That’s why JAARS helps dozens of partner organizations get the support they need most, whether that’s a laptop and Internet access, a lifejacket and water safety training, or a flight to a remote island or mountaintop village. In the words of Cameron Townsend, founder of JAARS, SIL International, and Wycliffe Bible Translators, “Airplanes and radios don’t just make translation easier; they make it possible.”
Watch this three-minute video for a glimpse of our beginnings and a peek at our feature-length documentary, Whatever It Takes, about how God has worked through JAARS over the last 75 years!
Our vision is that people’s lives and communities are transformed as they experience God’s Word in their own languages.
We reduce barriers, ease burdens and deliver God’s Word. We do that by training, equipping, deploying and sustaining individuals, teams and stations to aid in the work of proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation.
We are a community of full-time missionaries, dedicated volunteers, and a few employees who work together to accomplish the Great Commission goal of providing Scripture to every people group on earth in a language and form they clearly understand. We do that by supporting Bible translation and language development partners globally, and by working with prayer and financial partners in the United States to help make a range of unique on-the-field solutions possible.
We do that by enabling locally-appropriate and sustainable solutions in transportation, technology, media, and training. Sometimes, our boots are on the ground (or in the air, or on the water). Other times, we’re providing expertise, training, logistical support, research and development, project management, or funding. In all cases, we’re working hand-in-hand with global field partners to identify, design, test, refine, and implement solutions that can be sustained going forward.