What can I do to follow-up?

 What do you think of me starting a Bible Translation organization? I like the name the Fabian Alliance of Translators. Would you sponsor a translation for $20? Would you send me $1000 if I could do an entire New Testament translation in one week instead of the long 2 weeks that it takes Wycliffe Associates?

Of course, the above ad is a joke. It is my crazy response to the preposterous work of translation of WA. If you wouldn’t support the Fabian Alliance of Translators, then you shouldn’t support Wycliffe Associates.

There are three courses of action you could take to follow-up if you feel as angered by the work of Wycliffe Associates as I do.

1.              Let’s bring an avalanche of negative response towards Wycliffe Associates.

2.              Let’s support organizations and missionaries who are putting in the years of hard work and relationships that it takes to do an accurate translation.

3.              Do more research and prayer on your own.

If you have this as an e-book you will be able to click on the many links I’ve included. If you have the paperback book you can go to my blog to access the links.

Bringing an Avalanche of Objections

·        Order the book Killing Translation for your friends, pastor, mission’s team, missionaries, and family. The book is a compilation of the blogs so it's easier to give to someone. You can get copies just for the cost of printing and shipping on Amazon.  I'll gladly send you the PDF of the book for free. https://tinyurl.com/56dcznv6

·        Move your financial support away from Wycliffe Associates.

·        Don’t attend a WA banquet and tell them why.

·        Personally tell your pastor of your concern and give a copy of Killing Translation.

·        Write a personal letter to the WA Board and let them know of your concerns and tell them to change their name. 11450 Translation Way P.O. Box 620143 Orlando, FL 32862

·        Write a personal letter to the President and let him know of your concerns. Address above.

·        Share my blogs on Facebook.

·        Leave comments on my blogs and on Facebook.

·        Wycliffe Associates has a Facebook page and it has less than 50 reviews. Some are negative but most are positive. Leave a comment and ‘don’t recommend’ them and their score will plummet drastically. Others will see that score when they visit their page and wonder why.

·        Leave comments on their Facebook page.

·        Email WA telling them your concerns- web@wycliffeassociates.org

·        Find out who the area coordinator is for WA banquets in your area. Send them one of my books, Killing Translation.

·        Think of Christian organizations or ministries that you know personally that could be helped by knowing this information about Wycliffe Associates, for instance I will be giving my book to the Berks Council of Churches.

·        Leave a negative review for the three Bruce Smith books on GoodReads and Amazon.

·        Leave a comment on this podcast from ‘The Missions Podcast’ about ‘Translating the Bible in 4 Weeks.’

·        Write letters about your concern for WA to the following organizations that can hold them accountable:

o   Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability 440 West Jubal Early Drive Suite 100 Winchester, VA 22601

o   The Evangelical Press Association PO Box 1787 Queen Creek, AZ 85142

o   Biblical Missiology PO Box 18478 Boulder, CO 80302

o   Christianity Today 465 Gundersen Drive Carol Stream, IL 60188

o   Charity Navigator 139 Harristown Rd Ste 101, Glen Rock, NJ 07452 info@charitynavigator.org

o   GuideStar products@candid.org

 

Is your heart for Bible Translation done accurately? Support one of the following:

·        Support a translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators. e.g. Jessie Wright anewheartinPNG@wordpress.com or Steve and Cathy Marlett steve_marlett@sil.org  

·        Support Wycliffe Bible Translators  at Wycliffe.org

·        Support someone in Wycliffe Bible Translators doing support work. e.g. Luke and Marjan Aubrey doing Scripture Application and Leadership Training, Bethanny Davy is a Media Specialist, or Michael and Eve Brooks who serve in leadership and education. 

·        Form a team and support a project (rather than a person) until it is finished. Pray, communicate, visit and get involved. That WOULD hasten the translation without impacting accuracy.

·        Find a young couple in seminary preparing for Bible translation. Help them with their expenses so they don’t end up with a pile of student loans. They can head to the mission field quicker.

·        Write a personal letter to your missionaries.

·        Send your missionaries a Christmas surprise.

·        Write to Wycliffe Bible Translators and let them know when they refer only to ‘Wycliffe’ in their promotional materials that it is getting confused with Wycliffe Associates.

Is your heart for raising up local people to do the work and not outsiders:

·        Adopt a pastor in Papua New Guinea from the college where my Mom taught: Christian Leaders’ Training College ckokie@cltc.ac.pg

·        Adopt a pastor in Africa: African College of Theology

 ·        The Theological College of Northern Nigeria has a bachelors and year-long Linguistics and Bible Translation course that you could give scholarships to. https://tcnn.edu.ng/give 

·        Adopt a pastor to receive training and follow-up encouragement e.g. Janiel Araujo Freitas

Is your heart for speeding up Bible Translation:

·        Check out Wycliffe Bible Translators gift catalog

·        Support the Seed Company

·        Contribute to Adapt It. It is a free open-source tool for quickly translating between related languages.

Prayer changes everything:

·        Sign up to be on Wycliffe Bible Translators email list to get timely prayer requests.

·        Pray for a Bibleless People Group- You can choose your language group.

·        Pray using the well-researched book Operation World.

More Research- Do your own research, don’t just trust me.

·        Talk to translators from Wycliffe Bible Translators or other organizations and ask them their opinion. Members of WBT are told not to publicly discuss this issue but if you ask, they can share their opinion.

·        Research what has been done over the years to protect the scriptures.

·        Learn more about becoming a Bible Translator or support worker for WBT.

·        Research online all the other top-notch organizations that are working tirelessly to speed up Bible translation like Wycliffe Bible Translators, The Seed Company, Every Tribe Every Nation, Illuminations and many more.

·        Investigate the research based around the concept of Church Centric Bible Translation.

·        Research the tools, computer programs and processes that are speeding up translation.

What other ideas do you have?

Please share them with me and others.