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.
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