• Home
  • About
    • Our Contributors
    • Our Beliefs
  • Blog
  • Bible Studies
    • Scripture Dig
  • Archives
  • Shop
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

You are here: Home / Witnessing and Missions / Gospel Trailblazers / God Speaks Every Language: William Cameron Townsend

God Speaks Every Language: William Cameron Townsend

September 21, 2021 by Cheli Sigler Leave a Comment

Welcome to Do Not Depart! Be sure to subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word.

Welcome back to Do Not Depart! If you haven't already, subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word. This post may include affiliate links. To read our full disclosure policy, click here. Thank you for supporting this site!

In lightning speed on a smartphone, multiple English translations of the Bible are at my fingertips. My bookshelves hold at least 3-4 Bibles per person in my household. I grew up singing “The B-I-B-L-E, yes, that’s the book for me” without ever thinking that there were people with no Bible in their mother tongue.

With an obedient heart, a listening ear and servant hands, William Cameron Townsend started a Bible translation movement. A Bible in the mother tongue or “heart language” increases the accessibility to the Gospel for many. A “heart language” is the language in which a person prays, dreams, and thinks.

Understanding Scripture in a language other than the heart language in which we think and experience emotion is “like trying to eat soup with a fork. You can get a little taste, but you cannot get nourished.  — William Cameron Townsend

An Obedient Heart

In 1917, while many of his peers were serving in World War 1, Cameron Townsend, followed God’s call to Guatemala. Cam’s mission was to share the Gospel and sell Spanish language Bibles, but he soon discovered that Guatemala was filled with people who did not speak Spanish. Instead, there were many tribal languages, many of which were spoken languages—not written ones. Working with the Cakchiquel tribe, Cam was asked, “Why doesn’t God speak our language?” Piercing Cam’s heart and mind, he sought to show them that God speaks every language.

The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.  –William Cameron Townsend

A Listening Ear

Listening and adjusting to meet the needs of the Cakchiquel people, Cameron Townsend set out to learn the Cakchiquel language, teach the people how to read and write it, and faithfully translate the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into Cakchiquel. Did you catch all those steps? This process took ten years. Note that the translation was not from an English or Spanish Bible into Cakchiquel, but from the original Bible languages.

Servant Hands

With the Cakchiquel translation work complete, Cam (affectionately known as “Uncle Cam”) blazed a trail for further Bible translation. In 1934 “Camp Wycliffe,” named for John Wycliffe who translated the Bible into English, was born. This Bible translation training camp gave rise to two organizations at the forefront of Bible translation: Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International). Today people all around the world have access to the Bible in their “heart language” because of the trailblazing work of Uncle Cam. Meanwhile, 1800 languages await a Bible translation and the joy of knowing God’s Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reading the Scripture in another language is like eating a banana with the skin on. Now the Scripture in my language is satisfying… like a sweet banana. I can’t get enough of it.                   –a woman from Asia

Pray for Bible Translation

Like the woman in the quote above, many people await to read a Bible that communicates the fullness of God’s Word. Join me in praying for the world to know that God speaks every language.

With an obedient heart, a listening ear and servant hands, William Cameron Townsend blazed a trail, creating a Bible translation movement. #GospelTrailblazers

Click To Tweet

 

Share
Pin1
Tweet
1 Shares

Related

About Cheli Sigler

Cheli Sigler is a teacher through and through. She pursues her God-given purpose from her home base in sunny Orlando, FL alongside her husband, Matt, and their two daughters. Cheli is a part-time teacher at a Christian school, equips missionary kids for the mission field as a volunteer at Wycliffe Bible Translators, and serves Hello Mornings as a group leader mentor and writer. Inviting people to sharpen their minds and soften their hearts for God’s purpose and the world, Cheli shares ideas and resources on her blog, Sharpen to Soften. Connect with Cheli on Twitter as @CheliSigler or on Instagram as @chelidee.

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Love for the Lost: Samuel & Amy Zwemer
180 Degree Repentance: Bartolomé de las Casas

Join the DiscussionCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This Month’s Theme

  • Jesus is the Way
  • And He Shall Be Called Series Intro

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you:

We’ll come to you

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you

Categories

Bible Memory – Lent 2021

Memorizing Isaiah 12

Let the Children Come

Let the Children Come

Want more #HideHisWord resources?

Memorizing Psalm 1

Find Us on Facebook


Search

Recent Posts

  • Series Wrap-Up: The Lord Is My Light
  • His Marvelous Light
  • When the Darkness Deepens
  • Though I Sit in Darkness…
  • Let Your Light Shine
  • Life-Giving Light

Archives

© 2025 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design