Wolrd Religion

A good story on how God is bringing together rivals to promote His word in the Congo.

http://christsinternet.com/wp/wycliffe-associates-seeks-to-make-bible-accessible-in-69-drc-language-groups/

Attached is our press release for April focusing on the Congo.  In the midst of such utter turmoil is a story of God’s peace taking hold and rivals elevating His word in their lives. 

Donn

https://wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/684

Wycliffe Associates Seeking to Make the Bible Accessible in 69 DRC Language Groups Using Rapid Translation Method

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the acceleration of Bible translation, wants to launch Bible translation into 69 new languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The central African nation, which is suffering the devastating effects of decades of tribal violence and civil war, is home to more than 200 African ethnic groups.

Excessive mortality rates due to AIDs also have taken a toll on the DRC, where the median age is 18.6 years for the nation’s population of 83.3 million.

“It grabs at my throat to think about what the people have gone through in the DRC,” said Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Generations of tribal violence . . . people hunted like animals . . . torture, mutilation, kidnapping, executions . . . fear and anger and utter, total despair that anything can ever be different.”

But recently, five tribes that had been at war with each other for decades gathered at a two-week Bible translation training workshop.

“Many doubted it could work,” said Smith. “But as they encountered God’s Word in the language of their hearts for the very first time, the reality of God’s love overwhelmed them. The wars between them—and the wars within them—were over.”

Since 2014, Wycliffe Associates has been using a breakthrough Bible translation strategy known as MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation), which trains local mother-tongue translators in a rapid translation method designed to make the Scriptures more readily available to language groups still without any of the Bible. At the pilot workshop in an Asian nation, 13 mother-tongue translators were able to draft and check approximately half of the New Testament in two weeks.

“Pastors [in the DRC] are actually pleading for us to train them to conduct training themselves,” said Smith. “This, in fact, is the only safe, sustainable way forward—because this region is so dangerous and unpredictable to outsiders.”

There are over 200 languages in the DRC. Wycliffe Associate is currently raising funds to launch new translation projects for 69 languages in the DRC, at a cost of $19,500 each.

“Once the translators begin, our MAST strategy will enable Bible translators to accomplish in months what used to take decades,” said Smith.

Last year, Wycliffe Associates launched 346 new language projects worldwide.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,402 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 72 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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Our MAST program continues to grow! 

Donn Hallman

https://www.wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/683

Wycliffe Associates Looks to Begin Translation Projects for as Many as 400 Languages in Regions Off-Limits to Westerners

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, has the potential to launch new Bible translation projects in up to 400 languages in Asia this year, in areas where Christians live under constant threat of persecution due to vicious extremism.

“So many language groups are crying out for God’s Word—urging us to bring them the tools they need to translate the Scriptures in the language of their people, the language of their hearts,” says Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Requests are pouring in from parts of Asia where it’s difficult, dangerous, and even deadly for Americans.”

According to a ministry partner in Asia, 20 highly qualified Asian ministry leaders are ready to lead Bible translation efforts in many areas that have been unreached entirely. The ministry leaders, who live and work in those areas, would not attract the same suspicion as Westerners.

Yet being a Christian is not without risk for the nationals. Last year, radicals from the majority religion kidnapped a national Bible translator’s wife and children. His family still has not been found, and the translator’s Christian friends are keeping him in hiding.

In another area, a pastor would only agree to hold a meeting about Bible translation in a boat, in the middle of a lake, to be certain the conversation would not be overheard.

“These are places where religious oppression is so intense, where anti-Christian persecution is so fierce, where authorities so harshly deny entrance to outsiders that foreigners have never even attempted to conduct Bible translation there,” says Smith.

Wycliffe Associates’ development of MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) in 2014, a revolutionary rapid-translation strategy, equips nationals to translate the Bible for themselves. Language groups no longer must depend on—or wait for—Westerners to translate the Scriptures for them.

Some Bible translation teams working with the MAST strategy in other regions of the world have been able to complete their translation of the entire New Testament in a matter of weeks and months rather than years.

“God is building His Church in these countries, not on the strength of ‘foreigners,’ but on nationals,” Smith says.

A translation leader can be funded for $96 a day, and currently Wycliffe Associates has funding for three of the 20 available translators in Asia. Funding all 20 leaders has the potential of bringing the translated Scriptures to 400 language groups in areas that are virtually unreachable by Westerners.

“Just like a river that flows with life and abundance, this team will rush to the nations to bring the Good News,” says Smith. “They will bring abundant opportunity for people to know God in their own heart language.”

To date, 1,086 Bible translation projects have been launched using MAST workshops.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,402 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 72 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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Happy New Year!  Attached is our first press release of the new year. 

Donn Hallman

https://www.wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/681

Wycliffe Associates Marks Milestone in Bible Translation History; Looks to Start 600 New Translations in 2018

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, announces that there are more languages with Bible translations in progress than there are languages needing a Bible.

“It used to take a decade or more to translate the New Testament,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Now, things are different—far different.”

Wycliffe Associates’ 2014 launch of collaborative translation workshops called MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) has drastically reduced the length of time required to translate the Scriptures into new languages. Projects that traditionally took years now take months.

In a MAST workshop, teams of mother-tongue translators work on books of the Bible simultaneously. Using the MAST method, a team of 26 translators can translate the entire New Testament in a matter of weeks or months.

During a MAST workshop in Namibia, a team of mother-tongue translators was able to complete a draft of one-third of the New Testament in their language in 10 days.

MAST coupled with new technology, has made it possible to begin new translation projects at a faster rate.

Working in conjunction with MAST is Wycliffe Associates’ Tablets for National Translators (TNTs) program, in which Wycliffe Associates adds Bible translation and other helpful applications to basic computer tablets and subsequently supplies them to mother-tongue translators. In locations where authorities are hostile to the Christian faith, Bible translators are able to hide their work in plain sight.

“A Bible in their hands is like a target on their backs,” says Smith.

The tablets also protect the Bible translation work itself, providing continuous backup so the work is preserved in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, which some teams have experienced.

Tablets help ensure accuracy, enabling Bible translators to collaborate and check each other’s work, as well as efficiency, supplying essential translation software and access to a vast online resource library.

“I can hardly describe how important Wycliffe Associates’ Tablets for National Translators program is” said Smith, “Together with MAST, Tablets for National Translators turn years into months.

In the coming year, Wycliffe Associates wants to launch Bible translation in 600 new languages and provide as many as 7,800 new tablets to the mother-tongue translators at a cost of $300 each.

Of the 7,097 languages spoken in the world 2,758 need a Bible translation project started. Currently there is a Bible translation in progress for 3,703 languages.

To date, 3,149 Tablets for National Translators have been distributed in 38 countries.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,402 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers worked to speed Bible translations in 72 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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https://www.mnnonline.org/news/bible-translations-flourish-despite-persecution/

International (MNN) — At a time of unprecedented Christian persecution, the demand for access to the Bible is greater than ever.

A report by the UK office of Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) states that Christian persecution reached an all-time high between 2015 and 2017.

But that isn’t enough to squelch the fire in the hearts of people groups who want to read the Bible in their native tongue.

“Despite the pressures, the thirst for God’s words is only increasing. Even though the circumstances for Bible translation are perhaps more threatening or insecure than they have been at other times, the readiness and the willingness of local believers to engage in local translations is at an all-time high,” says Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.

Wycliffe Associates, which is one of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s word in their own language. It collaborates with the local church to direct and guard translation work and engages people across the globe to provide resources, technology, training, and support.

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

“We are being overwhelmed by believers and different language groups around the world who are asking to begin Bible translation for the first time,” Smith says, adding that this is a new set of circumstances for them. “We are responding creatively with resources, both online and offline: technical support, training support, and workshops.”

Smith explained what is being done to speed along the translation process.

“Instead of having a small group of people work their way through the Bible sequentially, we are using a team that is working parallel and then using the teams to check each other’s work. This enables the pace to go forward in a much greater rate and also engages a lot of people in the local community.”

In addition to speed, Smith said that quality is also improved with the utilization of local people who are experts in their language.

He added that when translations are done for locations that are insecure, Wycliffe moves believers to a secure location while they do the work.

“In addition to persecution from majority religions, translators have encountered spiritual warfare,” Smith said. “National Bible translators have fallen ill, been arrested, and even [been] killed because of their Christian faith and their participation in Bible translation.”

But they understand the value of their efforts.

(Photo courtesy Wycliffe Associates)

Of the 7,097 languages spoken in the world, 2,758 languages are still in need of a Bible translation project and that knowledge is what drives Wycliffe to continue moving forward.

“In the last two months, October and November, we’ve had 88 workshops for Bible translation starts,” Smith says, explaining that those are new starts in new languages. “This is more than one per day. That is obviously an unprecedented rate for translation starts in different languages.”

Despite the record-breaking progress, Smith says that the organization has a backlog of about 300 languages groups waiting for a Bible in their tongue.

“This is beyond those that we have a budget and a strategy and a plan to respond to in the coming year,” he says. “We are trying to figure out, ‘how is God going to enable us to respond to these additional desires for His Word?’ We are certainly needing prayer support.“