About Living Word
How Living Word started
In a valley without an alphabet, in 1979. Here’s the rest, how we work and who leads us.
Our story
One family, one valley
In 1979, Paul and Ruth moved to a valley where the language had never been written down. They spent four years just learning it, then helped local believers design an alphabet. Twenty-one years after they arrived, the church there held a New Testament in its own language.
Today we support local translation teams in about forty language communities. The translators are local. We train them, fund them and stay with them until the work is done.
What guides us
How we work
01
Local translators
Native speakers lead every translation.
02
Faithfulness
Every verse is checked for accuracy and for how natural it sounds.
03
Partnership
We serve local churches. They own the translation.
04
Use
A Bible on a shelf isn’t the goal. We help churches read and teach it.
05
Prayer
Every project has a church somewhere praying for it by name.
06
Stewardship
We treat every gift as given to God first.
86%
of every dollar goes straight to programs
Financial integrity
Where your gift goes
We are a member of an independent accountability council and publish audited accounts every year.
Read our annual reportLeadership
Leadership
Translators, linguists, literacy teachers and church leaders.
Grace
President
Somchai
Translation
Esther
Language Programs
David
Church Partnerships
Nia
Scripture Engagement
Paul
Finance
Mei
Training
John
Prayer
Join the work
Pray, give or serve, so a language community can hear God speak in its own words.