LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
Years ago I went to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City and visited the healing and prophecy rooms. There was a belief in an end-of-days outpouring of the Holy Spirit and they were getting ready for this move by putting into practice what they hoped would be a worldwide opportunity for healing, prophecy and salvation.
One of the leaders likened their work to practicing the plays in American football. The team learns all the plays, although most are not called in a game, but they still need to be well-rehearsed for when the quarterback makes that call.
Nelson Mandela said, “One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.” Idowu Koyenikan, author and organisational consultant observed, “Opportunity does not waste time with those who are unprepared.”
Good things happen because we have been prepared for them and are ready when the time comes. Esther was shaped by many trials, so at the critical hour, in order to save her people, she had to face her fears and even potential death. Her uncle Mordecai told her, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
In Christ, we have come to our royal position for this time. We have been shaped and fashioned to serve God’s purposes and are called to be willing to serve God’s kingdom agenda.
James speaks about faith and works. I would like to suggest that good works come when faith meets preparation. We need to believe that God wants to use us for His glory and so we get ready to answer His call. It is our Kairos moment!
Wycliffe South Africa’s theme for 2025 is “Prepared for Good”. It speaks of how God has prepared us, as well as our willingness to be used. It speaks about the good works we are to do to make Him known. Ephesians 2:10 puts it this way: “For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.” (TLV)
As we celebrate the good works that Wycliffe South Africa has walked in these past 50 years, we anticipate the many good things lying ahead. We applaud those who were willing even to suffer for the sake of God’s Word to the nations, those who sacrificed and those who served and supported. We look forward to the next 50 years with excitement, gratitude and humility, knowing that He who called us is faithful and with Jesus, all things are possible.
Alan Webster
VISION 2025
Dedication of the Rendille New Testament in Kenya, 2018
Back in 1999 “Vision 2025” was first presented, and became a focal point for the Bible Translation (BT) movement. The vision was to see a translation programme started in every language that still needs one by the year 2025 — though hitting a numerical goal by a certain date was never the sole intent. We are now in this much anticipated year: 2025. So, how is progress towards that vision going?
The Inception of Vision 2025
To answer this question, it’s important to understand where this vision came from and its broader context and purpose. The vision started with Dr. John Watters, former director of SIL and Wycliffe International (now Wycliffe Global Alliance). At the time, BT was a mostly western-led initiative, with trained experts spending years or decades with language communities to learn and analyse the language and begin written translations, which sometimes also had to be accompanied by literacy programs. It was estimated that 3000 languages still needed a translation, and on average about 25 languages were being engaged per year1. At that rate the projected timeframe to begin translation in all of them was 120-150 years2.
After reading the book "Built to Last" by Collins and Porras, Watters mulled over the question of what kind of goal it would take to catalyse new efforts to propel BT forward. The idea of getting translation started in every language within one generation started to form in his mind. This idea, which he thought would be met with resistance or hesitation, was, to his surprise, met with interest and excitement, taking on a life of its own as it sparked new conversations and gained traction in the leadership echelons of SIL and Wycliffe International. The time was ripe for such an idea as questions about different approaches to BT were already on people’s minds amidst a changing global and Church environment.
And so Vision 2025 was born. Its purpose was much more than being a numerical goal, in the sense of counting down the languages, but to be a focal point to drive action and a catalyst to generate new partnerships and creative ideas. It brought a sense of urgency, not to rush, but to overcome obstacles that slowed down and hindered translation rate and usage. This can be as simple as helping part time translators work full-time3.
“I tried hard early-on to let people know that yes, urgency is one of the key pillars here. But urgency doesn’t mean haste. It doesn’t mean speed. But it means how do you focus your strategies and your attention on what you’re doing?” - John Watters4
Impact
Since the inception of Vision 2025, many exciting changes have taken place. Among the most exciting is the incredible role the global Church has played in the Bible Translation movement, both in partnering with Bible translation and initiating it.
This change has taken place alongside a proliferation of collaborative efforts that has seen BT become far more decentralised, taking different shapes in different contexts. With diverse partnerships in diverse contexts, diverse ideas are also generated. Creative solutions from one domain trigger new trends elsewhere, and whole new approaches are born. An example is the emergence of Oral Bible Translation, which meets a different set of needs than written Scripture.
Advances in technology and increased access to education have helped facilitate these changes, as it is now easier to become trained and equipped in the work, and wide-spread collaboration is made possible through superior communication technology.
Statistics*
Although the numbers were not meant to be the sole focus of Vision 2025, we have indeed seen the rate of translation speed up dramatically. From 25 new languages being engaged per year in 1999, this number increased to 64 per year5 within a few years of Vision 2025 being cast. Today, it is estimated that a new language is engaged every 14 hours6!
Chart showing acceleration of translation over time. From Progress.Bible
*Numbers relating to Bible Translation are always estimates, and can fluctuate as new information comes to light.
Conclusion
“‘What if 2025 comes and we haven’t done it?’ Well, it never has been about ‘we’ve done it’. It’s supposed to be about what God is doing through us. And if we don’t hit it in 2025, if God allows us to see this in 2038, what’s our response going to be? It’s going to be hallelujah, praise God!” - John Watters7
All of this is a testament to the incredible way in which God works to achieve His purposes on earth. Bible Translation organisations did not, of their own accord, achieve these phenomenal strides forward, but in tandem with the Church and changing global context, a goal that once seemed like a far-off dream is now in reach.
There are still languages waiting for translation to start, but thanks to the acceleration of BT many of them will be engaged sooner rather than later. The heart of Vision 2025, which was about following God’s lead in the proliferation of partnerships, ideas, and solutions, has certainly come to fruition in all sorts of exciting and surprising ways.
What Next
Of course, the mission doesn’t stop there, and new areas to focus on are coming to the fore. One of these is the question of sustainability; for example, once a translation is started or even completed, is the language community sufficiently equipped to initiate work on further translation or revisions of Scripture?8
Another is the need to provide more precise and elaborate data about the languages out there and what work has been done. As the number of languages needing translation work decreases it is more and more common to find different BT organisations working within the same language community, sometimes without even realising it9. This can cause difficulties to arise or work to be duplicated, which might be avoided if it was known in advance what is happening where. Also, it is sometimes unclear which languages really need a translation and which do not (e.g. one that no longer has any mother-tongue speakers)10. This information can help to channel efforts where they are most needed.
At the end of the day, Scripture translation is not about the product - a book or an audio device. The work doesn’t end when there is a Bible on the shelf - it needs to be in the hands and hearts of the people, and that’s why the work of Scripture Engagement is also becoming a greater focal point. Because it’s about encountering the living God, knowing Him, and being forever changed by Him. It is this transformation that makes BT so important.
“I came into this with understanding that Vision 2025 was us starting all the remaining languages that don’t have Bible translation. I later learned that that was only a small component, a sliver of what Vision 2025 really was... But what all of us are going for is community impact and transformation and Scripture usage.” - Christy Liner11
References and further reading
1,5 https://www.wycliffe.org/blog/posts/vision-2025-then-and-now
2,4 The Journey Podcast Episode 1, January 2024: John Watters and Vision 2025 - Part 1 transcript
7 The Journey Podcast Episode 2, February 2024: John Watters and Vision 2025 - Part 2 transcript
3,8 The Journey Podcast Episode 5, July 2024: Vision 2025's Impact
9,10,11 The Journey Podcast Episode 6, September 2024: ProgressBible and Vision 2025
6 https://wycliffe.org/vision-2025
LATEST TRENDS IN THE BIBLE TRANSLATION MOVEMENT
By Sebastian Floor
Delegates learning how to use a Scripture audio device at a workshop in Lesotho
We are living in exciting times. Right now, at the beginning of 2025, Bible translation is happening in more than 3,200 languages. We have witnessed an explosion of new projects since the launch of Vision 2025 in 1999. There are about 1,200 language communities left still waiting to start translation, maybe a bit more as languages not on our lists are still being “discovered”.
This explosion has been caused and accompanied by several major trends. The first is the shift of the Bible translation movement to the Global South. (The Global South are all the areas from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa to Asia and the Pacific that have seen the most significant church growth during the past 50 years). Many new local and national organisations are taking responsibility to do the necessary translation work in their own countries and regions, providing the leadership, the management, and the required quality assurance by people from the Global South. National consultants are emerging all over the world, with the degree and intensity of capacity building and equipping unparalleled with what was happening even 10 years ago. This does not mean that there is no place for the Global North (Europe and North America) anymore, it is just that the Global South, due to its massive church growth and increased levels of education in a vast area, is now fulfilling a much larger role.
The second trend is the introduction, next to translation in print, of oral translation. More than 800 of the currently active 3,200 translation projects are oral projects. But that all got an additional spin with oral translations now also being transcribed, something pioneered by Wycliffe South Africa. Now, increasingly, projects will be what is called multimodal translations, doing both the oral and the written, produced and published simultaneously. So many more people now have access to God’s Word. Not only those who can read.
A third major trend is that translation work is more and more being incorporated with the Church and with the church’s ministries. Translation is not a stand-alone initiative, somewhat separate from the Church, anymore. One of the immediate benefits has been that the gap between only having published Scripture by itself, and actual engaging with the Bible and experiencing its rich meanings, is now narrowing fast. The days of translations ending up unsold and unread in containers or on people’s shelves will hopefully be ending soon. This is because translations fit for purpose in local situations are becoming available at a rapid pace, fully endorsed by the Church who is now playing a major role in making them. This in turn is leading to widespread use and life transformation, to the degree that was never witnessed in church history before.
These are indeed exciting times. Congratulations to Wycliffe South Africa for its leading role in this trendsetting!
50 YEARS OF WYCLIFFE SOUTH AFRICA
1975-1985: The Seeds of WSA
The Wycliffe office in South Africa, 1974
“But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!" Romans 10:14-15
It was in the 1930s that Wycliffe Bible Translators came into being in the US, and in the following decades began to gain traction internationally, with new divisions springing up in Canada, Australia, the UK, and other Western countries.
Wycliffe comes to South Africa
1973
In 1973 Tony and Mary Williams came to South Africa from Wycliffe Australia to spread the word about Bible translation. They believed that South Africans would surely become involved if only they knew! The Williams' contacted church leaders, and shared the need for Bible translation and prayer support. They built positive relationships with churches, and slowly Wycliffe’s work becomes known in churches in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.
1973
1975
By 1975 there was a recognised Wycliffe presence in South Africa.
By this time John Bendor-Samuel of Wycliffe UK had also initiated a course in South Africa. Interested candidates could taste the technical side of Bible translation through a two week course in basic phonetics and language learning principles. This became an annual two week course, held at Rosebank Bible College.
In 1975 Derek Fivaz, Professor in Bantu Linguistics, took over from John Bendor-Samuel in directing the annual Rosebank course. Len and Gill Allwright served on staff, and Charlotte Corden and Karen Floor were among the first students to confirm their sense of calling to Bible translation through attending the course.
1981
By the time Tony and Mary Williams returned to Australia in 1981, 14 individuals had signed up with Wycliffe to work in Bible translation assignments.
1981
1983
The gap left by the departure of the Williams’s was filled by David and Margaret Abernethy from Northern Ireland, who served for three years from 1983-1986. They continued to make Wycliffe’s work known in churches, establishing prayer groups and providing guidance to South Africans who responded to the call.
Others who were involved at this early stage included:
Joy Boyle | Roy and Rose Tibbit | Tim and Audrey Anstice | Stan and Cherry Graumann | Linda Poulton | Frans and Iris Haenen | Carol Waddell | Nick & Lynne Swanepoel | Steve and Johanna Pillinger | Keith Forster and Yvonne Stofberg | Arnd and Dindi Strube | Anton and Joy Vermaak | Charlotte and Michael Cordon | Karen & Sebastian Floor
PREPARED FOR GOOD
Reflections from the WSA team
The WSA team and family members in Johannesburg, December 2024
“God has prepared me with things in my past to be of impact now and in the future. I am willing and prepared to be of service to God this year. I am prepared to see God doing good things this year.”
― Ansie van der Merwe
“This theme reminds me of Jesus Christ's charge to His disciples, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’ Matthew 5:16 NKJV
God will be glorified in 2025 as we do God's work His way, and never lack His supply at WSA.
The theme reminds me that I am well prepared. I am God's masterpiece prepared for good works and for His glory (Ephesians 2:10; 3:10)”
― Busani Mcingolwane
“‘Prepared for good’ means to me that we, as Wycliffe South Africa, are being prepared by God for good works. I feel that God is going to use WSA for a lot of good works. I think that we should be confident in our abilities as an organisation - I mean, we hosted the Global Gathering successfully and we have also hosted a couple of Translation training workshops. We have a lot of people who are highly skilled in their work. Throughout the last couple of years I think that we were being prepared for such a time as this. I am so excited.”
― Tshegofalo Siele
“To ensure you are always in a state of mind and heart where you are using Jesus' eyes and seeing the positive and good in others and the environment you find yourself in. Being prepared to see and do with His eyes and heart and hands.”
― Carol van Heerden
“‘Prepared for good’ for me is to say we trust You, God, with everything we do because this is Your will being done, and Your Word in Jeremiah 29:11 says, ‘For I know the thoughts that I think of you, says the Lord; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you the end that you hope for’. With this Word we hope to expand our projects, and we feel that this is the time that we are prepared to do it with the will of God, because He says in Psalm 91:1, ‘He that dwelleth in the hiding place of the Most High, in the shadow of the Almighty shall rest’.
‘Prepared for good’ is to be prepared for all the blessings that the Lord is going to provide for all that we planned and more, so we are prepared to receive and to share the Good News with others about how great the Lord is who we serve.
We are prepared for the Jubilee year, new challenges and achievements.”
― Marcelina Neto
“For me, 'Prepared for Good' means being proactive and intentional in my daily life, seeking opportunities to make a positive impact and being ready to respond to challenges with resilience and compassion. This year, I'm committing to staying adaptable, fostering meaningful connections, and cultivating a growth mindset to ensure I'm always prepared to contribute my best by the grace of God.”
― Nozi Skele
“A passage in scripture that is near and dear to me, after losing two close loved ones in quick succession a few years back, is Matthew 6 verses 19-21. I believe these ‘treasures in heaven’ are part of what is pre-prepared by God for us to do. Should we ever be discouraged, we should hold onto Galatians 6 verses 9-10 and remember that we should not grow weary in doing good to all people, as at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
― Joey Fourie
“For me, being ‘prepared for good’ starts with a commitment to live out God's purpose in my life. To walk in faith and love and to seek His will in my life. God has a purpose for my life and I must be prepared to fulfill that calling.
Eph 2:10 ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.’
In order to do this I must prepare spiritually by keeping my lamp filled with oil through the Word and prayer, as the wise virgins did.”
― Lenthia Erasmus
ANNOUNCEMENTS & NEWS
WELCOMING LENTHIA ERASMUS
As of January 2025, we are welcoming Lenthia on board as the new coordinator for Intercessors for Africa. She has 14 years of experience with Jericho Walls International Prayer Network, and has also been involved with Kairos and Harvesters Ministries. At WSA she will be coordinating prayer between churches, intercessors and translation programs. Lenthia is married to Chris and they have two children, a daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. She loves riding on a motorbike with her husband, reading, and doing the odd bit of sewing.
RUN FOR THE BIBLELESS - BOOK NOW!
Saturday 8th March
Be part of the movement to get the Word of God to everyone. Go to www.wycliffe.org.za/r4tb for more details and book tickets online here to take part in the run at Bunny Park, Benoni.
If you want to run with a group at a different location, you can register your event here. Once registered, people will be able to book tickets on our Quicket event page: https://qkt.io/r4tb25
This year we are also having a Bible Relay Race! We invite teams of 4 (2 male, 2 female) to enter from a school, church, or organisation. Each runner will complete 1 lap of Bunny Park, using a Bible as a baton to pass between them. You can download the information flyer here and buy tickets here.
KIDS WHO CARE
Hi kids. Aunty Gill here again. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and that you have had a very happy New Year so far.
I was so blessed to go on a very special holiday over New Year. I visited a country called Italy. The people in Italy speak a language called Italian. Some people speak a little bit of English.
One day, when my family and I were in Italy we went to a little restaurant for supper. We were very hungry when we got there. We went inside and sat down at the table. The waiter smiled and said “Buona sera” to us. This means “Good evening” in Italian. Then he gave us the menus. We opened them up and everything was written in Italian! There was not one English word, and there were no pictures. We all had to choose something to order, when we couldn’t understand any of the words written on the menu. It was very hard to read it when we could not speak or understand that language! My husband, Karl, and I ended up with really nice meals, but both of our sons are still wondering exactly what was on their plate that night. They didn’t really like it, that’s for sure! They were still hungry when we went home, because they could not understand the language that the menu was written in and so they had to guess and order something, but it was something quite unusual and it didn’t taste very good.
When I thought about it afterwards, how hard it was to read something in a language we did not understand, it reminded me of all those many, many people who have to read the Bible in a language they don’t understand. It must be so difficult for them!
I felt a bit disappointed that the owners of that restaurant had not been better prepared for English visitors. There are so many English-speaking visitors in their town during each winter. If they had thought about the sort of visitors that would be coming at that time of year and prepared for them coming, they would have been ready for us with an English menu. They would have been willing to make a few changes for the good of their business. That would have really helped their business. We would have told people how good the restaurant was and suggested they all visit there too. Things at the restaurant would have been good, with more customers, if they had been better prepared.
The Wycliffe Bible Translation teams always try to do a great job of being prepared for good things. They think carefully about what work they want to do and then they prepare well so that they can do their work really well. When God leads the team at Wycliffe South Africa to a new group of people who don’t have any Bibles in their own language, they spend a lot of time getting ready to start working with this group of people. They spend time researching on their computers and have lots of meetings. Some people from Wycliffe South Africa go to visit the group of people and get to know them, and they talk together about who will be on the translation team and who will do which jobs. Then the translation team does lots and lots of work before they can have even a few verses of the Bible in the language they understand. They really do a lot of preparation so that they can do a good job of Bible translation. They don’t want to make any mistakes. They want the words they give to the people to be really excellent so that the people can learn about Jesus and the love He has for us and their lives can be changed. They prepare well for good stuff to follow.
Why don’t you pray for the people at Wycliffe South Africa this week? Thank God for the work they are doing and ask God to help them and guide them, to give them finances, wisdom, time, protection and His blessing as they do their really important work.
Love from Aunty Gill
