The translation of the Holy Scriptures has constituted a basic part of mission work in recent times. During the Middle Ages few could read the Latin Bible. Within 80 years of the invention of printing in the West, however, Reformation leaders such as Tyndale, Luther, and Calvin focused on the Word of God. Their cardinal principle was that each one should be able to read the Bible in his (but not her) own tongue. The result was the development of education and literacy. The printing press greatly aided Protestantism, and widespread literacy became the hallmark of a civilized society. In the 20th century most of the world's people speak one of about 75 primary languages. A small minority speaks one of 450 secondary languages, and more than 4,400 other languages are in use. Through Christian world mission, printed Scriptures have become available in the mother tongues of almost 99 percent of the world's people. That great accomplishment marks one of the major achievements in the history of written communications. Bibles are available in more than 300 languages, complete New Testaments in nearly 700 languages, and some portion of the Scriptures is available in 1,000 other languages. The translation effort, most of which has occurred during the past 200 years, has in many cases been the first time the language was reduced to writing. The effort involved the production of grammars and dictionaries of these languages as well as scriptural translations. An additional benefit has been the written preservation of the cultural heritage by native speakers of the language. The availability of cell phones even in remote villages along with increasing access to the internet will increase the spread of the scriptures in many languages. This constitutes one of the great contributions of Christian mission to the world.

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