We have always worked in partnership with other organisations, not least to see Bibles printed and distributed, a role we have often left to the Bible Societies. It used to be that we were one of the main organisations working in minority languages, and considered ourselves the experts - hence the Ethnologue - an on line and print resource for those who want to find out about people groups and which language they speak: www.ethnologue.com.
In the real world ministry is sometimes messy. No I'm not talking about messy church, I'm talking about messy ministry - where people dive in and do what seems to be best, then look for help once they realise they are in over their heads. This often happens in Bible translation. A church-planting team will be working in an area like the one in the photo above, and realise they don't have a Bible for the people they are trying to reach, so they start working on one! Pretty soon they realise they need some training and consultant input, and this is the point where they often approach us. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, a large mission organisation focused on a particular country or area realises the need for a new translation into the modern spoken language. The 19th-century translation seems out of date or too literal to be of use in evangelism - it isn't well understood. So they find a believer who is qualified to translate, but again they need someone in the Bible translation world to visit and work with this translator, to advise, encourage, and help them with exegesis (working out the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek the Bible was written in). This is where we can help. We have realised it is better to work in partnership to see the goal of scriptures begun in every language that needs it by the year 2025 (Vision 2025 http://wycliffe.org.uk//wycliffe/about/vision-2025.html). If we tried to work on our own the work would take much longer, and though it might be of good quality, there is a danger it won't be well-used. Working with church planting and other mission organisations ensures that message gets out there and is read, or heard, or watched on TV, as appropriate. Working like this may be messy, but it leads to Kingdom growth. Please pray for ongoing good relationships!
In the real world ministry is sometimes messy. No I'm not talking about messy church, I'm talking about messy ministry - where people dive in and do what seems to be best, then look for help once they realise they are in over their heads. This often happens in Bible translation. A church-planting team will be working in an area like the one in the photo above, and realise they don't have a Bible for the people they are trying to reach, so they start working on one! Pretty soon they realise they need some training and consultant input, and this is the point where they often approach us. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, a large mission organisation focused on a particular country or area realises the need for a new translation into the modern spoken language. The 19th-century translation seems out of date or too literal to be of use in evangelism - it isn't well understood. So they find a believer who is qualified to translate, but again they need someone in the Bible translation world to visit and work with this translator, to advise, encourage, and help them with exegesis (working out the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek the Bible was written in). This is where we can help. We have realised it is better to work in partnership to see the goal of scriptures begun in every language that needs it by the year 2025 (Vision 2025 http://wycliffe.org.uk//wycliffe/about/vision-2025.html). If we tried to work on our own the work would take much longer, and though it might be of good quality, there is a danger it won't be well-used. Working with church planting and other mission organisations ensures that message gets out there and is read, or heard, or watched on TV, as appropriate. Working like this may be messy, but it leads to Kingdom growth. Please pray for ongoing good relationships!
No comments:
Post a Comment