Presbyterian Church in Ireland - Mission Overseas - A fresh image for Wycliffe

12th November 2009

Chances are, if you have been to a Wycliffe event, or have heard someone speak at your church about Wycliffe, they will have introduced themselves as a representative of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

However, about 10 years ago, Wycliffe Bible Translators' name and logo in the UK were changed to Wycliffe UK, as they tried to communicate to people that as an organisation they were involved in a lot more than translation.

However, 10 years down the track, the decision has been taken to change back.

A press release has been circulated today explaining some of the reasoning behind the decision.

From January 2010, Wycliffe UK will be known publicly as Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT) with a fresh look and a new logo.

The title will reinforce the aim of Wycliffe, to see a Bible translation project begun in every language that needs one by the year 2025, as well as positioning the organisation within a competitive marketplace.

Explaining the reason behind the change, Eddie Arthur, Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK says:

“This change is a response to frequent public confusion between ourselves and other organisations that use the Wycliffe name. By introducing Bible Translators into our title we are quickly able to establish who we are, what we do and why we exist.”

Changing logos can be an expensive business for an organisation, and WBT is aware that they need to be wise stewards of the money that people give in support of the work that they do. Because of this, it will be seen that the old and new logos have their similarities. WBT won’t be able to change all the materials that they use in one go in January, so for a period it may be that both logos need to exist side-by-side. They hope that this won’t create confusion.

It also presents WBT with a challenge. While Wycliffe’s ultimate vision is to see the Bible translated for all people, there is a whole range of people involved in the process. In the UK office alone, WBT needs more full-time volunteers in areas such as Personnel, IT, Communications and Finance, while internationally, the greatest number of vacancies exist in Teaching. The challenge is to make sure that while WBT is about Bible translation, WBT continues to talk to people about the multitude of skills required in the process.

Related Link: More on Wycliffe Bible Translators from our 'Partners' section on this website.