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'Wycliffe Bible Translators USA' (also known as Wycliffe USA) is an interdenominational organization mandated to making a translation of the Bible in every living language in the world, especially for cultures with little existing Christian influence. Wycliffe was founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend and is associated with the Protestant section of Christianity. There are currently separate Wycliffe organizations in over 60 countries. The organizations are named after John Wycliffe, who was responsible for the first complete English translation of the whole Bible into Middle English.
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As of November 2012, translations of either portions of the Bible, the New Testament, or the whole Bible exist in over 2,800 of the 6,877 languages used on Earth.
Philosophy and methods
Wycliffe bases its philosophy on Townsend's Protestantism which regards the intercultural and multilinguistic spread of Christianity as a divine command. Protestantism, including this organization, adheres to the principle of sola scriptura and regards Biblical texts as the authoritative and infallible word of God.
Wycliffe states its focus is participating with and encouraging Christian churches to minister to minority languages, so that every language community can have access to the Bible.
Wycliffe USA is based in Orlando, FL but sends it workers out around the world to work with many different churches and other partners to help facilitate the work of Bible translation.
Wycliffe USA is the largest of the many independent Wycliffe organizations that together are part of Wycliffe Global Alliance which has its headquarters in Singapore.
Associated organizations
SIL International, originally the Summer Institute of Linguistics, began as a small summer training session for missionaries in Arkansas in 1934. It is partner organization of Wycliffe Global Alliance and Wycliffe USA.
A partner organization of SIL International, JAARS, originally the Jungle Aviation And Radio Service, provided transportation and technical services for SIL. They are currently more focused on helping to raise funds for the work of SIL and doing research to help Wycliffe and SIL.
The Seed Company is a subsidiary of Wycliffe USA that provides support to people doing Bible translations for their own languages.