July 3rd, 2009 by Ruth
Johanna Pillinger has taken up a new role as Partnership Development Consultant for Wycliffe. She explains in her blog post what this involves:
“…we are inviting others to share our joy in serving God. I encourage colleagues to look at all the contacts they have, in faith, believing that He has already picked out those who will be their “partners in the gospel”. Their enablers. The true richness is in the relationship of serving God together.” read more
The task that God has set before us is huge. Vision 2025, to start a Bible translation in every remaining language that needs one by the year 2025, is an immense goal. But with God’s help and the help of partners who will come alongside us, the 200 million people who are still waiting for God’s message of love in their own language can be reached.
Partnership involves sharing the trials, the frustrations and the challenges. But it also means sharing the joy and being part of the celebrations. As Johanna puts it, this is where the richness is… in the relationship. Find out more about how you can be involved in bringing God’s word to every remaining language that needs one!
Posted in Missionary life, People | No Comments »
July 1st, 2009 by Ruth
Around 5:45 am today I awoke to the sound of our noisy back door shutting, when my housemate Kat left to take a couple of Engage Team leaders to the airport. One of the joys of working with people involved in missions is the early morning airport runs!
So now, two of our three short-term summer teams are airborne and on their way to visit projects overseas. The first one is heading for Burkina Faso, and includes Mark, who often posts on this blog. But while he may be away from the office, he will still be updating us with news via Twitter engagebf09. The second team are heading for Cambodia (in partnership with SAO Cambodia), and they can be followed on Twitter at engagecmb09.
These trips can be a tremendous encouragement, both for the individuals who go, and the people they visit. Please pray for their safe travel, and that God would open their eyes to the realities of life in a different culture and all that it takes to bring God’s word to people who don’t yet have it in their heart language. The hopes, the fears, the prayer points and more details about what all the teams will be doing can be found on the Engage webpage at wycliffe.org.uk/engage.
Kat will be leaving with the third team to visit Cameroon at the end of this month - there may be another early morning airport run to do then…
Tags: Engage, Mission, Short-term Mission, Summer Teams
Posted in Africa, Asia, Short-term | No Comments »
June 25th, 2009 by Mark
Punctuation isn’t necessarily the most exciting part of language, or of a Bible translation project. But it is important, and good language analysis when creating a writing system can go a long way to helping people to read and be impacted by the Bible in their language.
Danny Foster is working in northern Tanzania, and was at a grammar workshop recently, when one of the participants stood up and declared:
“I always thought that punctuation was a fixed set of rules imposed on us from other languages but today I’m learning this is not the case. The teacher is saying that we must listen to our recorded stories and put the commas and periods where all the pauses are. That means, punctuation rules follow our languages! And it means that if we get it right, when people read our translations out loud to others, they will pronounce it the right way and people will listen.” read more
So often it’s easy to get bogged down in relatively tedious tasks, and to forget that God uses even the most mundane jobs to make himself known to his people. Take a look at Danny’s whole post to find out more…
Tags: Bible translation, Ngoreme, Punctuation, Tanzania, Writing system
Posted in Africa, Languages | No Comments »
June 25th, 2009 by Paul
Stories show our emotions, our commitments and our passions in a way that simple facts never can.
This is why God has given us the Bible in the way that he has. It isn’t a theological text book, or a list of rules and regulations, though it contains both theology and rules. It is first and foremost a story: a story of how God loves his creation and how through the cross he is reconciling mankind to himself.
It is our huge privilege in Wycliffe to retell the Bible story in other languages through translation and to see people grasp the reality of the message for themselves. God’s message of love, translated into languages and lives.
The new edition of Words for Life is about telling the story. We hope that it encourages you as you see how your prayers, gifts and support have all played a part in Bible translation projects around the world. We also hope that, as part of all this, you will have a greater vision of your place in God’s eternal story.
Words for Life online edition
Eddie Arthur
Executive Director
Tags: Bible translation
Posted in Languages | No Comments »
June 24th, 2009 by Mark
James has been doing 3 days of work experience in the Wycliffe Northern Ireland office in Belfast this week. Here’s some of his reflections…
“If I’m honest, about all I knew of Wycliffe 3 months ago was that it existed!
In spring 2009, I found myself in the awkward position of having to do work experience and not having any organised when a friend who had come here last year and, like me, is interested in Modern Languages suggested that I try Wycliffe. Thus I sent off a tentative e-mail which was forwarded to Stephanie at the Wycliffe office in Belfast. She was quick to encourage me to come and thus, having sorted out the relevant details, I turned up in optimistic near-ignorance at the door of 342 Beersbridge Road.
What was I expecting? I had really worked out that the office staff were not a vast body of ink-spotted researchers, huddled over a combination of Kouya dictionaries and Hebrew Old Testaments – but aside from that I had no real idea.
After John and Stephanie had welcomed me, my first morning consisted largely of an extended introduction to the vocation and work of Wycliffe, through a Power Point of John’s as well as a selection of literature. That was an eye-opener; it was positively astonishing to find out that over 2,200 languages and about 200 million people worldwide do not have any of the Bible in their own language.
I find that difficult to take in, and for me it puts the importance of what God is doing through Wycliffe in Africa, Asia, the Indo-Pacific (to quote Wycliffe’s three areas of the world in which Bible translation is needed most) and elsewhere in stark perspective. It was here as well that I was introduced to Vision 2025: the vision of Wycliffe and worldwide partners to see a Bible translation begun by 2025 in every language that still needs one. It immediately struck me as being an undertaking on a massive scale but it’s true that if it is to be accomplished it can only be done by God – which must be a good way to do anything. read more
Take a look at James’ whole post to get an insight into what happens in the Wycliffe Northern Ireland office…
Tags: Belfast, Bible translation, Northern Ireland, Work Experience
Posted in UK | No Comments »
June 19th, 2009 by Mark
Stephanie works with Wycliffe UK in our Belfast office, encouraging 18-30s in Northern Ireland to think about how they can join in with what God is doing around the world.
She has just started blogging, and has recently shared some quite profound thoughts about whether she, in her Belfast life, actually translates the Bible or not…!
“I work with Wycliffe Bible Translators.”
There’s no easy way to describe my job to someone who I’ve just met, but I have to start somewhere.
This inevitably leads to the question, “So are you actually translating the Bible into another language?”
At which point I smile to myself, and then launch into some confusing explanation of how I don’t actually sit at my desk in my office in East Belfast with the Bible and a dictionary in some minority language and translate it, but rather that I work in Mobilisation, which involves sharing our vision for making God’s Word available to everyone in the world in the language of their heart and encouraging people to get involved.
But it’s not a completely daft question – do I actually translate the Bible? It’s got me thinking, don’t all of us who know and love God and the Bible have a responsibility to ‘translate’ it? read more
Do take a look at Stephanie’s post, and see if you agree with her view that she, and all of us, should actually be translating the Bible in our daily lives…
Tags: Belfast, Bible translation, Northern Ireland
Posted in UK | No Comments »
June 18th, 2009 by Mark
Last week we posted about Matt and Liz – Wycliffe UK members who are serving as literacy workers in Tanzania. The basic literacy workshop that they were preparing for has since taken place… here’s what Liz has to say about it:
Take place it did… we had 8 preschool teachers arrive in Mbeya to take part – 4 women from the Vwanji language area and 4 men from the Malila language area. They stayed for 2 weeks and were very happy and touchingly grateful to receive this time of training (some had had no specific training whatsoever in how to teach preschool children before starting their jobs!) and the resources that we had prepared for teaching mother tongue literacy (some have hardly any resources whatsoever – no books to guide them or the children, no games equipment or toys and some even have no blackboard or chalk). We tried to come alongside them, equip them and encourage them in the great work they do as it literally can be a thankless task. They struggle with ungrateful parents, little or no pay, huge classes of mixed ages and abilities and little or no resources. I certainly couldn’t do it! We also tried to instill in them the importance of teaching mother tongue literacy as well as Swahili and inspire them in the job we were calling them to do. They left with a box of resources each, thankful hearts and a realization that what they had been called to would not be easy but would be rewarding and eventually could make a huge difference to their communities. [...]
We are still very much working out the process from here on and the best way to go about things (it really is a trial at the moment!) but we will not leave them on their own. However, only time and a lot of hard work will tell whether this program really works and produces children who can read and write well in their mother tongue before taking the next (easier) step to learn to read and write in their second language, Swahili. read more
Please pray for Matt and Liz as they come alongside these pre-school teachers, encouraging them and giving them resources as they invest in the children, and the community as a whole. As portions of the Bible start to be translated into these languages, these children could be among the first to ever have the privilege of reading God’s word in the Vwanji and Malila languages.
Tags: Education, Literacy, Malila, Mbeya, Tanzania, Vwanji, Wanji
Posted in Africa, Languages | No Comments »
June 16th, 2009 by Mark
Bible translation is a long process, involving many different types of people with different skills and experience. One of the often overlooked steps of producing printed scriptures is that of typesetting, which is basically placing the text onto the pages of the book, ready for printing.
Steve Pillinger is a Wycliffe UK member who works as a typesetter – preparing newly translated scriptures for written publication.
As many of you know, I (Steve) have been suffering for many weeks now from a severe back problem. I’ve had to stay in bed a lot, and Johanna came up with an ingenious contraption enabling me to work flat on my back with monitor and keyboard poised over me. In this way I was able to continue working on the Chumburung Bible, despite being unable to sit for more than a few minutes.But last week the situation was completely changed by, of all things, a piano stool! Fed up with seven weeks more or less confined to our bedroom, I went downstairs one day, pulled out the piano stool, and started to play. read more
You can read on to discover how the piano stool has helped Steve to continue typesetting the Bible in the Chumburung language. Please pray for Steve, and also for the Chumburung people as they prepare to read the entire Bible in their language for the very first time!
Tags: Back pain, Bible translation, Chumburung, Ghana, Typesetting
Posted in Africa | No Comments »
June 15th, 2009 by Mark
David, a writer and photographer for Wycliffe International, is currently in Ethiopia talking with Ethiopian church and mission leaders about their vision for Bible translation.
The Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, one of Ethiopia’s largest evangelical denominations, is actively involved in Bible translation projects within Ethiopia. In the last few years, the church has started sending missionaries to Asia and to other parts of Africa. This banner demonstrates their desire to be a light not only within Ethiopia but also to the whole world.
The Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia represents over 12 million Christians in Ethiopia. “Community transformation will come by the power of the Word of God,” says an ECFE representative. “The hope of our country lies in the Gospel.” But he and everyone else we’ve spoken with agrees: The Bible has to be available in a language that people understand.
And to that end, the churches of Ethiopia are committing their resources and their personnel. They know they can’t do it alone, though, and they’re asking for your prayers and even for some of you to come and serve alongside them. read more
One of the most exciting things about Vision 2025 is seeing God bring together people from all across the world to see his message of love translated into languages and lives. Each country, community and individual has a unique contribution to make as the worldwide church reaches out to people of every nation, tribe, people and language.
Tags: Bible translation, Church, Ethiopia, Missionaries
Posted in Africa, Missionary life | No Comments »
June 9th, 2009 by Mark
Matt and Liz Wisbey are literacy workers in the southwest of Tanzania, working with speakers of 10 different languages in the Mbeya and Iringa Regions of the country. They have shared recently about a workshop which is currently in progress:
This week and next sees Liz leading our first Basic Literacy workshop. As I write she is teaching 8 playschool teachers from two of our language groups how to teach their children how to read and write their mother tongue.
A lot of time and hard work has gone into preparing for these two weeks, and the following work and follow-up, and so it is very exciting to finally see the books in the teachers’ hands and the teachers learning these new skills. read more
While helping people to learn to read and write in their mother-tongue for the first time can seem extremely exciting and rewarding, it can also be very tough for a young couple working in a completely different culture. Matt recently posted about some of the challenges they face:
Being a missionary (read ex-pat, anyone living across cultures) can be a lonely business.
As we leave our home culture and dive head long into a new foreign culture we leave many of our safety nets behind. Some of these nets can be found in this new culture, others cannot. Some can be found in the small ‘ex-pat community’ that inevitably exists in any reasonably sized town, others cannot.
Good friends, a community of people who you can share your joy, your despair, your hopes and your fears with, are the hardest things to find.
Yes if you want a network of people who you know, who you can ask for help or advice and who know the practicalities of your life, then this is possible. However I believe there is something deep inside of us that needs more than this. This need varies from person to person, from character to character, but I would argue this need is there in all people somewhere. read more
Take a look at Matt and Liz’s blog to discover some of the realities – both joys and difficulties – of living and working overseas.
Tags: Iringa, Literacy, Mbeya, Mother-tongue, Tanzania
Posted in Africa, Languages, Missionary life | 2 Comments »
