The Bible in action
I can teach them God’s word
Bryony Lines
Children in a country in West Africa are getting the chance to know Jesus through the Bible in their languages.
If you grew up going to church, do you remember any Bible stories you learnt, verses you memorised or songs you sang in Sunday School? Engaging with God’s word at a young age can be an incredible gift – a first step towards following Jesus.
The Bible in action
‘We are not left out’
Bryony Lines
When people can know God through the Bible in their own languages, it shows them that He has not forgotten them.
The promise in Revelation 14:6 is particularly poignant for Lugwere translator Davis Dedya and his people: ‘The good news being proclaimed to every nation including Uganda, every tribe including Bagwere, every language including Lugwere, and every people. We are not left out of the targeted end point – to receive and enjoy the good news.’
The Bible in action
Zacchaeus in Cameroon
Bryony Lines
On holiday in Cameroon, Alison Baverstock recently had the opportunity to visit CABTAL (Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy), a partner of Wycliffe Bible Translators. She writes:
Making connections through stories has been my lifelong preoccupation. What you have read in common can prompt communication, deepen understanding and promote empathy.
The Bible in action
‘We are now closer to God’
Bryony Lines
When Laminu first put his trust in the Lord, he began riding his bicycle 17 miles each week to the nearest church, and 17 miles back home.
Laminu is one of the Koma people who live in the Northern Region of Ghana and speak Konni. He comes from the village of Nangruma, which had neither a church nor a formal school. Koma villages are sometimes described by their neighbours as ‘overseas’, because all the major paths leading to the area cross rivers and are impassable by vehicles in the rainy season.
The Bible in action
Lament amid the burning
Bryony Lines
Normally, when I finish checking a book of the Bible with a team, the mood is bright, writes Drew Maust. This time things were not so. The mood was dim, sombre, reflective.
Drew continues: I have the privilege of serving the Didi* community in Cameroon as translation consultant, assisting translators with the preparation and publication of Scripture in their language. During the final two weeks of checking Leviticus, the translators informed me that they were not sleeping well. If it wasn’t nightmares of being chased, it was anxiety for their families back in the village. In fact, one of the translators had become demonstrably more on edge, more aggressive in his contributions. It was clear that something was troubling him.
The Bible in action
Scripture brings hope in trauma for Weh people
Bryony Lines
The Weh translation team is aiming to finish translating the New Testament into Weh this year!
After 14 years of dedication, working to translate the New Testament into their own language through instability, conflict and – most recently – pandemic, the Weh translation team is nearing their goal. They hope to finish the translation in the coming months, and to hold a great celebration to launch it next year.
The Bible in action
‘My cows need to rest too!’ Faith and farming in Nigeria
Bryony Lines
‘When I heard that God wants animals to rest (Deut. 5:12–15) I was convicted because I had been letting my neighbours use my cows for ploughing when I went to church on Sunday. I now realise that my cows need to rest too and I will amend this.’
This is what one participant reported in January, after a Faith and Farming workshop in Nigeria. Colleagues Yunana Malgwi and Katharine Norton were invited by the Tugbiri translation team to hold a Faith and Farming workshop in their area, which is three hours from Jos. Twenty farmers attended, and three men did sentence-by-sentence interpretation of the teaching into the Tugbiri language. Topics included Farmers in the Bible, Farming in God’s Strength Without Using Drugs, Jesus’s Agricultural Parables, Conserving Trees, and Traditional Farming Methods.
The Bible in action
'It is a blessing to translate the Bible in my language'
Bryony Lines
‘Ever since I tasted the goodness of the Lord, I have desired that my own people would come to know Him and His salvation,’ says Simon, whose name has been changed to keep him safe. ‘It has been such a blessing to be able to work on translating the Bible into my language.’
‘Before I became a Christian, I was going on with my life in the best way I knew how,’ continued Simon. ‘Although I am from a hunter-gatherer community, my family had moved from the interior villages of Kenya while I was young, and came to more of a mixed (multicultural) community.’
The Bible in action
‘This is the kingdom of God that you have brought me’
Bryony Lines
Earlier this year the Flame* translation team celebrated the arrival of the printed New Testaments with Genesis to their West African port.
As Covid-19 restrictions tightened, the team couldn’t hold the large celebration they had planned for April. A sense of urgency compelled them to share the Scriptures with their community right away. They held a small celebration with a group of influential leaders, and then they set to work again, distributing printed books, sharing copies of the Flame Scripture app, and reading passages on the radio, all while continuing to translate the Old Testament into the Flame language.
The Bible in action
Study the Bible like a Wycliffe Bible translator
Bryony Lines
What can we learn from Bible translators about studying the Bible? When Peter* first begins translating a new book of the Bible into his own language, he doesn’t just dive in. He works hard to understand the passage thoroughly in order to produce a clear, accurate and natural-sounding translation. When we visited him and his colleagues in Southeast Asia, he pulled out a fat scrapbook full of his notes, diagrams and illustrations.
Here are a few of the ways Peter studies the Bible – and a few ideas for applying it to our own Bible reading.
The Bible in action
Word of life: Jesus’ days were full of Scripture
Bryony Lines
Access to the Bible in our own language should not be a luxury that some enjoy while others don’t.
In a recent prayer letter, one woman who serves with Wycliffe Bible Translators reflected on the isolation Jesus must have felt in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. In light of social distancing over the past months, she shared that being ‘without the possibility of physically going to church … is a very real kind of isolation.’
The Bible in action
God’s word on fire
Bryony Lines
‘Your package is eight stops away…’ Gone are the days – at least in theory – of waiting in all day for a package that might possibly arrive sometime in the next eight hours.
Now companies can let us know exactly where our books or socks or paper clips have got to. But at the end of 2019, we received news of a much more exciting delivery. The Flame Bible translation team in West Africa had sent an update: ‘the New Testaments with Genesis have rounded the Cape of Good Hope on a ship and are heading north to us.’
The Bible in action
God the untranslatable
Bryony Lines
Have you ever come across those lists of untranslatable words from other languages?
Just search ‘untranslatable words’ online and you’ll find a treasure trove: ikigai means ‘a reason to live’ in Japanese, anteayer is Spanish for ‘the day before yesterday, waldeinsamkeit is German, meaning ‘the feeling of being alone in the woods’.
The Bible in action
Worth the risk?
Bryony Lines
The boat slipped quietly between the stilted houses, oars dipping into inky water. Under cover of darkness, Nicky* made her way to the spirit village.
Nicky’s own village was also built on the lake, and many of her people made their living fishing and farming vegetables, using floating beds to protect the growing crops from the rise and fall of the water level. Status was shown by wearing large necklaces – the richer the person, the bigger their necklaces. It was also a convenient and secure way to save money – silver and gold generally resist inflation better than cash.
The Bible in action
In your heart – not just on paper
Bryony Lines
A hush falls over a group sitting in the afternoon sun. The scrape of chairs and benches subsides. Then the silence is broken as a fervent voice begins to tell the story of creation.
When the story ends, the discussion begins: Why did God put the tree in the garden? Did Satan put himself in the garden or in the serpent? Does the Garden of Eden still exist?
The Bible in action
Why I (still) need Bible translation
Bryony Lines
I live my life in English.
I think, speak, sin, pray and love in English. But despite that, I firmly believe that I need the Bible in Hdi, a language of Cameroon – even though I don’t speak a word of it – and that you do, too. Let me explain why.
The Bible in action
Engaging with the Bible
Bryony Lines
If your Bible spends a lot of time on the shelf, you’re not alone.
And if you do read it regularly, the likelihood is that you know many Christians who struggle to do so. So what can we do to change this?
