Wycliffe Associates Departing from Wycliffe Global Alliance

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

ORLANDO, FLORIDA (ANS – March 2, 2016) -- Wycliffe Associates (https://wycliffeassociates.org), an international organization that involves people in the advancement of Bible translation, has announced that it is not renewing its affiliation with the Wycliffe Global Alliance, a network of Bible translation organizations formed in 1991. Wycliffe Associates has been serving Bible translation since 1967.

According to a news release, the decision was made by the Wycliffe Associates board of trustees at their February 26, 2016 meeting, and announced by Wycliffe Associates President Bruce Smith on March 1, 2016 to staff and volunteers in Orlando, Florida. The decision is also being communicated to global partners in person, by phone, and by email.

Smith cited several reasons for Wycliffe Associates’ departure. The first is Wycliffe Associates’ commitment to support only Bible translations that use literal common language for Father and Son of God. The Wycliffe Global Alliance includes Bible translation agencies that do not include Father and Son of God in some translations of the Scriptures.

“For Wycliffe Associates, literal translation of Father and Son of God is not negotiable,” Smith said in his public statement.

Additionally, Wycliffe Associates plans to provide open-license Bible resources to its church partners to further accelerate the work of Bible translation and supports local church authority for translation quality.

Smith went on to say, “The local body of Christ has both the responsibility and authority as stewards of God’s Word in their language. Wycliffe Associates supports the Church’s authority in Bible translation.”

Wycliffe Associates will continue to operate under the same name, holding to the principles followed by its namesake, John Wycliffe, in accurately translating the Scriptures.

When asked for further clarification on the situation, a spokesperson for Wycliffe Associates told ANS, “Wycliffe Global Alliance is an organization that encompasses most of the Bible translation organizations around the world. There are over 200 organizations globally that belong to the WGA. These organizations usually have a mission to see that the Bible is translated into the languages in their specific region.

“WGA insists that in Bible translation in some cultures, usually a Muslim community, where Jesus is the Son of God offends the culture, the Bible translator may use appropriate texts to give Jesus his authority. Wycliffe Associates believes in a literal translation of the scripture with Jesus’ title as ‘Son of God.’”

Today, the Orlando-based organization is accelerating the work of Bible translation in 75 countries with resources, training, and technology. Its vision is to see the entire Bible in every language by the year 2025.

About Wycliffe Associates:

Organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators, including the late Dr. Dale W. Kietzman, the founding Chairman of ASSIST, Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

The spokesperson for Wycliffe Associates also said, “Because millions of people around the world still wait to read the Scriptures in the language of their heart, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Last year, 6,279 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 75 countries.”

For more information, please contact Donn Hallman at donn_hallman@wycliffeassociates.org .

Photo captions: 1) A Bible translator in South America. 2) Dan Wooding with Dr. Dale W. Kietzman, one of the founders of Wycliffe Associates.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 52 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He is also the author of some 45 books, the latest of which is a novel called Mary, My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary (http://marythebook.com).

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