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Uncle Cam Cameron Townsend, Man With A Vision The Founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators The year was 1917. A young man by the name of William Cameron Townsend boarded a steamer headed for Guatemala. His plan was to sell Spanish Bibles for a year and earn money needed for college. Little did he know that the next few months would change the direction of his life and the lives of millions of people. Working as a Bible salesman was difficult. Mountains, the rainforest and city streets confronted him, but the land was not the only barrier. Language also challenged his efforts as a salesman. The Spanish Bible had little impact on the 60 percent of the Guatemalan people who spoke only an indigenous language. During one of his expeditions, Townsend encountered the Cakchiquel people. When trying to sell a Spanish Bible to a Cakchiquel man, the man responded, "If your God is so great, why can't He speak my language?" Townsend had no answer to the question. He was determined to do something about it. Over the next twelve years, Townsend learned the Cakchiquel language, put it into writing for the first time and translated the New Testament. Townsend knew that God spoke Cakchiquel. He put the proof in writing so they could finally read God's Word in their own language! During those years when he translated Scripture, Townsend invested his life in service for the Cakchiquel and for all of Guatemala. But Townsend's vision for Bible translation had only begun. The words of that Cakchiquel man had become the catalyst for something greater. Townsend left Guatemala and returned to the States and started classes for those wishing to know how to learn an unknown language. The Summer Institute of Linguistics, Wycliffe's sister organization was born. The vision for Bible translation was catching on and the modern Bible translation movement was on its way. Since that time, Wycliffe missionaries have spanned the globe translating the Scripture into many languages. Often traveling to remote places, Wycliffe missionaries have reached out to many peoples of this world. Through Townsend, a new movement in missions had begun. At first, Townsend thought the work of Bible translation could be completed in his lifetime. He originally figured there were about 500 languages that needed translation. But, as Townsend's life came to an end in 1982 after a battle with leukemia, the task was still unfinished. Now 15 years after his death, there are about 6,800 languages spoken in the world. Only 404 have an adequate Bible, 989 have an adequate New Testament, and 1,014 have at least one book of the Bible. There are at least another 3000 languages with a definite need for translation work. Cameron Townsend was a man with one vision--that all peoples would have the Scripture in the language of their heart. He saw this vision come true for the Cakchiquel and for hundreds of languages, but the vision still remains. We know that our God is great, but until the Scripture is translated into every language of the world, 380 million people will never know that God speaks to them in the language of their heart. |
