ORLANDO, FL — Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, is working to provide printed Bibles for Christians in 13 language groups across North Africa and the Middle East.
While national translators from these language groups have completed Scripture translations in their languages, they can’t afford to print Bibles.
“Millions of people across North Africa and the Middle East have no hope of encountering God’s Word in their own heart language,” says Tabitha Price, Vice President of Translation Services for Wycliffe Associates. “The work of translating, printing, and distributing the Scriptures in North Africa and the Middle East has never been more important.”
Bible translators in these regions are facing an alarming rise in threats and harassment against Christians. Churches have been demolished or set on fire. Some Christians have been arrested and falsely accused of threatening national security.
Wycliffe Associates assists Christians in these areas by providing Bible Translation Safe Haven Centers, training, technology, and equipment for Bible translation.
Bible Translation Safe Haven Centers have become places of refuge for mother-tongue Bible translators who need to flee locales where authorities and community residents engage in harsh, anti-Christian persecution. At the Safe Haven Centers, Bible translators are able to work more effectively, collaborate with other translators, train, and rest.
Since 2014, Wycliffe Associates has been training Bible translators through Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation (MAST) workshops that empower mother-tongue translators to translate the entire Bible efficiently and accurately into their language. MAST employs a collaborative translation method in which translators use a multistep process to quality check the verses. Rather than Westerners doing the work of Bible translation, local churches and Christians are translating the Scriptures for themselves.
Bible Translation Acceleration Kits (BTAKs) provided by Wycliffe Associates give national translators in remote areas the equipment needed for Internet access, connecting them to Bible translation resources and other Bible translators.
Additionally, the organization provides the resources needed to quickly print Scriptures for distribution to local communities.
“We have seen the fervency of faith in our brothers and sisters in North Africa and the Middle East,” says Price. “They know the risks. They’re not oblivious to the dangers. They feel—deeply, strongly, every day—the need for equipping, the need for the God-breathed Scripture, the need to reach their countrymen before it’s too late.”
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, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations throughout the world. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.
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