Wycliffe Bible Translators

Wycliffe USA was founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend with the purpose of translating the Bible into languages that need it.

God is making that vision a reality.

And in 1999, Wycliffe USA made a bold decision to adopt a God-sized vision: to have a translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025. We knew this wasn’t possible without God doing abundantly more than we could ask or imagine — and He is!

God is raising up local churches to take the lead in Bible translation for their own communities, countries and even entire regions, accelerating the pace like never before.

That’s why Wycliffe Bible Translators USA exists: to work with churches, communities and partner organizations until everyone can access God's Word in a language that touches their hearts. We'll keep on working so all people — speaking or signing more than 7,000 languages worldwide — can have the Bible in the formats and languages that serve them best.

Wycliffe humbly serves as a catalyst for church-led Bible translation. Local churches are  leading their own translations, and together we come alongside their efforts as translation consultants and facilitators.

People must be able to access and engage with Scripture in a format they can truly understand. Once God’s Word is translated, the project moves to printing and distribution. For those who read, that can be a print publication. But often, other media formats are more effective and appropriate to a local context. In some cultures, oral telling of translated Bible stories may be the most effective means of communication. Handheld solar devices and smartphones can play recordings of translated audio Scripture.

For an increasing number of languages, smartphones can access written, audio and/or video versions of the Bible. Wycliffe-sponsored translations of Scripture portions are shared on websites such as ScriptureEarth.org and YouVersion.

Through your financial partnership in Bible translation, you are a part of God’s great move to draw even more people to Himself through Scripture in a language they clearly understand. We believe that the Word of God transforms lives when it is translated into their language. We want all people to have access to Scripture so they can know the love and peace of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. When people can use the Bible in their everyday lives, they can experience that life transformation personally.

When you partner with the work of Wycliffe, you’ll be making a difference in lives around the world just like Jamie in Mexico.

Jaime is pastor and church planter, but until recently he didn’t use his language, Chatino, much in ministry. He hadn’t learned to read Chatino well, so he grew accustomed to using Spanish instead.

But things changed when he acquired an audio device preloaded with Chatino Scripture.

Hearing the Word in his language was compelling to Jaime, and he couldn’t get enough. He listened while working in the fields. He listened every night when he got home. He listened as he traveled to speak at churches. He even used the audio device to share the gospel with others.

God’s Word in Chatino touched him in a way that Spanish could not.

He said: “I am understanding the Bible better now with the translation.” Jamie added:“I am listening and paying attention to every detail of the narration. Every day I fall more in love with the one who saved me.”

You get to be part of incredible testimonies just like this when you participate in Bible translation!

To experience more stories of impact, you can follow us on social media or visit wycliffe.org.

Collaboration is one of Wycliffe’s core values. We partner with the local church, as well as with local communities. Our goal is to start translation projects that build up communities and cultures. Through Wycliffe Bible translation projects, each community can be transformed holistically — spiritually, physically, mentally and socially — as they develop and use their language and apply truths from the Bible.

Wycliffe is a part of the Wycliffe Global Alliance, an international association of organizations consisting of over 100 organizations from more than 60 nations with the common goal of providing Scripture for all people in their own language. When you give to Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, you invest not only in our work but the work of our partner organizations as well. Together we work toward Scripture-related goals, as well as producing resources in areas such as language development, community development, Scripture engagement and more.

Wycliffe also works closely with many other international ministries to provide Scripture translations for their global work. Some of these ministries include Faith Comes By Hearing, The Jesus Film Project and YouVersion.

Vision 2025 seeks to have a translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025. As of July 2024 there are:

• 90 countries that have achieved Vision 2025.
• 83 countries that only have one remaining language.
• 44 countries that have 2-5 remaining languages.
• 26 countries that have 6+ remaining languages waiting for Scripture to be translated.

Between October 2023 and August 2024, Wycliffe engaged 501 new languages. Of these, 448 languages were the first Scripture for their communities! There are 1,982 total languages currently engaged by Wycliffe USA, and Wycliffe engages with 1,200 partners — churches, missions organizations and like-minded ministries — around the world.

More than 7,300 known languages are spoken or signed around the world today. Wycliffe and our partners are currently working with more than 1,700 of them so that people can encounter Jesus through Scripture in a language and format they clearly understand.

A few areas of the world represent the highest remaining needs for Bible translation. We call these the “Big Five” — East Asia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Papua New Guinea and the global Deaf. Nigeria has historically been a country with a significant number of languages that needed Bible translation to begin. But that has recently changed! Cameroon took Nigeria’s place on the Big Five list.
 

Wycliffe is a charter member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (ECFA). This council ensures that Christ-centered organizations maintain the highest standards of financial stewardship. Find out more about our ECFA membership at ecfa.org. 

Wycliffe Bible Translators has also achieved Platinum Participant status, the highest level of recognition offered by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations. GuideStar compares nonprofits in an easy, transparent way to help people research where to make donations. Platinum Participant status demonstrates that the nonprofit has offered the highest level of transparency to donors by measuring progress and results, clearly showing the difference donors are making throughout the world. For more information on GuideStar, visit guidestar.org. To view the GuideStar profile for Wycliffe Bible Translators, visit guidestar.org/search.

Wycliffe is an eligible charity in the 2024 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) with the pledge number of CFC #11737. All donations made through the Combined Federal Campaign are distributed through Wycliffe’s Worldwide Projects Fund which supports Bible translation projects in need. It’s designed to connect donors with the most urgent needs of Bible translation — those that haven’t been met by specific donations. Gifts given through this fund help ensure that projects will not have to slow down or stop due to lack of funding. Visit wycliffe.org/cfc to learn more.

Call 800-WYCLIFFE or visit wycliffe.org to explore ways to give and specific uses for your gifts.

Learn more about giving options here: wycliffe.org/donate.