James Poole, executive director of Wycliffe, says:
‘For centuries, billions of people have lived without a single verse of the Bible in their language. The absence of God’s word in people’s own language is one of the greatest barriers to the good news reaching all people.
‘But that story is changing. In recent years we have seen an extraordinary surge in Bible translation. Progress is happening at a pace and scale not witnessed before, and whole communities are beginning to receive the Scriptures far sooner than we could once have imagined.
‘This is a remarkable moment in world mission. God is at work, and we have the privilege of being part of it.’
You can access the whole story, including quotes and downloadable images, via the links below:
Download a lo-res version of the full State of the Bible 2025 report here.
Download the press release text here.
Download the full report text here.
Downloadable images:
Image 1 – The Upper Pokomo New Testament is presented to the people at the launch event in Kenya on 26 April 2025
Image 2 – Cut out of Image 1
Image 3 – A group of Upper Pokomo women show off their New Testaments at the launch event in Kenya on 26 April 2025
Image 4 – An Akébou man holds his precious New Testament at the launch event in Togo on 2 August 2025
Image 5 – Cut out of Image 4
Image 6 – A woman reads her Label New Testament at the launch event in Papua New Guinea on 24 November 2024
Image 7 – A woman holds up her Bakweri New Testament in the Mokpe language at the launch event in Cameroon on 29 March 2025
Image 8 – A Fur man with his Fur New Testament with Old Testament portions
Image 9 – Infographic 1 with summary of some of the statistics
Image 10 – Infographic 2 with summary of some of the statistics
Notes to Editors
- For further information, call the Wycliffe Communications team on 0300 303 1111 or jackroyd@wycliffe.org.uk.
- Wycliffe Bible Translators seeks to create a world where everyone can know Jesus through the Bible. It does this through a range of activities, including Bible translation, literacy and Scripture use initiatives. Currently, Wycliffe has 350 people from the UK and Ireland serving over 580 million people who speak over 320 languages in over 60 countries. Of the nearly 7,400 or so languages spoken worldwide today, only 779 have the Bible. Around 1 in every 5 people do not have the Bible in their language, but Wycliffe and our partners continue to unlock God’s word for every heart. As a result, translation of the Bible into people’s languages is one of the critical needs in world mission, to enable the growth of evangelism and discipleship ministries.
- Wycliffe and its partner organisations are currently involved in about three-quarters of global Bible translation efforts.
