Vision Sharers

What's Involved
Here in Canada, you can do all kinds of things to ensure the success of the Bible translation movement.

You can be a supporter and advocate of individual Wycliffe members, helping to ensure that the missionaries and their work are prominent in the thoughts and prayers of your congregation.

You can become an active member of a local team, serving for a few hours or a couple of days a week, to help promote the work and see that both new and existing members and projects are adequately supported.

You can also be active in maintaining and growing a healthy Church here in Canada, ensuring that the mission fields are not neglected. It’s vital that those already in the Church are looking outwards as well as upwards, with a strong desire to reach those without Christ, both here and around the world.

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Teachers/School Support Staff

What's Involved
Wycliffe places teachers in dozens of schools worldwide, ranging in size from a single classroom to a facility with 700-plus students. Some teachers serve on the staff of an inter-mission, or international school. The curriculum of each school reflects the specific needs of its student body and will depend largely on the nationalities of the students.

Adventure-seeking teachers are prime candidates for nontraditional programs. In many countries, missionary families work in remote areas, far from an appropriate traditional school option. For these situations, Wycliffe needs teachers to serve as private tutors for a single family; itinerant teachers rotating between several families; correspondence or Internet school supervisors; or education consultants. Preschool teachers and nursery workers may also be needed in some locations.

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Language Surveyors

What's Involved
Surveyors do basic sociolinguistic fieldwork, collecting solid data to answer vital questions: How closely are dialects and languages related? How many translations are needed in a country or region? Where and how should translation projects be started?

Language survey specialists plan research trips. Then they travel extensively through a language area, typically comparing word lists and using stories on tape to test how well people in various places understand one another and the trade or national language. They handle equipment and recording data, meeting and working with a lot of people from different cultures. After a trip, they write up the results of their findings. Surveyors work long hours, often under rugged conditions. Single young people or childless couples are ideal for the task.

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Office Staff

What's Involved
Centre services/operations staff maintain buildings and equipment at Wycliffe centres, serve in group housing and dining facilities, act as centre hosts, or work in purchasing and shipping. Administrative assistants work with Wycliffe colleagues and national partners in a huge range of tasks ensuring correspondence is dealt with, records are kept, and that people and projects are cared for. As the first point of contact, receptionists greet staff and visitors, and answer and direct phone calls to offices. Personnel staff process applications from people interested in serving with Wycliffe, help them get the right training and assignments and care for Wycliffe workers in ways that facilitate their ongoing ministry as healthy, prepared and sustained individuals. Communications staff—through various media—inform, challenge and encourage churches and individuals about involvement in the Bible translation task. Library and museum personnel maintain collections of reference materials valuable to Bible translation and to helping the communities we work with in many other ways.

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Bible Translators/Linguists

What's Involved
Wycliffe translators are committed, servant-hearted and enthusiastic individuals, with gifts and training in linguistics and the ability to work well cross-culturally in a group setting.

Wycliffe Bible translators and linguists often serve in field projects as facilitators and trainers to national partners. Roles may include facilitating or doing language research and translation, or training local people in linguistic research, translation and literacy, to name a few.

Translators learn the language and culture by living among the people and becoming their friends. They work as co-translators with native speakers of the language or are consultants to native speakers who do the actual translation. They help teach people to read and involve them in producing primers and other literature. They act as consultants, checking the translations to make sure they communicate accurately, clearly and naturally. They interact with church leaders and government officials.

Fieldwork is usually carried out under SIL International (a partner organization of Wycliffe), often together with other national partner organizations.

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IT Staff

What's Involved
Computer specialists work in one or more areas of their interest and experience. Some help repair equipment while others develop new programs. Some write manuals. Others help train Wycliffe workers and national partners to use computers and software. Some serve as printing arts specialists, preparing publications for printing. Still others manage computer systems and operations, or enter data at the keyboard.

Those serving in the computer area work with a variety of computer equipment, from translators’ laptops in the field to sophisticated network systems for electronic communications and business applications.

Check IT Out

www.itwow.org

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Finance Staff

What's Involved
Finances in missions are complicated. Staff need to deal with multiple currencies, many sources of funds, numerous accounts, reporting to agencies from several different governments and other challenges.

Each office maintains its own financial records and is responsible for accurately recording, summarizing and reporting its financial transactions. Most offices use computerized accounting packages, which range from small systems on personal computers to large, sophisticated systems on computer networks.

Wycliffe is committed to the proper stewardship of the funds God entrusts to us. Our Canadian office complies with all requirements of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC).

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Managers

What's Involved
Roles vary considerably, but may involve:

• Normal management functions (planning, organizing, coordinating, staffing and achieving accountability) within the context of an evangelical mission organization.
  
• Helping fellow missionaries and national partners effectively fulfil their responsibilities.
  
• Working in coordination with other administrators to facilitate the work of Bible translation.
  
• Training national partners in management.

The skills and qualities that make a good administrator in the secular world will make the same person an asset to the Bible translation team. Many situations call for imagination, ingenuity and initiative, as well as a deep sense of commitment to the Lord. The administrative or management skills the Lord has given you can be invested in taking His Word to hundreds of people groups around the world.

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Literacy Specialists

What's Involved
Literacy specialists serve in language groups around the world, endeavouring to establish literacy as a community value. They help to develop beginning readers (primers). Literacy specialists develop a program and materials to teach people to read and write. Eventually, they train the local people to become teachers, so they can take over leadership and responsibility for the literacy program.

Literacy specialists are rewarded to see reading born in men, women and children, as each printed syllable and word finally comes alive. Many go on to read the Scriptures for themselves and others.

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Construction and Maintenance Workers

What's Involved
Construction and maintenance tasks are varied. Construction staff might build a translator’s home in a village; design and clear an airstrip; install a clean water collection and distribution system or sewage system; build a school, computer building or other centre facilities; or make furniture.

Maintenance personnel do jobs that include keeping vehicles, motorbikes and generators in good working order; installing electrical equipment and distribution lines; repairing appliances; renovating buildings; or just unclogging drains. The list of possibilities are unlimited. Construction and maintenance workers in field situations work side by side with the local people, often training them in their skills.

Construction and maintenance personnel work under JAARS, Inc., Wycliffe’s service arm, which provides technical and logistical assistance to translators, literacy teams and support workers (www.jaars.org).

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