God has been reaching out to all nations since the beginning of time, and it is an honour that he calls each one of us to join in with his mission day by day. For some this will mean going to live overseas, but for many this means staying in the UK and building God’s kingdom here.
But wherever God has us at the moment, we can all join in with God’s mission to the ends of the earth through prayer. Though we can never fully comprehend why, God has chosen to work through his people, and through our prayers.
Here’s a great example from many years ago of how God worked through the faithful prayer of one man in Belfast, to bless a Bible translation project in a village in Brazil.
When it came to learning the language, it was like drinking from a fire hose. Teenagers crowded around us shouting out the Canela names for things faster than we could write them down. Once we began teaching people to read, there were so many potential students that, for the first year, we limited classes to fathers of families only. Those who didn’t make it into the reading classes stole the-learn-to read books and taught themselves. We had translation associates galore. At one time we had 17 men and women on the payroll as readers, translation checkers, and typists, etc.
Listening to the problems enumerated by our colleagues working in other language groups, we realized we were very fortunate. And for years we had no idea why.
Not until we received a letter from a Christian man in Belfast, Ireland that explained it all. The letter went something like this: read more
In the last few decades many of the strategies used in Bible translation may have changed to give more emphasis to training and equipping mother-tongue speakers, but the God who chooses to work through the faithful prayers of his people is still the same.
Find out more about how you can pray for the task of Bible translation.
