25 Years of Wycliffe and the Bible Translation Movement through Word Alive

	Wycliffe Bibleless People’s Prayer Project (BPPP) reaches a milestone by registering the 20,000th commitment to pray for a Bibleless people until they receive God’s Word. About 2,500 Canadians are part of this prayer force. Since BPPP started in 1982, 915 translation projects have begun. The photography of Dave Crough begins to take Word Alive into a more photo-journalistic direction. [Fall 1997]
	Interest in the work of Wycliffe has been growing at an amazing rate in the Caribbean region since Wycliffe Caribbean was formed in 1993. [Spring 1998]
	Preparing and using vernacular non-print media, such as the JESUS film, is becoming increasingly important to Wycliffe’s Bible translation and literacy work. Personnel working in this area have tripled. [Summer 1998]
	JAARS, Wycliffe’s technical arm, commemorates its 50th anniversary of service to Bible translation through transportation, computing and vernacular media services. [Fall 1998]
	Wycliffe unveils an updated and improved Web site at a new address: <www.wycliffe.ca> [Summer 1999]
	Bible translation is well underway in the former Soviet Union, which has 157 languages. About 80 translation projects are in progress, involving 70 personnel there with SIL, Wycliffe’s partner organization. [Spring 2000]
	At its 1999 triennial conference, Wycliffe International adopts a dynamic call to action dubbed Vision 2025: Bible translation will be in progress for every language that needs it by the year 2025. [Summer 2000]
	The 500th New Testament translated with Wycliffe involvement is dedicated for the Javanese people of Suriname, South America. Canadians Ed and Linda Speyers worked on the translation. [Fall 2000]
	A redesigned Word Alive features Roger Gilstrap, Wycliffe Canada’s new CEO. He aims to better use its diverse ministries and engage more Canadians in Bible translation. Wycliffe Canada’s yearly budget climbs to $12 million [Spring 2001]
	Wycliffe wants to mobilize thousands of Asians and Latin Americans to accelerate Bible translation worldwide. [Summer 2001]
	Word Alive features Bible translation efforts in Asia, home to 40 per cent of the estimated 3,000 languages worldwide that still need Bible translation. [Fall 2001]
	More than 150 Wycliffe personnel were relocated out of four countries in Eurasia and Asia after the Sept. 11 terrorism attack and military response. It is unlikely they will return to their field assignments for at least a year. SIL wound up field operations in Suriname, South America, as well as Guatemala, where Wycliffe founder Cameron Townsend did his first Bible translation more than seven decades ago. [Spring 2002]
	Wycliffe’s Partners with Nationals has so far linked 300 Canadians and churches to financially support eight Bible translation projects in Africa, supplying the partial or total salaries of the 61 nationals involved in the work. [Summer 2002]
	Canadian Chinese Christians are rapidly gaining a vision to join the world Bible translation task, through direct service, prayer and giving. Word Alive prepares a special Chinese reprint of this issue to get the message out to that community in Canada. [Fall 2002]
	A cutting-edge Wycliffe team is providing digital forms of writing systems for translating and publishing translated Scriptures for language groups that don’t use our Roman alphabet, accounting for more than half of the world’s population. Wycliffe Canada begins to post some Word Alive-related stories exclusively on its Web site. Subscriptions to the magazine can also be done on-line. [Spring 2003]
	The number of known sign languages used in the world continues to grow, sparking increased interest by Wycliffe and other agencies in Bible translation for the Deaf. Ten years ago, there were 77 known sign languages; today the list includes 114. [Summer 2003]
	Mission organizations, including Wycliffe, are exploring the increased use of oral storytelling to convey Bible stories to functionally illiterate people worldwide who are living in primarily oral societies. [Summer 2004]
	Dave Ohlson succeeds Roger Gilstrap as executive director of Wycliffe Canada. [Spring 2005]
	Equipped with a new $3.7-million, three-story facility on the campus of Trinity Western University, the Canadian Institute of Linguistics (Wycliffe Canada’s training program) is preparing more and more young people to work in Bible translation—adding to the 300 graduates already serving on the field with Wycliffe and other missions. [Summer 2005]
	Wycliffe Canada unveils a new slogan to help communicate its core goal: “Translating Scripture, Transforming Lives.” [Winter 2006]
	Wycliffe’s key partner organization, SIL, is already combating AIDS among more than 40 language groups in 15 countries through mother tongue education materials. [Spring 2007] The number of languages still needing Bible translation has dropped to below 2,300, with a combined population of 196 million speakers. Since Wycliffe adopted Vision 2025 in 1999 (to see translation started in all languages still needing it by the year 2025), work has begun in 539 languages. This is the greatest acceleration in Bible translation the world has ever seen. [Spring 2007]
	Word For All in India, one of Wycliffe’s newest member organizations (already working in more than 50 languages), aims to start Bible translation in about 180 languages that still need it by 2025. It is also challenging Indo-Canadian Christians to be involved in the work back in their homeland. [Summer & Fall 2007]
	Word Alive's calendar issue features photos from the book, Eye to Eye, Heart to Heart—the first coffee book ever published by Wycliffe Canada. [Winter 2007]
	Wycliffe Canada is grateful to the Lord for 25 years of publishing its official periodical, Word Alive. We have been deeply blessed with the staff and resources to produce a magazine that has won 20 writing, photography and design awards in the past four years of membership in the Canadian Church Press and the Evangelical Press Association.