Nearly 3 million people who had not seen much less read the Scripture are now able to find inspiration from reading the Word of God in their native tongue thanks to the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators.
In a blog post on its website on Friday, Wycliffe Bible Translators announced that it completed the translation of the Holy Bible in 23 languages on April 28, adding that the translated Bibles have so far been read by over 2,850,000 people.
Wycliffe Bible Translators said it celebrated the occasion by hearing stories of the "lives and hearts transformed by the translated Word of God."
Among the stories shared were communities who printed their Bibles on waterproof paper to prevent humidity from ruining the "life-giving" pages, and communities who use the YouVersion app to access the translated Bible.
Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of Wycliffe Associates, the Christian residents of an unspecified Southeast Asian country can now fully understand the content of the Holy Bible, which was introduced to their forebears by missionaries more than a century ago.
Wycliffe Associates and Wycliffe Bible Translators are two different Bible translation organisations.
In a report shared on its website, Wycliffe Associates recalled that missionaries brought with them the Gospel when they arrived in Southeast Asia in 1888. At the time, the Scriptures had not been translated yet. However, this did not prevent the natives from studying God's Word in a foreign language.
"Miraculously, they held onto their faith through hardship and persecution. God's church in this remote region survived," the Wycliffe Associates report states.
Now, bringing the Christian faith to the people of Southeast Asia and elsewhere has been made easier with the release and distribution of translated Bibles through the Wycliffe Associates' Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation programme.
The programme is a pioneering method that enables mother-tongue translators to translate the Bible in an unprecedented time. The translators worked tirelessly, drafting verses using a five-step process to check them for accuracy, Wycliffe Associates says.
The method has enabled translators to finish the translation of the New Testament early this year. They plan to complete the Old Testament by the end of 2016.
The Southeast Asia language group was one of 14 people groups in the world, representing 17 million people, who have never read the Bible in their own language, according to Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.
"They've endured persecution. They've struggled to teach the Scriptures to their young people in other languages. They've been told for generations they have to keep waiting until Westerners can translate the Bible for them," he said.
"In my 30 years of work in international missions, I've often heard there will be a day when the church takes its place, when the old-fashioned missionary model is no longer the only way. This is that day," Smith said.
"Christian churches, planted by missionaries in the 1800s, have survived—and they will drive the translation of God's Word into their own languages. There is no denying God has wrought the miraculous in Southeast Asia," he added.
Translating the Bible in regions where Christians are as minority is a dangerous job. Last March, Wycliffe Associates said four of its workers were killed by Islamic militants who raided their office in an unspecified Middle East location.
"This is actually normal. Christians are attacked, they're beaten, they're killed, they're jailed, they're tortured, and they're terrorised in this part of the world routinely," Smith told Mission News Network at the time.
Despite such danger, translators "have such a thirst and such a commitment to getting God's Word to their people that these are risks that they accept," he said. "It increases their resolve to seeing God's Word reach the hearts of the people who are caught in this kind of violence and hopelessness."
