Tom Lin

One of the privileges and best learning experiences I’ve had in recent years is to serve on the Board of Directors for Wycliffe Bible Translators. I haven’t written much about it, as I’ve wanted my ministry with InterVarsity to be the primary focus of my communications. But after my re-election to the Board this past June, I thought I would share a few thoughts about Wycliffe as I prepare to serve another 3-year term as a Director. I spoke on several of these points on the platform of their triennial Worldwide Delegate Conference in June:

1. My conversion. In 2002, I had a “conversion experience”, when I became a true believer of the worldwide Bible translation movement. I had known about Wycliffe as a mission agency since a child, but when Nancy and I moved to Mongolia to pioneer student ministry, I was shocked to learn that the complete Mongolian Bible was only translated and published in 2000. After this translation was completed, and after an earlier translation of the N.T. was completed in the 1990’s, the church exploded — from 0 known believers in 1989 to now around 25,000 believers in Mongolia. I believe that this was due to the fact that Mongolians can now read and hear Scripture in a language that speaks to their heart.

2. Fruits in my own ministry. In my own ministry to Mongolian students, I owe much gratitude to those who worked so hard to translate the Scriptures into Mongolian, because without them, I would not have been able to share the gospel with Mongolians. Hundreds of students come before the Lord every morning in daily devotions, memorizing and studying the Scriptures.

3. An essential pipeline. Bible translation is clearly important not only to the individuals and communities without Bibles in their own languages, but also the Christian ministry organizations around the world. Bible translation is an essential pipeline in that it supplies the key element for ministries such as InterVarsity – the Bible. Ministries rely on Wycliffe to produce the Bible, without which they can not do their work. Wycliffe is not an optional partner, but a necessary partner.

The vision and mission of Wycliffe is certainly powerful. The vision is “That God’s Word is accessible to all people in a language that speaks to their heart.” The mission is “To see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025.” There are over 2,200 languages to go!

For more information, check out www.vision2025.org and www.wycliffe.org .