Troy Manning

When I give my presentation at churches, I like to draw their attention to the back of my prayer card.  I note that many missionaries put prayer requests on the back of their card.  Then I point out that I have over 4,500 prayer requests on the back of my card, because there are that many languages that don’t have a SINGLE verse of Scripture in their own language.  Of course, that makes the impact that I intend.  Then I explain that my greatest concern is for the believers among those 4,500 who have to have a relationship with the Lord through a Bible not written in their heart language. 

While I was in Quebec, I had a guy (an American from BJU, in fact) express his confusion about that number.  He said that Wycliffe Bible Translator’s site notes that there are around 2,500 languages without any portion of Scripture.  In fact, the number is presently about 2,300.  I was just speaking to two representatives of Wycliffe (and SIL), and they said that they derive their number by starting with a rough gestimate of 3,000 languages that they project to have a need for Bible translation.  Then, they subtract out some hard-and-fast numbers of what they are currently doing.  Thus, they arrive at the 2,300 amount. 

I was also able to pick up a Wycliffe brochure to help me better understand their perspective on the need.  According to a graph that they have in the brochure, Bible translation projects are currently underway in around 2,700 languages.  They indicate that there are around 6,900 languages in the world, so that leaves around 4,200 that still have a need.  This is much higher than the 2,300 mentioned above.  However, there are a number of languages among the 4,200 that might go extinct before we are able to provide them with a Bible translation.  But it’s really difficult to know for sure how many of those languages are close to extinction. 

And as I said in my earlier post, a full survey of all the world’s languages hasn’t actually been accomplished.  What a mammoth task that would be!  Thus, the numbers that we can provide are not hard-and-fast numbers.  When we finally get around to surveying them, we may find that there are many more languages that have needs.  Someone said last Sunday that there are around 100 sign languages in the world, but that if we did an in-depth survey, we would probably discover that there are more like 400 sign languages. 

Another person I sat with at lunch last week pointed out that even the 400+ languages with complete Bibles have needs.  In at least one case, the last edition was published 100 years ago and no one knows where it can be accessed. 

Needless to say, there is still MUCH work to be done in the field of Bible translation.  And when one considers the great deal of linguistics work that needs to precede, accompany, and follow Bible translation, we can bank on the fact that there will be no shortage of needs any time soon in this aspect of missions.  It is true that there is not as much of a need as what I had originally thought–i.e., 2,300 is much less than 4,500.  But as I said earlier, we can’t be sure that 2,300 represents the actual need.   In addition, the Bible agencies around the world want to at least begin projects in all of the 2,300 needy languages by 2025.  But remember, this is just the BEGINNING and this is just the languages that have been surveyed. 

Another note about numbers.  I read some tracts in Quebec that spoke of the great diffusion of Bible translation.  In fact, one tract says that 97% of the world can now read at least a part of the Bible in their maternal language.  What are we to make of that?  Well, we should actually adjust the figure to around 93% and we should keep in mind that the remaining 7% represents around 400 million people.  In addition, we need to ask ourselves, “What is the quality of the Scripture that they do have access to?  How much of the Bible do they actually have access to in their own language?  Should we rest content if they have a dozen portions of Scripture from various places in the Bible?  Why can’t they have the same privilege that we do of having it ALL?!”  The Bible is a highly disseminated Book, but this does not mean that there are no more needs or that there are only a few needs here and there around the globe.  There are GREAT needs, and they demand IMMEDIATE attention, because souls are dying without access to Scripture in their own heart language. 

What’s the moral of this post?  Keep in perspective what you read about numbers in this field of Bible translation.  Pray for the Lord to send more laborers.  I’m so thankful that I have been called to this ministry.  And here I have been concerned recently that maybe there aren’t that many needs.  I have the feeling that I am going to look back on these days in the future and laugh at my unwarranted concern.