God-sized vision to have a translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025. (Learn more about the history of this dream in Vision 2025: Then and Now.)
We knew this wasn’t going to be possible without God doing something incredible, and He has — throughout the last 25 years and continuing today! Let’s take a look.
A Look at Today and Progress Toward Vision 2025
What started off as a dream by a few key Bible translation organizations has grown into a multi-organizational effort! Around the world, partners have embraced Vision 2025 for themselves and are actively developing strategies to start Bible translation for the last remaining languages. And countries are achieving Vision 2025 at an unprecedented rate, with no signs of slowing down.
Let’s take a look at just a few of the projects underway in countries that have achieved Vision 2025 or are on their way:
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EXPLORACIÓN MAYANGNA | NICARAGUA
Nicaragua has achieved Vision 2025! Going forward, the “Exploración Mayangna” project will build a foundation for local churches that have a vision for Bible translation to take ownership and responsibility of the work.
>> PRAY that God will equip local churches and agencies with everything they need for Bible translation and engagement so that their communities can encounter Jesus through Scripture in the languages and formats that capture their hearts.
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SWEDISH SIGN LANGUAGE | SWEDEN
Translation efforts for Swedish Sign Language occurred between 1998-2008, which resulted in a few Scripture portions being available to the Deaf in Sweden. However, awareness of and access to the translation has been limited. A new project — done in partnership with the Swedish Bible Society and Church of Sweden — will work toward providing the Swedish Deaf with their first translation of a Pauline Epistle. Many people have expressed their joy that the translation of the Bible in their language will start again!
>> PRAY that this project will be a springboard to inspire continued support from local funders in Sweden, and that the translated Scriptures will be widely used by the Deaf community and bring transformation.
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JIE | SOUTH SUDAN
The Jie project is an oral Bible translation project that will produce the first translation of the Bible in the Jie language! The community will provide a team of local translators, and people from partnering organizations will support them through checking and reviewing the translations for accuracy. Once the audio files are done, local churches plan to distribute them to their congregations through different audio formats.
>> PRAY for local churches as they form small Bible study groups and organize teaching sessions using the newly translated Scriptures.
These are only a sampling of projects happening around the world. As of July 2024, a new Bible translation project is started, on average, every 15 hours. (For context, in 2019 the average was every 120 hours.)
latest stats to see a current overview of what countries have achieved Vision 2025!
A Look Ahead at the Future of Vision 2025
We initially established Vision 2025 as a benchmark goal that would fuel us to continually evaluate the way we work. It felt big — definitely too big without God doing more than we could ask or imagine — but we also sensed that God was asking us to step out in faithful obedience.
Today, achieving Vision 2025 actually feels like a possibility. We are seeing the global Church rise up and take ownership of the work, which is accelerating the pace in “only-God” ways. There is a tangible and almost overwhelming sense of excitement and momentum! And as of Sept. 1, we are officially at 985 remaining Vision 2025 languages that still need Bible translation to begin for the first time — the lowest number we’ve ever seen. This is something we praise God for, declaring that this is the result of His Spirit at work in and among His Church.
So, will we achieve Vision 2025 by the end of calendar year 2025? Honestly, we don’t know. But we do know that God will continue to draw people to Himself through Scripture in a language and format they clearly understand. And we will continue to wholeheartedly pursue a day when every man, woman and child is able to encounter Jesus personally through Scripture.
The truth is that Vision 2025 is just the starting line, and we are filled with anticipation of how God will continue to make His name known among the nations!
