The first known example of graffiti in the Bamunka language of Cameroon, a language Wycliffe workers helped write down for the first time. It reads: ‘I’ve gone to bed.’
Wycliffe’s vision is to end Bible poverty, so that all people can engage with the Bible in their own language.
We know that having the Bible changes lives. We also see how the work of Bible translation, which includes writing down the language of some of the most marginalised people on earth, often for the first time, as well as teaching people to read and write, also changes lives.
A roadside poster in the Lunyole language of Uganda, a language Wycliffe was involved in writing down for the first time. It reads: ‘Dispose of all faeces in a pit latrine to prevent diseases.’ Without Wycliffe’s translation work health messages like this wouldn’t exist in Lunyole.
The effects of this ripple out beyond Christians and churches to touch the lives of whole communities. When people learn to read and write their language it means that:
They can communicate in new ways and access technology they had been cut off from
Gain new opportunities to get work
Learn their legal rights, so that it is harder for corrupt officials to abuse them
Women and girls are empowered
Education is transformed
Parents can read the correct dosage of medicine to give their children
Poverty has many faces – spiritual, economic, social, and physical. Watch this video to see how Bible translation plays a part in reducing them all:
That is why Wycliffe works so that everyone still waiting for the Bible can experience the transformation God brings through his word. And also benefit from the wider ripple effects that come through each translation.
Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe UK
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