Wycliffe and our partner organizations are collaborating with local churches on a strategy that will help meet Bible translation needs throughout the Pacific region. This framework will focus on impacting as many Pacific language communities as possible. There are over 580 unmet translation needs in this area of the world, and at least 530 of these communities are without any Scripture.

Wycliffe and its partners will engage the local church by connecting with regional and national church leaders in 21 Pacific island nations. The partner organizations will help identify Bible translation needs, assist the local churches in strategizing to meet their needs and also fund them as they produce their own translations. Serving churches is the priority — if a church has a specific translation need, that need will come first.

Local and regional churches will increasingly take the lead in the vision for and direction of translation projects, and this will help to address Vision 2025 in the Pacific region. Vision 2025’s aim is to see a Bible translation project started in every language that needs one by 2025.

This framework will also work to ensure that every language and nation will have access to God’s Word by 2033 and keep these goals on pace for more than 580 languages.

People are already experiencing change in the Pacific as they encounter Jesus through Scripture in their language. One project adviser said, “Families are better off, marriages improve, spiritual darkness is overcome and the Church is strengthened. All of this because God’s Word in a local language is the very presence of His Kingdom among them. It makes all the difference … .”

As God provides for the translation work in this region, we expect that the Bible translation journey will be completed in the Pacific. The Holy Spirit will undoubtedly continue to change many lives along the way, transforming entire Pacific communities through Scripture in languages that people clearly understand.