Tag Archives: Wycliffe

Posted on

The Work that Remains

More than 2,000 Bibleless language groups are still waiting.

No generation prior to this one has been better acquainted with the idea of global community. Thanks to today’s technology, we can communicate across oceans in an instant via email, satellite phone connections, and social networking systems like Facebook and Twitter. Continuous news coverage keeps us ever-aware of global events, and information flows at a staggering pace. The borders of our world are quickly shrinking and, as stewards of this season in history, we must respond to these realities.

We must also respond to the reality of God’s character and plan. We know from Scripture that God’s plan for eternity is a wonderful mosaic of people—“a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9, NLT). Wycliffe’s founder, Cameron Townsend, believed that every person on earth deserves to have access to God’s Word. We honor this core belief and God’s plan for His Kingdom when we follow Jesus’ example of moving across cultural boundaries. The work is not done. Yes, our world is more connected today than ever before, but millions of people are still waiting to hear the truth of God’s Word in their own language for the first time. Remember them today, and the vision and mission of Bible translation.

  • Pray that the Lord will create a hunger and thirst for Himself in those who have not yet heard. Pray that He will create a desire for His Word among those who have trusted in Him but lack the Scriptures in appropriate forms in their language.
  • Pray for workers to be called and sent to each group. Pray that God will call skilled and passionate mother-tongue translators and advocates from within groups needing the Scriptures.
  • Pray for unity among churches, mission partners and individual believers working to share the gospel and the Scriptures with the group. Pray for fruit produced by the Holy Spirit.

Truly, the need is great. Take a moment to watch this video as a reminder of the need to reach the last languages with God’s Word.

Resource: Wycliffe Pray Today Blog

 

Posted on

What Can A Person Do?

Making a difference for Bible translation

With a mission and vision as big as Bible translation for every people group on earth that needs it, what can one person do to make a difference?

A few months ago, Wycliffe USA’s Prayer Ministries Department received a visit from a very special guest, a man named Richard Smalley. On a trip to Orlando, Florida, Richard stopped by to see the headquarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA and visit a team of people that he had never met, but was closely connected to. Richard said, “One time I called Prayer Ministries, and they said, ‘Everyone here knows you.’”

In 1990, Richard came across a magazine with a Wycliffe ad on the back, promoting the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project. It invited Christians to contact Wycliffe to receive the name of a Bibleless people group to pray for, and to stand as an intercessor until a Bible translation program began for that people group. Richard asked Wycliffe for a couple of names and began praying that year. Later, God led him to sign up for more. “God burdened my heart to pray for them,” Richard said. “They were in the jungles, and there was no other way to reach them.”

On average, prayer partners with the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project pray for one to three language groups. Today, Richard Smalley—still a dedicated intercessor after more than 20 years—prays for about 700 people groups. A custodian from Harrison, New York, Richard spends two hours a day before work going through his list of Bibleless peoples asking God to “bring the translations forth.” He said, “Even before I start praying I begin with a special prayer…praising God and thanking God, asking Him to hear the prayers. It’s amazing what He can do.”

Posted on

Response to the Translated Word of God

What does it mean to have God’s Word in a language you can understand?

Discovery Trip 2008 - South East Asia

Lives change when people meet Jesus. That is one of the most significant purposes of Bible translation. The translated Word of God is key to introducing people of other languages and cultures to the One and only true Savior—Jesus Christ. In Christ we find our freedom and our new identity.

Here are just a few of the many responses to receiving the translated Word of God:

In South America, a Quechua Bible translator of Peru said, “Getting our spiritual food from the Spanish Bible is like trying to eat soup with a fork. We can get a little taste, but cannot get nourished. Using the Quechua Scriptures is like eating soup with a spoon—we can really get well-nourished.”

In Africa, Dereje Tilahun, currently a Scripture use worker, shared his desire to see the Bible made available to all the peoples of Ethiopia. Dereje said, “There are more than 80 languages in Ethiopia, and only 8 have the [whole] Bible!…We have to bring the Bible in their own language. When it is in their mother tongue, they can understand it. They can love it.” An Ethiopian himself, Dereje greatly values the Bible in his own language, Amharic. “The Bible is my life,” he said. “I cannot live without the Bible.”

A new reader in a minority group in Asia told her friend, “When we read the Bible in our language for the first time in our lives, it made us feel so encouraged that there is nothing to compare it to. Since we were small children until now—in our whole lives—we have never seen our language written down. But now we can read the Bible in our language, and read stories in our language and sing praises to God in our language.”

Posted on

Scripture Use

The Word in practice—putting the translated Scriptures to use

Translating the Bible is just the one step towards changed lives. As the translated Word becomes accessible, the broad work of engaging individuals and communities with newly completed Scripture begins.

The process of promoting the translated Word of God and equipping the local community to use it can be challenging. People must be informed of its availability, supplied with the resources to use it well, and encouraged to apply it to their everyday lives.

Scripture-use workers may enlist any number of ways to promote a finished translation—through radio broadcasts, videos and films, and other media. Scripture-inspired dramas, songs, and other artistic creations help awaken people to the truth of the Word. Other projects might also include the development of children’s materials to introduce the Bible to young people; the production of training tools to aid Bible teachers and pastors as they instruct others; and the formation of Bible studies to encourage daily practice and application of the Word.

These endeavors lead to a more finished product of the whole translation work—changed lives, deeper churches, youth ministries, Sunday schools, women’s fellowships, counseling, and so much more.

  • Praise God that through the efforts of Scripture-use workers, people understand that they can relate to God in their own language.
  • Pray for more Scripture-use workers to help with the immense task ahead; ask God to call people who enjoy planting the Word and seeing the fruit of their labor.
  • Pray for wisdom and strength for these workers as they seek to connect people to God’s Word and its relevancy to their lives.

Watch what Scripture-use workers say about how people respond to Scripture in their heart language.

Resource: Wycliffe Pray Today Blog

Posted on

Working in Sensitive Areas

Working in Sensitive Areas
Conducting work in potentially unsafe locations

Many of the world’s remaining translation needs are located in nations considered “hard to reach.” Often, these language communities are unnamed for fear of jeopardizing the safety of colleagues and their work. Workers need to be prudent in the way they live and in what they communicate about what they do. In some places spiritual opposition is a constant factor to be dealt with. For many, the logistical, spiritual, and emotional support from colleagues at home and on the field, from churches, and from families is a lifeline.

  • Pray that those who provide support, in whatever form, will remain faithful to their role in the ministry to these faithful workers.
  • Ask for God’s wisdom for those who are living and working in sensitive areas as they communicate about their work.
  • Pray that they will be protected from spiritual attack, and that they will maintain good physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
  • Pray especially that they will stand firm in their faith and knowledge of God as Job did when he said, ” I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you” (Job 42:2, NLT).

Learn more about how to pray for missionaries on the field.

Here’s the list of the The Twenty, “hard to reach” nations:

1. Papua New Guinea

2. Nigeria

3. Indonesia

4. China

5. India

6. Democratic Republic of the Congo

7. Cameroon

8. Vanuatu

9. Nepal

10. Chad

11. Viet Nam

12. Tanzania

13. Iran

14. Myanmar

15. Mexico

16. Central African Republic

17. Russia

18. Sudan

19. Malaysia

20. Pakistan

 

Resource: Wycliffe Pray Today Blog