‘How will people know that God loves them?’

Imagine for a moment that you are a Christian in 1348. The Black Death is claiming lives throughout your community. And the Bible is in Latin, which neither you nor the priest understand.

Your priest is telling you the plague is a punishment from God, and if you give money to the Church you’ll gain access to heaven. You can’t read and you don’t understand Latin, so you give money you can’t afford because you fear the priest – and God.

John Wycliffe thought this was wrong, and thank goodness he did. This year we celebrate the 700th anniversary of his birth, and the extraordinary difference he made by translating the Bible into English so that ordinary people could meet with Jesus through His living word.

We are also celebrating the amazing modern-day John Wycliffes who are doing the same for the people in their own communities.

God’s Word revealed

Yoke, a translator with the Dobel team in Indonesia, was a bully at school. As a young woman, she was asked to be a part of a team helping in the translation of the book of Ruth. That encounter with God’s word changed her life – and now she’s translating God’s word so that others have the same opportunity that she had. Last year, the Dobel team celebrated the marvellous milestone of finishing the translation of the whole of the New Testament. A Dobel woman called Mrs Lin was delighted with what she read. She said: ‘An ramau tanga yeramona iya ahpina tu, an mau hawih aka sit.’ (‘Nothing is hidden any more, everything has been revealed to us.’)

Declared a heretic

John Wycliffe was declared a heretic, and called ‘a child of the devil’ for daring to translate God’s word into English. And there are the John Wycliffes of today, who risk their lives for the sake of the gospel. In West Asia, Ibrahim* had to flee when his life was threatened after his family found out that he’d become a Christian. Despite the risks, Ibrahim has chosen to become a Bible translator for his Leoma* language because he believes that everyone has the right to know that God loves them. There are 15 million Leoma people waiting to hear that truth.

People need to know the truth because otherwise they can be led astray. This was what nearly happened in the Kouya language area of Côte d’Ivoire. A semi-Christian sect, comprising people who were Christians yet also followed their traditional faith, had started a group in one of the Kouya villages. When the leader read the Kouya New Testament he realised that what he was teaching did not line up with God’s word. He asked a local pastor to clarify what he’d been reading so that he could be truthful in what he preached. This powerful and persuasive leader could have chosen to misguide and lead astray all those who chose to follow him. But he didn’t. And why? Because the Kouya people had God’s word in their own language, they could distinguish the truth from the lies.

‘How will they know that God loves them if they do not have the message in their language?’ This is what drives Ibrahim on, despite the trials and challenges that he faces.

The truth will set you free

Bible translation is increasing rapidly, with a new translation beginning at the rate of one a day. Wycliffe’s vision is for a world where everyone can know Jesus through the Bible. Please pray for strength, boldness and perseverance for modern-day John Wycliffes until everyone, worldwide, has an opportunity to encounter the gospel and the truth that will set them free in the language they understand best.

*names changed for security reasons

Find out more about John Wycliffe and his amazing legacy at: wycliffe.org.uk/700