Global Rise of Christian Translation Services

English has dominated all other languages in the world; so, why would we want to translate our resources into other tongues? Why not simply invest the same amount of time, money, and energy on helping people learn to read our English resources instead of doing the hard (and at times chaotic) work of translation? A simple straight answer is given by noted missionary and historian Andrew Walls, professor emeritus of Edinburgh University and founder of The Center for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World.

Walls puts forth the argument that translation is fundamental to the gospel because the incarnation of Christ is itself an act of translation. Jesus, in turning into a man, translated the fullness of God’s person and character into human shape. As the author of Hebrews states, Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (1:3). Or as Paul says in Colossians, “He is the image of the invisible God” (1:15).

Taking On Another’s Language Is Similar To Jesus’ Incarnation

As the most special human attribute a person has, a person's language is linked with his/her self-image. Paying attention to and valuing a person's language is equivalent to paying attention to and valuing the person himself/herself. So, taking on another’s language is, like Jesus’ incarnation, to share in their “blood.” Christian Translation allows you and your message to move into the lives of people and societies, to extents and magnitudes that would otherwise be not possible from the outside.

Exponential Rise In Christian Translation Services Worldwide

Of course, Christian Translation Services have grown exponentially and the growth will continue in the future as well. The simple reason for the tremendous growth is that people are by nature more comfortable listening and reading in their mother language than in a foreign language.

It’s true that the Bible is one of the most ancient and most liked books ever. Nonetheless, is it only a book, or is it much more? I have the conviction that the Bible is God's word to us — something that everybody should be able to understand in their own language. But, roughly 1,600 languages around the globe are as yet waiting for a translation project to start. When people at long last get the Bible in their very own language, lives often change dramatically. Individuals are transformed as they are shepherded to Jesus Christ and a correct association with God.

I will provide some interesting statistics about Bible translation to make it evident that Christian Translation Services are actually on the rise:

# In excess of 1,500 languages have access to the New Testament and some parts of Scripture in their language.

#In excess of 650 languages have the complete translated Bible.

#No less than 1.5 billion individuals don't have the complete Bible in their first language. In excess of 110 million don't have a single verse of Scripture.

#In excess of 2,500 languages covering 170 nations have active translation and linguistic development work taking place at this moment.

#Roughly 1,600 languages still need a Bible translation undertaking to start.

Translation Communicates To Common People

There is another way in which translation reflects the incarnational ministry of Christ. Rather than simply addressing the religious elite, Christian translation takes the message of the cross to the common people.

In most of the traditional societies, religious language has had a tendency to be limited to a small elite of professionals. In extreme cases, this language is veiled under the precluding sanctions of shrines, access to which is through induced trances or a magical formula. The Christian approach to translatability strikes at the core of such agnostic inclinations. First by asserting that the greatest and most significant religious truths are compatible with everyday language. And second, by choosing the common people as worthy bearers of the religious message.

Conclusion

Never before in the history of mankind, this has happened that the Bible and the Holy Scripture is being translated into hundreds of languages. It is due to the translation work that people from different geographies, cultures, classes, and genders have been able to read the Bible and Scriptures and listen to audios together.