible have already gone through community testing — one of the final steps before they go to print or audio publishing. The books are Ruth, Jonah, Haggai, Matthew and Galatians.

You can be part of this Bible translation project spanning the globe through your prayers and your partnership. Learn more and sign up for prayer updates here.

“Pray for the safety of these Kunama team members, especially those in Ethiopia. Pray for the just energy and stamina to continue this work,” Hunt says. 

Header photo of internally displaced persons in Tigray, April 2021 courtesy of Rastakwere via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A recent trip brought Wycliffe USA leaders face-to-face with church leaders in Madagascar who are translating the Bible into four of the island nation’s minority languages.

“We spent a good amount of time at a church with over 20,000 members; they have five different services,” Wycliffe USA’s Andrew Flemming says.

“Going to that church service, spending time with the translators and hearing them talk about how God’s Word is affecting their communities – you realize that God has gifted the Church, and the Church is taking up that mantle.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

Most of the unique languages in Madagascar have no Scripture.

“Madagascar has about 23 different languages or language variants,” Flemming says. “Wycliffe’s mission is to see God’s Word translated into every language of need.”

The local church started translation work in four minority languages. Today, Wycliffe USA is coming alongside to provide the technical support needed to complete and publish the New Testament in these four languages.

This is one of Wycliffe USA’s many initiatives underway in 2024.

“Right now is a pretty exciting time; Wycliffe USA is engaging in more Bible translation projects than we ever have before,” Flemming says.

“We are engaging in more than 1,600 languages, representing a potential reach of 1.7 billion people.”

Your prayers and gifts can help pave the way for all people in Madagascar to access the life-giving words of Scripture!

“There are opportunities to support the work by going or giving. I started in missions work by going on a short-term trip, and God captured my heart,” Flemming says.

“We need people willing to lay down their comfortable life here and move into something that’s perhaps a little more challenging and a little outside of [their] comfort zone.”

Header and story images courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

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.

Wycliffe USA’s Andrew Flemming says, “God is doing extraordinary things in difficult places worldwide. The work we do and the places we engage are not always the safest places.”

Take Nigeria, for example. Believers face threats on three fronts: Boko Haram, the Islamic State, and Fulani herdsmen. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of SIL International)

Flemming and a Wycliffe USA team visited local churches and Bible translators in Nigeria earlier this month.

“We were able to meet with a significant number of partners and go out to a community and spend some time where the translation project is taking place. We flew into Abuja, which is the Capitol, and then took a six-hour drive further north,” Flemming says.

“There is persecution taking place in that area with Christian communities. Oftentimes, that persecution is also intermixed with rivalries between groups around cattle and other things; some of that activity was near where we were,” he continues.

“In places like Nigeria, where there’s persecution, we need to pray for the Church.”

Pray God will protect Bible translation teams in northern Nigeria. Pray translation work will begin in more communities so Nigerians can understand God’s Word.

“Nigeria has over 300 different languages. Often, there is a (Bible) translation in a language of wider communication. In Nigeria, that could be Hausa or Igbo, but those languages aren’t necessarily going to speak to the heart,” Flemming says.

“They’re not going to be used in the home with the family.”

Header image courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.

Coming Together for the Great Commission

Lindsay Olesberg with Wycliffe USA says, “For example, in a group of eight that would come from a particular language community, they would be from multiple villages and from multiple denominations. So you’d have an Anglican next to a Catholic, next to a Pentecostal — all working together on translating the Scripture for their community.”

(Image courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

This collaboration benefits translations through additional workers and also helps build the unity of the global Church as a whole. Believers have the opportunity to work with members of other churches to accomplish the Great Commission as a team.

Some might imagine strife with this partnership, but Olesberg offers a different perspective.

“I think the Bible is the great unifier – that all Christians have confidence that it’s through God’s word that we know who God is. So regardless of the denomination, people can rally together around, ‘We want the Bible in our own language, so that the pastors within our denominations and church members, they’re able to really understand it.’”

Continuing the Work

This partnership in Uganda encourages Wycliffe USA as the body of Christ rallies together to provide Scripture to new languages. However, there is much work to be done.

(Image courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

“There’s still over 1200 groups around the world – language communities – where Bible translation hasn’t even started yet,” Olesberg states, “So though there’s more Bible translation happening now than ever in all of world history, there’s still 1200 groups that are waiting for even a verse of Scripture to start.”

Please pray that God would provide support, partnership, and funding to come together so that more church-centric models of translation can occur. Pray that the right workers would feel His call and respond to the work.

If you want to join the work of Wycliffe USA click here.

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

“Two translators I interacted with, a fisherman and a farmer, said they’d never touched a computer before that week.”
(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

“This was a board vision trip to visit our partners and look into three different Bible translation projects in various stages, and we were looking at how [translations were] being used by the churches,” Wycliffe USA board chair Lindsay Olesberg says.

“Boards are functioning at a pretty high vision level, so we’ve heard about the different processes before, but to see them face-to-face and see who the end user is [strengthened] our confidence in the quality of the translations.”

The advisors also examined a new approach gaining ground in places like Uganda – Oral Bible Translation. Olesberg and other members of the Wycliffe USA board observed an Oral Bible Translation workshop.

“Six different minority language communities come together – eight members from each community – at a centralized place for a three-week training event. During that time, they are recording Luke 1-6 in their mother tongue,” Olesberg explains.

“It was quite remarkable to see that process and the way that technology enables people, who may not even have a high school education, to be involved in Bible translation.”

When individuals completed the training, “not only had they learned how to use the computer, the recording software, and whatnot, but they were intimately involved in bringing the Scripture to their own people in their own language,” she continues.

“Two translators I interacted with, a fisherman and a farmer, said they’d never touched a computer before that week.”

Wycliffe USA partners with 1,200 churches, mission organizations, and like-minded ministries worldwide to see people encounter Jesus through Scripture in a language and format they clearly understand. More about that here.

“Wycliffe USA is a primary funding partner for these kinds of projects all around the world. It matters to us to see how the money was spent. What impact is it having?” Olesberg says.

“The rest of the board and I came away with great confidence that project funding is having the desired effects, both in terms of Scripture being translated in a way that’s accurate and natural and that churches are being built up in the process.”

Header and story images courtesy of Wycliffe USA.

The Isnag Bible translators (from left to right: Mark Pugyao, Dr. John Chesnut, Rudy Barlaan, Nard Pugyao). Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Stephanie de Oliveira, Wycliffe USA Director of Church Relations, attended the Bible dedication along with American pastors. After the dedication ceremony, 34 Isnag believers were baptized.

“We were able to celebrate that full Bible dedication together,” said de Oliveira. “So finally, this being the first generation to receive the Old Testament and the New Testament, the fully completed Bible.”

Pastors came to the celebration from Virginia Beach Community Church, that supported the Isnag translation project for decades. Over the years, the Isnag Christians also prayed for the American church partner. Read how the translation was completed here.

“The Isnag community is a testament along with the church here in the US of working together,” said de Oliveira, “that God’s word would be accessible to even the most remote places in the world.”

Through partnerships like this, Wycliffe USA plans to initiate translations by 2025 in the remaining language groups without the Bible.

“Today, we estimate close to 1300 language communities that have zero scripture at all,” de Oliveira said.­

The next generation of Isnag believers. Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

­­Join Wycliffe USA either in-person or online for a special celebration on October 12 to learn more about reaching every language with God’s Word.

“We all have a role to play,” said de Oliveira, “including the church in the US, including each individual person that makes up the body of Christ.”

Header photo courtesy of Rodney Ballard.

Books – like the Bible – could be mass-produced for the first time ever, making Scripture more accessible. The Protestant Reformation followed shortly thereafter.

Wycliffe USA V.P. Andrew Flemming says we’re at a similar time in history right now.

“God is on the move. There is more active Bible translation going on in the world than has ever happened before,” Flemming says.

“It’s no mistake that artificial intelligence is coming along at this very moment, and we need to take advantage of that.”

Like the Gutenberg press, A.I. could make Scripture more accessible by making the translation process more efficient.

“As A.I. and other tools become better and better, it’s going to reduce the overall time [required] for translations to be done,” Flemming says.

“We’re looking for ways to deploy A.I. efficiently; [using] generative A.I. to produce a draft is something that we’re absolutely exploring.”

Will robots soon replace missionaries? “There is always going to be a human in the loop,” Flemming assures.

Bible translation is a complex endeavor, and “you want a theologically-trained individual or group to be able to read and understand the accuracy, clarity, [and] understandability of the text that’s being created.”

Connect with Wycliffe USA here to learn more.

“If there are interests, giftings, and abilities that you’d be interested in potentially using for God’s kingdom, we’d love to find a place for you,” Flemming says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Tara Winstead via Pexels.

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.

Wycliffe USA’s Meg Hunt says 50 languages still have no Bible translation work underway.

“About 34 of those are sign languages. That means Deaf communities don’t have the opportunity to access Scripture in a language and format they understand best,” Hunt says.

More than 350 known sign languages are used by the Deaf worldwide today. Yet only one of these has an entire Bible.

Hunt participated in a recent consultation meeting with European ministry leaders and Gospel workers from local churches.

“Over 170 Deaf leaders were coming together to look at the remaining sign language needs in Europe and the surrounding area, to dream and strategize, and then plan how to address those remaining needs,” Hunt says.

“[Wycliffe USA partners with] leadership from the local church to understand the desire for Scripture in those communities and how we can come alongside them.”

Sometimes, challenges come beyond anyone’s control – like the war in Ukraine. In these instances, translators have no choice but to adapt to overcome adversity.

“Bible translation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Many political, social, and economic challenges impact our translation teams,” Hunt says.

Pray God will give wisdom, skills, and patience to sign language translation teams. Find more ways to pray for sign language Bible translation here.

“Here in the U.S. or Canada, we’re unaware of what God is doing. I’d love to encourage [readers] that God is working in incredible ways worldwide, and we’re delighted to be a part of that,” Hunt says.

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe USA.