DALLAS -- A partnership between the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and Wycliffe International is expected to accelerate the translation of the Bible by 100 years for the estimated 1 billion people who have yet to hear God's Word.
Under the agreement, signed Nov. 1 in Dallas, the IMB will appoint missionaries to help Wycliffe translators, share information about church planting and translation projects and coordinate outreach strategies, according to the Baptist Press.
Nearly 3,000 language groups have no access to the Bible in their own languages. At the current pace, translations for all of them would take until 2150, according to the IMB.
"We have such a great need to get the Bible into the languages of the people around the world," said Avery Willis, the IMB's senior vice president. "Everybody deserves to have the Word of God in the language they love, the language they cry in and get mad in and rejoice in."
As many as 400 million people speak languages for which no one is trying to translate the Scripture, said John Walters, Wycliffe International's executive director.
Wycliffe's 5,000 missionaries have helped translate the New Testament into more than 500 languages. Another 1,400 projects are under way, according to the BP.
Wycliffe is best known for its Chronological Bible Storying and the JESUS film.
