In the 166th Annual Report of the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS), the General Secretary, Mr Paul Rowlands, said that “although the Society had to curtail some of its proposed activities for 1996 because of financial restrictions, it was enabled to send out more Bibles, in many different languages, than in any of the previous 165 years of its history. . .
“Our Constitution specifies that the edition of the Bible in English to be published by the Society shall be the Authorised Version (AV). Although the number of versions continues to multiply, the AV remains . . . unparalleled for its reliability and faithfulness to the preserved editions of the inspired Hebrew and Greek texts. It is for this reason that the General Committee of the Society has not recommended a change to the Society’s Constitution to allow the adoption of any of the new versions to replace the AV as the English Bible circulated by the Society. “Considerable resources have been expended during the year analysing, checking, correcting and giving technical, linguistic and theological assistance to those working with us as they revise and translate the Word of God in a wide range of languages. It may be comparatively easy to ascertain the deficiencies of Bibles but it is a very difficult, painstaking and lengthy task to improve existing versions or to undertake completely new translations.
“Revision work continues on a number of Bibles that are based on impoverished texts, or have translational, doctrinal or orthographic deficiencies, to bring them closer to the standard of excellence towards which we are always striving. Translation work is also being undertaken in a number of languages for peoples who as yet have no access to the Word of God in their own tongues.”
One matter which caused the Society great concern during 1996, was its differences with its now former branch in Canada. The general Secretary reports: “For many years there have been tensions between the personnel overseeing the work of The Trinitarian Bible Society (Canada) and the General Committee of the Society in London. Most regrettably, these difficulties were brought to a head early in 1996. Although many attempts were made by ourselves to resolve the issues, we were finally left with no option than to state publicly to our friends in Canada that the General Committee no longer had confidence in the Executive Committee and General Director of TBS (Canada). It was therefore suspending its relationship with them and recommencing its operation in Canada with a new branch Society based in British Columbia.
“During this period, TBS (Canada) had threatened legal action against us and had taken steps to obtain the right to the exclusive use of the Society’s name in Canada. This regrettably necessitated our taking action in order that we might continue our activities in Canada and to prevent confusion by the misuse of our name by our former Canadian branch amongst our contacts in different parts of the world.
“Notwithstanding further attempts by ourselves to resolve the problems, towards the end of December, TBS (Canada) commenced an action naming the Society and two of its employees as defendants. TBS (Canada) has claimed damages in the amount of Can\$6,000,000 and other relief! The Society was required to file a Statement of Defence and has made a Counterclaim for damages and other relief in respect of losses incurred by the Society as a result of the conduct of TBS (Canada). The Society has been active in Canada since 1832 and had supporters and auxiliaries throughout Canada for many years prior to 1968, the year the General Committee in London arranged for the formation of the Canadian branch of the Society.
“Members and friends of the Society will appreciate that we have no wish to be involved in litigation or indeed to be in any way diverted from our spiritual objectives. It is hoped that a settlement will be reached before the case gets to trial. The prayers of all are sought that this most unhappy business may be brought swiftly to a just conclusion.”
The Editorial Manager, Mr Anderson, reports that as well as continuing with various Bible production projects, the Editorial Department is also publishing in other languages a number of the Society’s pamphlets about Bible translation principles. He says, “Countries which belonged to the former Soviet Union have been the object of much interest in Bible translation. The United Bible Societies are seeking to provide Good News Bible-type translations based on a faulty Greek New Testament to people in many of these and other countries. This creates a difficulty: most believers are unaware of, and unprepared for, the problems associated with these types of translations and the textual base from which they are translated. Therefore, we have sought to translate several of our articles into languages for people who need to know why they must have a faithful and reliable translation of the Bible. Articles are being prepared in Russian and Hungarian to meet this need.”
Mr Anderson also announced that the TBS “now has a webpage on the World Wide Web of the Internet. This enables us to have potential access to millions of Internet users who are not familiar with the Society. Our website contains listings of all of the material currently published by the Society. . . We trust that the Lord will be pleased to use this new medium in the lives of many people who need to hear about the work of the Society.” The Internet address of the site is as follows: http://biz.ukonline.co.uk/trinitarian.bible.society/contents.htm
The Society’s accountant, Mr David Cooke, reports, “Last year we cogitated on the implications of a continued downward trend in legacy income. We are thankful that the income from this source improved substantially throughout 1996, and we are very grateful to those who have shown such thoughtfulness in remembering us in this way. . . Due to the large deficit the previous year, the Society cut back somewhat on the expenditure on direct charitable activity. It is hoped that in the present year, 1997, we will be able again to increase the amount of Scriptures distributed as free grants. . . It is our earnest desire to see the work expand greatly in the years ahead, and we value your prayerful and practical support to this end.”
The General Secretary concluded: “The need for the Word of God remains truly great. Hundreds of languages are still without translations of the Bible and thousands of Christians have no copies of their own. Millions are under the influence of false religions. The menace of Islam is spreading. The power of Rome is subtly re-emerging. Indeed, the darkness of the dominion of Satan throughout the world is only too evident. May the Lord be pleased to continue to grant His blessing on the work of the Society and the Scriptures it distributes. May His Word, by the effectual power of the Holy Spirit, be used to enlighten the minds and open the hearts of many, that they might be brought to humble themselves in repentance before the Lord and behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Indeed, may the Lord hasten the day when “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”