How Do I Become a Bible Translator?

I think I want to be a Bible translator, now what?

take time to pray

Pray and meditate over Scripture to make sure your desires are biblical, God-honoring desires. If you are looking for help with this discipline, consider reading through DA Carson’s book, Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

As you pray, watch the Lord direct your steps (Proverbs 16).

Seek out godly counsel

First, become a member of a local congregation that believes, preaches, and obeys the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then submit yourself to the counsel, affirmation, encouragements, exhortations and admonitions of your pastors, elders and other mature Christians. Seek out those who know you well and can affirm (or deny) your spiritual readiness for Christian ministry, who can disciple you to grow in godly character, and who can help you discover how God is giving you grace to serve others using the particular gifts He has given you for building up the church (Eph 4).

There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors (Prov 11:14; 15:22; 24:6), and yet we must submit even the wisdom of others to the perfect truth of Scripture (Ps 19; 119:24; Acts 17; John 17:17; 2 Tim 2:15; 3:14-17).

Start Preparing

If others affirm your spiritual readiness, see our Resources pages, including options on Where to Get Bible Translation Training and our Reading List.

You’ll need to think through the various disciplines of the BT triad. Try to become a generalist as much as possible, studying in all three areas. But you can also contact potential teams and get a better idea of the needs on the field where you might go, so that you can focus on fewer areas and thus specialize more.

See our FAQ page and learn about the many roles and responsibilities in Bible translation.

Learn about the many specialties connected to Bible translation. SIL keeps a list of these here.

You can also use our Great Commission Fellowship to try to find teams to join, or to build your own team.