Wycliffe Bible Translators is the largest and most influential evangelical mission of all time. Its ability to draw support from left-leaning evangelicals (and even some mainline churches) all the way down the spectrum to some fundamentalists is unique.
Because Wycliffe translates the Bible with a belief in its power to change lives, Bible-believing Christians of various stripes are enthusiastic about the end product: New Testaments (and sometimes entire Bibles) in the heart-languages of remote and not-so-remote people groups — be they large groups or small.
Wycliffe and its sister organization, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), have been part of a two-pronged approach with an unusually complicated relationship between them.
Like many monumental movements of the early and mid twentieth century, strong — sometimes overly strong — leaders can be found at the epicenter. Wycliffe/SIL ‘s epicenter was mission founder Cameron Townsend. Boone spends a lot of time discussing Townsend and his creative — albeit unorthodox — leadership.
Boone Aldridge, a true scholar in the realm of missions and himself part of Wycliffe, understands the organization like perhaps no one else on planet earth. He has immersed himself in the organization’s history — while also mastering the perspectives and movements within the evangelical world during Wycliffe’s history.
His extensive research might lead one to conclude that Aldridge traveled in time and actually witnessed all this history.
