Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Partnering to Reach 200 by 2025: A Snapshot of Wycliffe Singapore

By Nicky Chong and Soak Wan Leong
April 2011

When we hear the Bible read in Bahasa Indonesia, it is like the sound of birds singing among the tree branches—beautiful to hear, but we cannot understand what it means. But when we read God’s word in our language, we are like a man suddenly being woken up and rubbing his eyes, he could see clearly and understand what God is saying to him!

A leader from the Orya people group, who live in Papua, Indonesia, said this at the dedication of the Orya New Testament in November 2005. For this man and his people, the word has come alive because God now speaks to them in a language they understand.

Imagine a world where you cannot access God’s word simply because there is none translated into your mother tongue. This is the reality for some 340 million people speaking 2,078 languages.¹

In contrast, many of us who speak the major languages of this world have enjoyed the privilege of more than one version of the Bible. A quick look at the Christian book rooms in countries which use English as a major language would show that there are more than ten versions with derivatives, as well as numerous dynamic translations, and the numbers keep growing!

In a society like Singapore, where the literacy rate is 95.9%², how does one convince believers that the world has some 340 million people with no access to God’s word in a language that makes sense to them? Singaporeans learn English and a mother tongue in school and these are majority languages with an abundance of published literature to feed the mind and soul.

Singapore is home to five million people, of which some eighteen percent of the population is Christian. For these believers, there are some seven hundred churches they attend. The Singapore Church enjoys freedom of worship and material blessings. For the many blessings given to it, there is a responsibility to forward those blessings to others as God leads.

Such is the situation Wycliffe Bible Translators faces in Singapore. Churches are willing, even eager, to take up their responsibility in world missions, but what they need is information and a sense of conviction with regard to what forms missions would take.

Vision 2025 in Singapore In 2007, after a time of protracted corporate prayer and intensive meetings, Wycliffe Singapore decided to concentrate its efforts more intentionally in ensuring that the team was pushing toward Vision 2025: the vision to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025.

Before Vision 2025 was adopted by Wycliffe organizations worldwide, statistics showed that the last of the more than two thousand people groups would not even see a translation program started until the year 2150. And thus was born the Wycliffe Singapore response to Vision 2025—“Reaching 200 by 2025″:

By 2025, in partnership with the Singapore Church, we will be engaged in 200 languages needing a Bible translation program.

Beginning from the Go Forth 2008 National Missions Conference, Wycliffe Singapore launched “Reaching 200” by informing churches and individuals of the vast needs of the 340 million people. The major launch was in February 2009, when Wycliffe Singapore hosted an anniversary banquet to thank supporters and issue a fresh challenge to continue their faithful support toward new translation projects.

Nicky Chong is executive director of Wycliffe Bible Translators Singapore. Soak Wan Leong is communications executive for Wycliffe Bible Translators Singapore. Prior to that, the couple trained nationals in Kartidaya (Indonesia) for cross-cultural ministry.