aaaThirty years of experience in any field constitute an adequate time span for anyone, either an individual or an organization,to legitimately claim mature understanding of that field. With thirty years of Bible translation experience behind us, we at BI have had plenty of time to develop a biblical philosophy of Bible translation. In this and upcoming columns, I plan to address some common misconceptions we encounter regarding Bible translation, and how we have coped with them.
aaaIn this column, I’ll start by discussing misconceptions regarding the role of the church in the Bible translation process. First, some may feel that Bible translation can take place outside of the church’s authority or oversight. I call this the authority vacuum misconception. Traditionally, Bible societies or groups or even an individual would produce a translation of the Scriptures; then the church would either adopt it or not. However, this approach could potentially circumvent an appropriate set of biblical standards for how translations should be produced. Surely, just as the church proposed standards by which the canon was formed and nearly universally accepted, one would expect that the church would also play a key role in the translation of the Scripture.
aaaSecond, some churches may see their giving to Bible societies as that of helping out an external ministry—rather than that of fulfilling a God-given commission. But whom has the Lord established as the custodian, the guardian, the steward of His Word, if not the church? Is the church helping the Bible society, or vice versa?
aaa I’ll mention briefly two other misconceptions regarding the role of the church in Bible translation. Some churches are completely oblivious to their role in the perpetual process of preserving the Scriptures both by transcription—preserving the copies of the originals—and by translation. At other times, the church rejects the notion that the Word of God can be translated into modern vernaculars and still remain the Word of God with the same strength that it has in English, French, or Spanish. 
aaaAs you can see, such misconceptions about the church’s role, either by churches themselves or by individuals within a church, weakens the work of BI. Some Bible societies have resorted to bypassing the church altogether in the process. But we at BI persist in allowing the church to play its role. One of the tenets of BI’s core values is that we have “resolved to … do Bible translation as a result of, or in association with, church planting.” We believe that God has given the custody of His Word to the church (I Tim. 3:14-15; Jude 3) and not to Bible societies. We do Bible translating by delegation of authority from the church. We are commissioned by churches to assist other churches in the languages in which translations are done. We raise funds within the church network for the translations just as any conservative mission agency would do. We do not engage in any translation work unless there are churches that have already been established within that given ethnic group or there is church planting contemporaneous with the translation process.
aaaIn the country where the translation project is going on, we require that a sponsorship committee be formed with delegates from churches. They sign a contract with BI. They own the translation project in their language. Our involvement in the process, even though we may subsidize their budget by 90% or we may be the Bible translation experts, is one of assistance, not of ownership.
aaaIn presenting the work of BI to churches, I often declare that I am not asking them to help us but to help us help them. One church in Bunker Hill, Illinois, sent us a generous check at the beginning of the year   along with a letter that said in part, “Our church body desires to send you the enclosed check to be an encouragement to you and your team in 2011 … and we are passionate about encouraging you in this endeavor … . So please keep on seeking Him and being used in the way He is using you for His purposes in the days ahead.” In a word, I can only say this: Proper church role in Bible translation captured!