What a difference a day makes
Phil is working on a Bible translation project for a people group in a troubled region of West Africa. During his most recent visit to the country, he was very encouraged to be part of an important new initiative.
When our translation project board suggested that we held a one-day prayer conference for pastors of their people group, my initial reaction was: ‘That’s a lot of work and expense. Is it worth it?’ The vision was to help all these pastors deepen their awareness and understanding of our project, so they can pray for it and get more involved in our translation work. While pastors from the different denominations do get together, a truly interdenominational conference hadn’t been tried before. Many would have to travel and would need accommodation, meaning a lot of expense and risk.
We decided to go ahead, and planned the conference to coincide with my trip to the country in January. As soon as I arrived, we got to work preparing and printing copies of all the Old Testament books we have translated so far, so that we could give a set of these to each attendee. About fifty people were invited, so we had a lot of printing to do! My colleague ‘A’ worked very hard, sorting out all their travel expenses and accommodation. She also helped me prepare what I was going to say, in their language, to explain how we go about translation and how they could help us.
Drawing from the Psalms
When the day came, we had thirty-four pastors from various parts of the country, plus evangelists—men and women—who are involved in a variety of ministries. We drew a lot from the Psalms during the day, as this is what we are currently translating. The director of the Bible school spoke on Psalm 46, and another pastor led us in prayer for the country using Psalm 31. We sang songs drawn from the Psalms. We also had a short ‘testing’ session, reading through Psalms 1 and 2, inviting comments and discussion on the translation. This was a good-humoured, but passionate debate about the right words to use. We might not have got through many verses, but it was clear to everyone how hard translation is, and that it’s impossible to please everyone. We made it clear that we need their feedback now, to help us get the Old and New Testaments into the best shape we can get them. It’s sadly common that people don’t give their feedback until the whole Bible is published, at which point it’s too late to make corrections. We now have a WhatsApp group set up which ‘A’ is using to send questions and gather feedback to help improve our translation.
Valuable fellowship
We had a lot of very positive feedback from the day. One pastor said he didn’t know there were any other believers from among their people group. He made a two-day journey to join us, and was really encouraged to see he had brothers and sisters from his own people. Others had only known those within their denomination, and were delighted to be welcomed among the wider church among their people. We had a few national cross-cultural workers—those from other peoples who had learned the language and were planting churches. Many wanted these conferences to become a regular thing. As many of them as were able met in the evening after the conference to pray and plan more together, thinking about how they can reach their people with the gospel.
A couple of days before the conference, I saw one pastor who had travelled in—Pastor D. He showed me some photos of the children’s work he was leading in his town, a place out towards the northeast of the capital where displaced people had gathered. He told me he was ill, and he had to miss the afternoon of the conference to go to the hospital. It turns out he had a very serious condition and, as I was writing this article, six weeks after the conference, I heard that he has died. Please pray for his wife and children, that God would provide for their needs and keep them firm in the faith. Pray also for the believers in that town, particularly the children Pastor D was reaching. Pray also for the other pastors and all believers who knew Pastor D, that they will know God’s comfort as they mourn, and that his passing will encourage us all to press on, finish the task, and hear ‘Well done good and faithful servant.’
Making the Word accessible
The other task which I worked on during my short visit, was to continue work on our audio recordings of Genesis and Exodus. One of the pastors has been helping me with this, and recently I was able to launch an audio version of Genesis in our Android mobile phone app. Exodus isn’t far from completion, and we then plan to prepare a new batch of pocket radios loaded with the audio of these books, plus the New Testament. Genesis and Exodus are a vital bridge for reaching the community and having them in audio form makes them accessible to many more people. Pray for wide distribution and much good fruit.
Please also continue to pray for the security situation in West Africa. From the few reliable reports we have seen, there seems to have been an upturn in the violence including attacks on churches and mosques. Please pray for an end to the violence, for wisdom for the government, and for protection of the church, foreign gospel workers and all those who want peace.