The Word for the World Bible Translators

Mission Statement

The mission of The Word for the World Bible Translators is to empower nationals to translate the entire Bible for their own people, and to ensure its availability and accessibility.

Vision

The vision of The Word for the World Bible Translators is:

The glory of God

Through transformed lives

By the power of his Word

In everyone’s heart language.

The Word for the World Bible Translators addresses the need for Bible translation by recruiting, training, and assisting Bible translators. 

The main thrust of The Word for the World’s work is pioneering Bible translation: that is, translating the Bible into languages that lack Bibles. Our strength is training nationals to do the work for their own people. We support Bible translation projects organizationally (providing the infrastructure for financial support, coordination, etc.), professionally (providing consultants who assist the nationals in producing quality translations), and technically (assisting in publication and recording of Scripture).

The key to our strategy is:

1. Empowering nationals to translate the Bible for their own people. This process has proved to accelerate dramatically the work of Bible translation, making the completion of first-time translations of the Bible feasible by 2050.

2. Offering a decentralized training program, as the full content of our previous two-year in-residence program is taken to the countries where the nationals live.

3. Involving qualified persons in the short term, thereby increasing the number of trainers and consultants that are available.

History

Founded in South Africa in 1981, the organization has expanded to six other African countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), Slovakia, and Asia, with supporting offices in South Africa, the UK, and the US.

Distinctive Characteristics

• Having originated in Africa, it is indigenous to the Third World.

• The organization focuses on empowering nationals to do the work of Bible translation for their own peoples. One hundred percent of our Bible translators are nationals, and we are now beginning to train nationals to serve as Bible translation consultants as well.

• We believe God desires to speak to people through the entire Bible and, as such, the goal of every one of our projects is to translate the entire Bible.

• We also empower nationals to take responsibility for Bible translation at every level of our organization; for instance, all of our project leaders are nationals. This approach supports the movement towards the Third World’s assuming responsibility and leadership in mission.