Category Archives: Mission

Posted on

Answering God’s Call to Begin BT Work

From Start to Finish: Fajak’s Story

The roots of any Bible translation program are firmly planted in God’s calling, and, we believe, also in prayer.

In 1983, it began for the Tira people of Sudan when God called a man named Fajak, and quite separately, two American students. The students signed up to pray for the Tira, a group of 40,000 Sudanese people, through Wycliffe’s Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project. Unknown to them, that same year Fajak Avajani, a Tira man, received a vision from the Lord that instructed him to read Psalm 51.

Fajak was confused. He was not a believer and God’s Word was not available in his language. He sought a member of the local clergy and asked for help. The priest read this passage to him in English, a language Fajak was familiar with:

“Have mercy on me, O God, because of Your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.”

Upon hearing these words, Fajak was deeply convicted. That moment, he repented of his sins and surrendered his heart to Christ.

In 1986, three years after Fajak’s conversion, a new team of prayer intercessors committed to pray for the Tira people. It was that year—1986—that Fajak was accepted for theological studies at an Episcopal college in southern Sudan, and during that time he attended a workshop presented by two Wycliffe workers. Fajak immediately discerned God’s call upon his life: he was to see the Bible translated into the Tira language, his heart language.

Fajak asked the workshop leaders to come work with him in the Nuba Mountains where the Tira people lived, but political tensions prevented them from doing so. Discouraged, Fajak wondered why God had given him a passion for Bible translation if it wasn’t possible? He began to pray for help.

Fajak worked on his own; he translated songs and church liturgy into Tira, and eventually published a small book. It wasn’t until 1990 that Fajak once again crossed paths with Wycliffe workers. This time the encounter led to his enrollment in linguistic and translation training. In addition, funding was made available for a Tira translation project. Amazingly, it was that same year when a third prayer team—on another continent—had committed to pray for the Tira through the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project. 

In time, the Tira New Testament was drafted, checked, typeset, printed, shipped, and dedicated; all within twelve years. But right up to the last day—the Scripture celebration in 2009—there were challenges to overcome. Clearing the newly printed New Testaments from customs proved to be difficult; customs officials restarted the process three times and Fajak reported going through 21 offices to finally see it done. Fajak said, “I have found out that ending Bible translation is harder than starting it…But the Lord cleared the New Testaments in the end.”

The Tira New Testament was celebrated and dedicated. Three days later, a foundation stone was laid for a new Bible school that would raise up Tira church leaders to serve in villages throughout the Nuba Mountains. Today, the number of Tira Christians has increased from a handful to hundreds, meeting in multiple congregations.

God’s Word is in the Tira language. The Tira church will continue to grow and mature because of it. This foundation will last; ministry and discipleship will follow. Already, the Tira people are reaching out to other communities, now that they know God more fully, and realize the truth found in His Word.

Tira lives are forever changed. This is why we pray, from start to finish.

  • Ask God to move mightily on behalf of the world’s remaining Bibleless peoples. Ask Him to call men and women to involvement in the ministry of Bible translation, just as He did for Fajak.
  • Pray that lives will be won to Christ as God’s Word is translated for every person in the language they know best.
Posted on

Introduction To Indonesian Language and Culture

Recently I made friend with a girl whom I met on Wycliffe Next Generation community website. She asked some questions about Indonesia because she will be moving there with her family soon for ministry. I remember some of the books that my husband got for himself in getting ready to go to Indonesia.

In your getting to know and preparation to go overseas (short term or long term), one thing among the others things on your preparation list is learning basic language and culture of the country. So here I would like to suggest you books that you can use to prepare your self and get some taste of Indonesian.

First book is Basic Indonesian, An Introduction Coursebook. You can try to order online from Barnes and Noble bookstore where we got it for my husband to learn Indonesian. This book comes with a Audio CD which will be helpful for you to listen and practice the pronunciation.

Posted on

What Would You Do After Your Summer Mission Trips?

Out of that understood unfairness, instead of conviction, I sat with my guilt.

Guilt isn’t helpful.

I’ve never heard anyone being stirred to action because they felt guilty about an issue—it’s a very passive emotion and a selfish one. It’s relating every issue back to me.

Source from: InterVarsity Blog: Life After Summer Missions.

Urbana 12 is InterVarsity’s 23rd Student Missions Conference, December 27-31, 2012 in St. Louis, MO.

That is the feeling of some of those who came back from their Short Mission Trips. Guilty is what they felt after seeing what they saw on the trips. But you cannot just sit on it for the rest of your life. You have to move forward, overcome the feeling. The questions you should ask yourselves are:

What should I do after this?

How should I react or response to it?

What is the next step that I need to take?

Posted on

Prayer Resource: Joshua Project

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18, NLT)

Pray is one of the armors that God wants us to put on every day, every moment in our life. Prayer is the fuel that we need to keep the flame of mission and ministry to keep on going and burning. Prayer is the way to come to God and stand in the gap between God and the world, the unreached people groups – whom cannot stand in His presence because of sins.

 

Joshua Project is one of the medias that you can use for your prayer resources. This website provides details about the unreached people group, tools, resources and lots of information that you need for your personal and church prayer time. Here’s some things about Joshua Project.

Posted on

The Kerinci People of Indonesia

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

Introduction / History
Originally from the eastern coast of Sumatera, the Kerinci fled from local Muslim Sultanates in an ancient war and moved into their existing homeland high in the Bukit Barisan Mountains near Mount Kerinci in West Sumatera and Lake Kerinci in Jambi. Although the highlands present challenges for living, intensive agriculture coupled with fishing has been sufficient to sustain sizeable indigenous populations. The Kerinci have been able to resist assimilation with the stronger lowland peoples. They have managed to not only survive but to grow enriched by what they have borrowed from the coastal cultures, but in each case absorbing and reshaping according to their indigenous ethos without losing their own ethnic identity. Today, their isolation is being broken by government-sponsored mass relocations of Jawa, Sunda, and Bali people for plantation projects on their rich soil. In addition, a world-class national park is being developed by the World Wildlife Fund to preserve the rain forest, flora, and fauna. This will draw even more outsiders into this remote area.

(C) PJRN-IPN

What are their lives like?
Most of the Kerinci are farmers. Other than their main crop of rice (grown in both irrigated and unirrigated fields), they also grow potatoes, vegetables, and tobacco. Those who live around the base of the mountains are nomadic farmers. These nomadic farmers grow coffee, cinnamon, and cloves. The primary crops harvested from the jungle are resin and rattan. Most of the people living near Lake Kerinci and some other small lakes are fishermen. Their village homes are built very close together. A village is called a dusun and is inhabited by one clan that has descended from one common female ancestor. In a dusun there are always several long-houses, which are built side by side along the road. The nuclear family is called a tumbi. Once a man marries, he moves out of his family’s home and moves in with his new wife’s family. Normally, if a daughter is married, she is given a new small house attached to the house of her parents. In turn, her daughters will be given houses attached to her house. A mother’s clan is called the kelbu. This kelbu is considered the most important family unit among the Kerinci people. Even though the Kerinci people are matrilineal, the nuclear family is led by the husband, not the wife’s brother (as is common to other matrilineal groups, including the Minang). The mother’s brother avoids involvement in clan issues and only gets involved in problems with his sister’s immediate family. Inheritance is given to the daughters in the family.