William Cameron Townsend, known as “Uncle Cam,” and three associates officially founded Wycliffe Bible Translators, following the founding of our partner organization, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), in 1942.
A worldwide horizon opened following World War II. Wycliffe expanded to the Philippines in 1953, supporting Bible translation activity throughout Asia. Other offices sprang up in areas of language concentration, especially in Papua New Guinea and central Africa. The addition of staff members continued to increase the pace of translation.
It was 27 years before Wycliffe celebrated completion of the 100th translation. Then it took only 7 additional years to reach completion of the 200th, and only 15 more before the 500th translation was dedicated in March 2000.
Wycliffe’s primary partner organization, SIL International, is a faith-based organization that studies, documents and assists in developing the world’s so-called minority languages.
Worldwide there are 110 organizations affiliated with Wycliffe and/or SIL, working with churches, language communities, and partner organizations to accomplish Vision 2025.
Here in the U.S., several organizations are working together to raise awareness, volunteers, prayer, and funds to support worldwide Bible translation. They are Wycliffe USA (including The Seed Company and the Wycliffe Foundation), Wycliffe Bible Translators International, JAARS, Wycliffe Associates, and the Graduate Institute for Applied Linguistics.
These organizations are currently participating in the greatest acceleration of the pace of Bible translation that the church has ever witnessed.
This movement has worldwide momentum.
It has an extraordinary history of results. And it has the calling and the passion to complete the last languages.
The finish line is in sight.