Bible Translation

At WycliffeNZ, our God-inspired passion is to provide universal access to the Scriptures in the language that people understand best. We want to make the life-giving love and truth of God’s Word available to everyone.

This passion has been shared by many Christ-followers throughout history. It is due to one, or many of these people that you have the privilege of reading the scriptures in your language.

William Cameron Townsend (1896–1982) was a missionary linguist who believed that every person should have access to the Bible in the language they understand best.

In 1917 he traveled to Guatemala and it was here, among the Kaqchikel Maya people, that he realised that many Kaqcikel Maya people were monolingual and couldn’t read the Spanish Bibles available in the country. They also couldn’t read signposts, official documents and many other important writings.

Those who could read Spanish, the language of power in the country, only spoke it as a second language and couldn’t understand many things as well as those for whom Spanish was a first language. All of this disempowered the individuals and community as a minority culture.

Cameron was inspired to help translate the Bible into the Kaqchikel Maya language, and to also help set out their language in writing and start literacy projects. He was concerned with the whole person and saw Bible translation and its accompanying fruit as the ideal way to serve the needs of the community, both spiritual and practical. He then went on to set up the systems and infrastructure to do the same throughout the world in what we now call Wycliffe Bible Translators, laying the foundations for the modern Bible translation movement. His vision transformed the way mission and translation were approached, prioritising language, culture, literacy, and partnership with local communities.

Townsend named the movement after John Wycliffe, the 14th‑century English scholar who believed that Scripture should be available to ordinary people in their own language. Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible into English embodied the same core conviction that inspired Townsend centuries later: that God’s Word speaks most powerfully when it is understood clearly. The name Wycliffe therefore honours this shared legacy, while the movement itself flows directly from Townsend’s pioneering vision.

The beginning of Wycliffe Bible Translators

The following is an excerpt from the book Our Stories are HIStory

WycliffeNZ’s beginning is rooted in God working through the strong friendship between Neville James and Kemp Pallesen.

Born in the small rural town of Bunnythorpe, Neville James grew up in a world of dairy-farming and open-Brethren Assemblies. When his family moved south to Palmerston North, a strong friendship was kindled with classmate and fellow church kid, Kemp Pallesen.

One day, Kemp made a short but profound statement. He came out with a challenge:

“We need to make a decision about what we are going to do with our lives.”

A small decision; an impacted trajectory

Both Neville and Kemp would later find themselves living in Auckland. Neville and his wife Gwen ran a grocery business. Kemp studied at the New Zealand Bible College (NZBC) in Henderson, where he discovered Bible translation for the first time through Dr Harland Kerr, a translator working in Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators, who was visiting the college. Kemp was one of the several students inspired by Dr Kerr’s story of working in Bible translation in the Philippines with his wife, and their transfer to Papua New Guinea to continue the work.

Because there was no New Zealand Wycliffe Council, Kemp asked Neville and Gwen to act as his representatives while he transferred to Wycliffe Australia for further training. This meant looking after his affairs in New Zealand, sending out his news and prayer letters, and helping by paying accounts and forwarding funds to the field of their choice. Neville was uncertain about his ability to help in the direct work of the mission organisation. He would later recount, “I did not feel capable to be able to help in that area with its technical capabilities; it was outside the limit of my understanding.” However, my initial hesitancy was eventually overcome by a strong sense of conviction. After reading Wycliffe material from Kemp – stories and articles from the mission field around the world – he became overwhelmingly convinced that “this was God’s work.”

A change in perspective. A change in trajectory.

So, after Kemp and his wife Anne toured New Zealand raising support for their work, Neville began organising a mailing list and sending out a monthly newsletter on their behalf. The word got out and began to spread. Interest in the mission began to grow rapidly. Prayer meetings were organised and networks grew, including an ongoing relationship with the newly appointed NZBC principal, Rev Allan Burrow. Soon, correspondence began to come in from other New Zealanders working with Wycliffe as missionaries.

This sense of growing momentum was solidified on Sunday, the 5th of May, 1963. Several men and women gathered in the home of Neville and Gwen James to establish an official New Zealand Wycliffe Bible Translators Council. Allan Burrow became the chairperson and Neville, the secretary. The council continued to meet in the James’ home until they could establish an office in 1964.

The beginning of WycliffeNZ

The work continues

As part of the Wycliffe Global Alliance, Wycliffe New Zealand exists to serve and support the global mission of Bible translation. For more than sixty years, New Zealanders have joined in prayer, giving, advocacy, and service—partnering with churches and communities worldwide so that people of every language can engage with Scripture in ways that speak to their hearts and transform lives.

We, along with our partners around the world are continuing this work.

Where a minority language has a local representation of the Body of Christ, we come alongside them to assist in literacy, translation and scripture engagement. Where there is no local Body of Christ, we come alongside the local community and through working together in literacy and Bible translation, we endeavour to establish a local community of Christ followers.