September 1st, 2010
The goal of Bible translation is never simply to have written words on a page, but for the Holy Spirit to use the message to speak to people’s hearts, leading to transformed lives and communities. While much of the work of Wycliffe members focuses on rather mundane linguistic, translation and other office work, it is good to be reminded that God is speaking through his word, which is
… alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12)
Recently our friend and colleague Michelle, who works as a translation adviser to various language communities in northern Tanzania, heard of how some draft sections of Scripture were received when tested in a Zanaki village. She writes:
Shem, one of the translators, sat down and started reading a chapter from Luke (I actually don’t know which one; it was either 10 or 11). After the first passage he looked up and was surprised to see everyone in the group frowning. He thought, “There must be something wrong with the Zanaki words we’ve used!”
Worridly, he continued reading. After another section he glanced at his audience again and saw them looking down at the ground and grimacing! Unable to wait, he asked them, “What do you think of this translation? Please, all feedback is helpful, even if it is negative. How is our word choice, our dialect in this?”
“It’s fine, going on reading,” they said, not offering much insight into their facial expressions. He continued with the chapter, and they still had grimaces, to his consternation.
He started asking them questions to see which things in the translation weren’t clear, and they contributed their thoughts and were helpful. However, about half of them said, “Oh, we’re not Christians, we don’t understand religion well, so maybe you don’t want our answers.”
Shem hastily encouraged them to participate, since answers from people who don’t know the Bible are often the most helpful. He assured them that this was not a test of knowledge, but him looking for help with the language. They stayed and listened to the chapters and gave their feedback about the translation.
At the end, he asked again why it was that they looked so serious when he was reading. This time, they answered him. Both the Christians and the non-Christians told him, “Those words of Jesus were convicting us! They burned our hearts as we listened; we know that just like the people in the parables, we need to repent from our sins. How could we smile when we are thinking about our sins and how we are not right with God?”
 Some children in (or near to) the Zanaki-speaking area when we surveyed the Zanaki language back in 2005
Tags: Bible translation, Gospel, Luke, Mara, Musoma, Scripture, Tanzania, Zanaki
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August 17th, 2010
Thanks for your prayers over the last couple of weeks for the partnership meetings and language survey in the west of Tanzania, exploring the possibility of a new Bible translation programme among language groups there. We were excited to hear that the main partnership meeting yesterday went really well. Louise writes:
After introductions Rev. Mwita led the group in a devotion from 1 Kings 5:1-18. In small groups, they discussed questions together and then fed back to the group about how Solomon and Hiram worked together well on the same project for different purposes. I gave an introduction including to Bible translation and the Church, and what language development and Bible translation projects look like. What is the church’s role. Susi then did a great job presenting the outcome of the sociolinguistic research they/we did.
Now it was the first time the rubber would really hit the road. Mwita asked, “Do you want to cooperate together to be involved in this ministry? The answer – “Yes!” “How can we not?” “This will be a tremendous help to us in our ministries.” “People will understand God and His Word so much better if they have the Bible in their mother tongue.”….
Then the church leaders discussed which languages, and they did so with real understanding and wisdom, taking into account all that they had heard from Susi’s presentation and what they already knew. The discussion was animated and positive. In the end, they decided on the following:
For language development and Bible translation:
1) Bende (to also serve Tongwe)
2) Pimbwe ( to also serve Rungwa)
For distribution, Scripture Use work, and possibly literacy and non-print media:
1) Sukuma
2) Rundi
For more investigation:
1) Lwila
 Susi and I discussing language possibilities with the church leaders
They then chose an interim committee to send out the minutes from this meeting and to set up the next meeting, which will be November 3rd. Its members are from the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Africa Inland, and Tanzania Assemblies of God churches. read more
Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for the communities and church leaders in western Tanzania. We’re very excited to see what God is doing there, and to think about how we may be working alongside some of the people in the photos in the next couple of years!
Tags: Bende, Bible translation, Katavi, Language development, Lwila, Mpanda, Pimbwe, Rukwa, Rundi, Rungwa, Sukuma, Tanzania, Tongwe
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August 5th, 2010
Amidst all our packing and preparations to move at the moment, it’s exciting to see what is happening in the west of Tanzania. Currently some of our colleagues are in the town of Mpanda in Rukwa Region, meeting with church leaders to discuss whether there is a need and a desire to start language development and Bible translation projects among the various language communities in the area.
The thing that makes this particularly exciting for us, is that this is the area where we may potentially be working when we head to Tanzania in a couple of years!
Louise (who used to be Mark’s boss when he was in Tanzania and is currently one of the team meeting with church leaders) has written today:
We have ‘discovered’ a new language or possibly 3. Of course they’ve been there for a very long time, but just not on any lists produced by academia. We could possibly have up to three new ones to add to the Ethnologue (www.ethnologue.com), but my guess is that they will be considered dialects of neighboring languages. It’s also possible that we might remove one language from the list.
In Tanzania, face to face meetings with individuals are very important to have before gathering in a meeting where decision are to be made. So, for 9 hours today Pastor Joey and I continued to visit the leaders of the Tanzania Assemblies of God, the Evangelistic Assemblies of God of Tanzania, the Lutherans, the Anglicans, and the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania. Every one of the church leaders continues to be very positive about starting a language development and Bible translation project. Some could do a commercial for Bible translation. We’ve talked about it requiring sacrifice from the churches, yet they insist they are ready for that. One good sign is that without asking for it the Lutherans are going to give us use of the meeting room free of charge. read more
Yesterday Louise had the chance to meet with one pastor in particular who has a real heart for Bible translation for his people:
“It’s about time!”
He didn’t say that, but I couldn’t help but think it. We did sociolinguistic surveys of the Bende and Tongwe peoples in 1999! Since then pastor Kasanda has written a couple of times, asking for our assistance in translating the Bible for his people. Today – 11 years later, we drove the 3 1/2 hrs down to his village to meet him and to tell him that things are underway – finally! His family obviously has little, but yet they generously prepared us a fancy lunch. It was a special visit for me as although I didn’t go on those surveys many years ago, I have had these people on my heart since then.
Pastor Kasanda
In the morning Joey and I visited the Roman Catholic offices and had an excellent conversation with the parish priest.
Everyone seems to be so ready to partner in this work! I can’t help but wonder if they will all really come to the meeting on the 16th to commit to going ahead together with the language development and Bible translation project. read more
Please join with us in praying for this part of Tanzania, and particularly for the potential opportunities to serve the language communities in helping them to translate the Bible. If you’d like to keep an eye on what happens over the next few weeks you can join us in following Louise’s blog!
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July 24th, 2010
Change is in the air… After 3 and a half years in England where we have been living and working with Wycliffe Bible Translators UK, it’s almost time for us to move on. We’ll still be very much working with Wycliffe, but moving to a new continent and starting new jobs!
Originally our plan after getting married in 2007 was to stay in the UK for a year before heading back to Tanzania, where I was before we were married. Mostly for visa and residency reasons for Laura, that year turned to two… three… and a bit… but now Laura has her British passport and we are free to leave the UK knowing that she doesn’t ever need a visa to return!
Instead of heading straight to Tanzania, we decided for several reasons that we should spend some time in the US with Laura’s family first. One of our aims whilst there will be to share with individuals and churches the things that God has put on our hearts, in the hope that they will join with us and support us in prayer and financially over the coming years.
At the same time we will both be studying, for the first time in a while! Laura will be taking a course in Psychology and Family Studies from Corban University in Oregon, which she hopes will give her a good background as she desires to help and support people in Tanzania who are working cross-culturally.
I’ll be working towards an MA in Bible and Mission from Redcliffe College in the UK, as well as working part-time for the Uganda-Tanzania branch of one of Wycliffe’s partner organisations, SIL International.
We’ll be starting our new jobs in August, at first based here in the UK, and hopefully moving to Oregon sometime in the autumn. At the moment we are waiting for Mark’s US visa which is still being processed, but we’re praying that that will be completed in the next few months so that we can fly to the States.
We’d really appreciate your prayers as we transition into this new stage – for all the practicalities like the visa, moving house, finances, and also that we would enjoy and do well in our new jobs and studying.
Our hope is still very much to move to Tanzania in the future, possibly sometime in 2012, to be involved in a new translation project with several language communities in the west of the country. If you’d like to find out more about what God is doing through Bible translation in Uganda and Tanzania at the moment, take a look at thetask.net
We’d also love for you to consider how you can also play a small but crucial part in translating Scripture into some of the 2,300 languages that don’t have any of the Bible. If you would like to support us in any way, do take a look at how you can do that.
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July 22nd, 2010
This is a draft session for the Window on Wycliffe course in July 2010. Many of the thoughts are inspired by Chris Wright’s The Mission of God, some are taken from various presentations from Wycliffe UK Director Eddie Arthur, and some are my random musings. Please let me know any comments that you have… (I’m thinking this might be a bit ambitious for a 35 minute session, but I’ve enjoyed thinking through these things)
Q. What is mission? What do we understand by Christian mission?
I’m guessing we’re all here today because we think mission is important in some way.
Q. Why do you think that Christian mission is important? What are your reasons for giving up a week of your life, and possibly a lot longer, to mission?
Q. If we look at the Bible, can we see that mission to all nations is indeed biblical?
Many of us, although maybe not all, have probably been taught since we were young that mission is important. This has been justified using verses from the Bible, and now we have a pretty good idea of the biblical basis for reaching out to people of all nations.
Mission in the Bible
I want to suggest to you that the Bible is the story of God’s mission to humanity. Chris Wright¹ says that we often look for a biblical basis for mission, when in fact we should be discovering the missional basis of the Bible. He would argue that the grand narrative of the whole of Scripture is God reaching out to his world.
Throughout the Bible we see God’s missional plan progressing – a plan to bring humanity back into relationship with himself.
Creation: God breathing life into man
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Genesis 2:7
The Fall: God reaches out to Adam
When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:8-9
The Call of Abraham: Seeds of Redemption
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1-3
The Exodus: God promises to liberate Israel, to bring them into a covenant, and to bring them to the promised land
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.”
Exodus 6:6-7
The Exile: Even in judgement, God’s purpose is to reveal himself to Israel and the nations
I will summon the sword against you on all the hills of Israel, says the Sovereign Lord. Your men will turn their swords against each other. I will punish you and your armies with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulphur! In this way, I will show my greatness and holiness, and I will make myself known to all the nations of the world. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 38:21-23
The Return from Exile: God makes himself known through bringing Israel back home
I am the Lord; there is no other God.
I have equipped you [King Cyrus] for battle,
though you don’t even know me,
so all the world from east to west
will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:5-6
“Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations. I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 36:22-23
Hope for a new Covenant
I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations.
Isaiah 66:18-19
Jesus fulfils the mission of Yahweh in the Old Testament, as creator, ruler, judge, redeemer, saviour and reconciler.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20
Pentecost: God proclaims the Good news about Jesus in many different languages
“…and we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
Acts 2:11-12
The Church takes God’s good news to the nations
God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Colossians 1:25-27
We see that right the way through the Bible God has been revealing himself – to Israel, and through Israel and later through the church, to all the nations of the world. God’s mission is making himself known to creation through creating, ruling, judging, revealing, loving, saving, leading and redeeming. All in the context of an enduring relationship with his people.
What is the most fundamental thing we can say about God?
He is trinity. Three in One. A perfect relationship.
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John 17:20-21
God is inviting us to join in the perfect relationship of the trinity. That we would be one as the Father and the Son are one, and that we would be in the Father and the Son. First and foremost God is relational, and he is inviting humanity to be part of the relationship.
At the end of the day, God’s mission is all for the purpose of involving us in his perfect relationship.
The Bible in Mission
The Bible itself is a missional book in two senses. On one hand we can see mission happening right the way through the Bible. But on the other hand it’s true to say that the Bible is also vital in mission. It contains the revelation of God so that we can know him and receive his salvation. We might say that the Bible and mission are two sides of the same coin.
You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
2 Timothy 3:15-16
The Bible: God’s message for all nations
Ever since the day of Pentecost when each person heard God’s good news in their own language, translation has been at the heart of the gospel. Lamin Sanneh says that
“[Christianity] seems unique in being the only world religion that is transmitted without the language or originating culture of its founder” ²
Since the birth of the church it has been clear that God’s mission is not restricted to one language or culture, but that his message of salvation is for people of all nations. The diverse cultures of the world will see the Bible from very different perspectives, and live out its message in different ways, but the central message of the gospel is unchanging and relevant to people of every language and culture. As the church, our role is to share this good news with the world.
Communication: It’s about connecting
I’ll now give each small group a passage of Scripture where we see God speaking to people in some way. I want each group to answer the following questions:
- What do we see of God’s character, and his mission in this passage?
- Why do you think God speaks in this particular way in this situation?
- What are the implications for our involvement in God’s mission?
Exodus 3: God speaks through a burning bush
1 Kings 19: God speaks through a whisper
Matthew 13: God speaks through parables
Acts 2: God speaks through the disciples
Acts 10: God speaks through Peter
Right the way through the Bible we see that God is communicating in ways that are very specific to the situation and people he is speaking to. The aim is never just to pass information, but rather to reach out to people.
One thing I’ve learnt from spending time in Tanzania is that communication isn’t just about the passing of information from one mind to another, but is primarily about drawing closer to the other person. In many parts of Africa when you go to the market it’s important to discuss the price of whatever you’re buying. This isn’t because the seller doesn’t know what a good price is, or because he wants to rip you off, but because actually the time spent discussing is an important part of building a relationship. If you settle quickly on the first price the seller suggests, the seller may be happy to have made some easy money, but they’ll also be disappointed that you haven’t spent the time getting to know them and building a relationship.
The message of the Bible is that the Bible isn’t just a message, but through the work of the Holy Spirit it is God’s way of reaching out and restoring his relationship with a broken world.
Conclusion
- We see in the Bible that God is missional, reaching out to all nations
- God is first and foremost relational, and his mission is to restore the broken relationship with humanity (ultimately through Immanuel – God with us)
- The Bible itself is key in mission, helping us to know God and the salvation he has bought for us
- As the church shares this message with the world, we need to be doing so in ways that are consistent with how we see God reaching out in Scripture
¹ Chris Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative
² Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West
Tags: Bible, Bible translation, Communication, Connecting, Relationships, Theology, Window on Wycliffe
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July 20th, 2010
The following is a report from James and Jess Lucas in Mongu, Zambia, about the start of the Luke Partnership in Western Province that I had the privilege of visiting last month. The partnership of various churches has the desire to start Bible translation projects amongst the various language groups of the vast province.
Kwangwa speakers during an interview at Katoya
Kwamashi speaking children in church building (Fuo, Shangombo)
Dear Friends,
I once heard a touching and true story about a young man living in Mongu. When he was just a child, the Jesus Film (Silozi version) was shown in his village. He grew up amazed and proud that Jesus was from his tribe and spoke his language. (He discovered only later that Jesus spoke many languages.) Today, he is an accomplished leader.
The common factor in the pictures above is that they are all young people from two of Western Zambia’s several tribes, the Kwangwas and Kwamashis. Sadly, in contrast to the story above, neither of these two tribes have any access to the life-changing hope and power of God’s Word, the Bible in their language. According to a 2004 survey, there are several language groups in the Western Province of Zambia (representing tens or even hundreds of thousands of people) which may still need a Bible Translation. In response to this problem, we have begun an initiative, called “Luke Partnership, Western Zambia”.
Objectives and Aims:
1. To identify languages (among all tribes) needing translation assistance through survey and research
2. Linking tribes, local churches and organizations to work together in local Bible translation projects.
3. To transform lives in Western Province of Zambia in each language and in each generation through God’s Word.
What Progress have we Made?
Survey Workshop Attendees in class. (Back left: Donald Mulimba, Project Coordinator)
Mark Woodward, Survey Trainer (Wycliffe UK) in Mongu
1. A Project Coordinator began (April) We feel privileged to be joined in this work by such quality people like Donald Mulimba. Donald is an elder at Word Alive Worship Centre in Mongu. He has also worked with the Police as a detective for many years. His investigative skills will certainly help him in his work of researching tribes! His years of experience (professional, ministerial and educational) will also help him to be a great project coordinator.
2. Survey Training Workshop and Outreach in Villages (May) Another highlight was having Mark Woodward (working with Wycliffe Bible Translators) visit us for 2 weeks all the way from England in the UK. Having worked in Tanzania for 3 years, Mark is experienced in surveying rural tribes and their various Languages. Workshop attendees came from different churches and denominations in Mongu. We had such fun learning all the how to’s and applying them among the Kwangwa tribe from Lyomboko, Nalikwanda to Kabilimukanwa, Lui. There are still many months ahead of surveying several tribes in Western Province (and getting stuck in the sand!)
3. Permission from the Barotse Royal Establishment, Limilunga (June) Members of the Kwangwa tribe advised us to consult at the palace (especially since Kwangwa is considered a royal language). On June 4th Donald and James (missionary) visited the Ngambela (Prime Minister of Barotseland) and Kuta. They were pleased to give their blessing and permission to this project to survey and assist languages groups in Western Province. They have requested regular updates on the work.
Our Rough Plan:
1. Extensive research will be carried out among several tribes to discover
a) if a translation is really needed or is the Lozi translation adequate?
b) Will this language die or reduce in the next 10 years or is this language growing?
2. Members of various churches in the language area, select members to represent them on a planning committee. This committee doesn’t actually do the translation. They oversee the organization and select translators on behalf of their tribe.
3. These translators travel from their tribes and attend training in Mongu 3 times per year over 3-4 years. (We are grateful to the owners at Mutoya Campsite who have donated use of their campsite, classroom and kitchen facilities for these workshops)
4. At the end of these workshops, we aim to complete:
a) a Bible story series with Scripture portions
b) the GOSPEL OF LUKE (this is where we get the name ‘Luke Partnership’, the name of the project),
c) a JESUS FILM script and
d) a dubbed recording of the Jesus Film in their language
5. If this produces fruit in communities, the committee can choose to start a full scale New Testament project.
Partners in the work – We need you!
The task of completing a translation of the Bible into any language is something that no person can do alone! It is a task that belongs to the whole church in the language area and there must be a team of people sharing in the work. The work is therefore interdenominational.
Please join us! We invite you and your church … … to formally become partners with us in this work… to visit us or request a visit where we can tell you more. (We are currently on the waiting list for office space at the NPF buildings)…. to select one or more of your members to represent your church on our organizing committee.
We look forward to hearing from you!
James Lucas. (+260) 979 496 059, Missionary, “Luke Partnership, Western Zambia”
Tags: Bible translation, Kwamashi, Kwangwa, Lozi, Luke Partnership, Mongu, Western Province, Zambia
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June 8th, 2010
This post is a continuation from my diary of the first week of the trip – Zambia: Language Survey Workshop
Monday
We travelled a couple of hours along the sandy road to Nalikwanda, which we thought was near the centre of the Kwangwa area, but when we got there we found that actually most people speak Lozi as much if not more than Kwangwa. We had the chance to sit and chat with some people and to conduct a couple of group interviews with them, before travelling back to Mongu to reflect on our first day of survey.
Clifford digs out the car after we get stuck in the sand on the way to Nalikwanda
Donald is ready to question passers-by about their languages!
Tuesday
Today we headed back to Nalikwanda, and then a bit further towards the village of Lukweta. In Lukweta the people seem to speak more Kwangwa, but Lozi is still strong. The people we met suggested that we continue a bit further on the road however, so we went as far as the villages of Namang’anga and Silili, where we finally found people who are really speaking Kwangwa as their first language rather than Lozi. It seems that this is the (or a) heartland of the Kwangwa language, although there are probably speakers in other areas of Western Province too, possibly in Senanga and other Districts.
On the sandy road again…
Donald and Progress, deep in thought
A reminder of God’s faithfulness
Listening to a story from another village
After speaking with people in these two villages we recorded a couple of stories and headed back home. Eventually, after getting stuck for over an hour we got back to eat and debrief at 11:15pm, finally getting to bed around 1am.
Clifford digs us out again
Wednesday
After a hard day yesterday we stayed in Mongu today to think and plan ahead, and also to try to get permission from the King for the work we’re doing and hoping to do. We weren’t able to get an appointment with his Prime Minister today, so it seems we’ll have to do that tomorrow.
Thursday
We headed out again, this time going east on the Lusaka road, before heading 40km south to a couple of villages. We talked with people in these places, asking them many questions about the languages they speak, as well as collecting a 280-word list and playing a couple of stories we’d previously recorded in other villages. It seems like this area and where we were on Tuesday are probably the heartland of the Kwangwa people and their language, although there are also Kwangwa villages in other districts of Western Province, some of which are many hours drive away.
People in the village of Mululumi
James and Progress collecting a word-list
As we got back to phone coverage we found that we’d been given an appointment with the Prime Minister, which we had missed… not a good start, but hopefully we’ll be able to meet with him tomorrow.
Driving back through the bush
Friday
Some of the guys went to meet with the Prime Minister, while I looked around the small Lozi museum – a fascinating place that documents the Lozi people and their kings for the past 250 years or more. The meeting went very well, and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are very happy for us to continue with language research and potentially translating the Bible into several languages in Western Province. One commented that “We cannot object, because if we do we may find that we are fighting against God”.
In the afternoon we had a debrief session for the survey, reflecting on what went well and what we would do differently in future, and what the next steps should be in surveying the languages of the Province. After that we briefly visited the UCZ (United Church in Zambia) Bishop in Mongu, who has kindly allowed the project to use an office on his premises. He seems like a very wise and humble man, and was very encouraging about the potential translation projects here.
The language survey team at the end of the week
Saturday
The survey is now finished, so we had a day of finishing practical things before I leave for Livingstone early tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to being back at home with Laura, but have also thoroughly enjoyed this trip and being back in rural Africa. It has been a privilege to work with such a great group of guys, and I’m confident that they can finish the Kwangwa survey on their own and go on to survey other languages of Western Province.
Sunday
I left Mongu at 7am with a couple of ladies who were driving to Livingstone. In the light the journey only took 11 hours, and certainly seemed a lot quicker than on the way! We spent the night at a campsite next to the huge and incredible Zambezi River… together with 24 car-loads of Dutch football fans who are driving from the Netherlands to South Africa for the World Cup!
Monday / Tuesday
After 24 hours I arrived back at London Heathrow via World Cup mad Johannesburg and Munich, excited to see Laura again! It’s been a long two weeks apart, but we’re both grateful for what God has done in the time, and also the things that he has taught us.
Please continue to pray for the Kwangwa people and speakers of other languages in Zambia’s Western Province who don’t yet have the Bible. And please also remember to pray for the workers in Mongu as they seek to come alongside these communities, helping them to translate the Bible and to give God’s life-giving story to those who don’t yet have it in their own language.
Another beautiful sunset in Mongu
Tags: Kwangwa, Language Survey, Western Province, Zambia
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June 2nd, 2010
Monday
Arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, via Frankfurt and Johannesburg, after running around Johannesburg airport for a while trying to find my bag and then finding that it was already on the plane. Met James and Jess who I’ll be staying with are who are coordinating the start of a translation project for some of the language groups in Western Province. They took me to visit Victoria Falls which was incredible, although it was pretty hard to see very much because of all the spray. Got very wet, but managed to get a few photos. I think I saw more water in 20 minutes than I’d seen in 3 years in Tanzania…
The incredible Victoria Falls
Me with the falls somewhere behind the mist…
Looking downstream – the bridge from Zambia to Zimbabwe
After a bite to eat we set off on the 14-hour dirt-road trip, eventually arriving at 5am after finally reaching the end of the never-ending road.
Tuesday
Slept in until 11:30am, and then felt very lazy as everyone else was already half-way through their day. In the afternoon I was able to meet the workshop participants – 5 Zambian guys in addition to James and Jess – and do an introductory session about why it’s important to survey language communities before you start any Bible translation project, and what can go wrong if you don’t! They seem like a great group of people, and I’m really looking forward to spending the next two weeks working with them.
Chinga, Clifford and James deep in thought
Wednesday
A full day of thinking through how we should approach any language research. By the end of the day we had discussed some of the potential issues that we should research, and come up with some questions on which to focus the research that we’ll be doing next week amongst the Kwangwa people. In the evening James and I went to the funeral of a nearby community leader who had passed away, to share in the grief of his elderly widow and the rest of the community.
Thursday
Today we focused mainly on dialect issues – how do we know if people speaking two dialects can use the same Bible translation? And which dialect should materials be produced in so that as wide an audience as possible can understand and accept them? Then in the afternoon we looked at the issue of language vitality – whether a language will continue to be spoken, before thinking through some cultural and practical things for our trip to the Kwangwa next week.
I keep waking up every morning and thinking “what a beautiful day!”, and then remembering that that’s just what happens in dry season in Africa! I also keep remarking what a beautiful sunset it is every evening – probably because in England it’s such a rare occurrence if the sun ever happens to be shining as it sets.
James and Jess thinking through some of the issues
Friday
We met together for final preparations for the trip to the Kwangwa people next week, deciding on exactly what questions we’ll ask people and other methods we’ll use to investigate how they would best engage with the Scriptures in their own language. I’m looking forward to the trip – despite the fact that we’ve only had 3 and a half days together discussing the principles of language research, I think the guys have a good grasp on things. Hopefully they’ll really be able to see things coming together as they put the theory into practice next week.
Clifford and Progress designing village interview schedules
Saturday
A restful day, doing not too much and answering a few emails. Feels like quite a few weeks since I’ve had a proper rest day that hasn’t involved visa applications or other things!
The beautiful view over the Zambezi flood plain
Sunday
Went to the English-speaking church in town, which was different to any other church I’ve been to in Africa! The church is trying to reach out to the more educated members of the community, in the hope that they will become leaders in the church and have a vision to reach out to others in Western Province. In the afternoon we finish preparing for the village trip tomorrow, printing out interview schedules and blank word-lists ready for the 7am departure…!
Tags: Language Survey, Mongu, Training, Zambia
Posted in Prayer, Wycliffe | 1 Comment »
May 20th, 2010
On Sunday 23rd May I’ll be heading to Zambia for a couple of weeks, to work alongside an organisation called Worldwide Mission, as they seek to reach out to communities in Western Zambia that don’t yet have access to the Bible in their languages.
As ever, the first stage in any translation project is for the various partners to assess in what language and form communities are most likely to engage with the Bible, and to think through how and where projects should be started. I’ll be spending a week with the team of Zambian and South African missionaries in the town of Mongu, helping them to think through how to help the communities decide on the best way forward for any language project.
We’ll be discussing things like:
- Planning the research trip, to make sure that we’re asking the right questions
- What languages people use in their daily lives, and which of these they would be most likely to engage with Scripture in
- Which communities would benefit from Bible translation projects into their previously unwritten languages
- Which communities could use the same written materials, and which require separate translations
- Within a language area, which dialect is best to use for the Bible and other materials
- Who potential partners are in a language project
- What the language situation is likely to be like in the coming generations
During the second week I’ll be accompanying the team on a trip to some of these communities as we begin to research some of these questions. The aim is that by the end of the time they will feel confident to continue the research in the rest of western Zambia – a large area about the size of England – working alongside many ethnic groups.
Please pray for the time – that it would be profitable for all involved. I haven’t had much time to prepare the workshop as I’m still working in recruitment for Wycliffe UK at the moment, but my hope is that together we can work through the basic principles of the research and that the team will understand the situation sufficiently to be able to continue on their own over the next few months.
I’d appreciate prayer for safe travel too – both internationally and within Zambia – and for safe non-volcano-interrupted flights each way! Laura will be on here own at home for the first time while I’m away, but has several friends around to make sure she survives!
If you’d like to follow my trip, I’m hoping to be able to continue sending updates on twitter whilst in Zambia, which you can find here.
An estimate of the languages spoken in Zambia from ethnologue.com
Tags: Bible translation, Language, Linguistics, Mongu, Sociolinguistics, Zambia
Posted in Prayer, Wycliffe | 2 Comments »
May 15th, 2010
Having been busy with many Wycliffe events over the last few weeks I haven’t been able to blog a great deal, but I came across an article the other day written by Krish Kandiah about the positive effect of cultural diversity on the church. From the Lausanne Global Conversation website, it’s the kind of piece that sums up exactly what I think, but have never been able to quite put into words.
Krish talks about how following Jesus is something that we should do in and through our diverse cultures, rather than thinking we have to leave our uniqueness behind to become like everyone else.
As we navigate our pluralist societies we need to avoid two dangers tourists often fall into. We do not want to be the tactless tourist who presumes that shouting louder will make our foreign tongue more decipherable. Nor should we be the reluctant tourist who seeks out McDonalds in Madrid, Dunkin Donuts in Delhi, or Burger King in Bangkok. But unfortunately these are the approaches the church has often adopted when engaging pluralism.
Tactless Tourism
The tactless approach to pluralism can lead the church to retreat into an arrogant absolutism. Out of fear and misunderstanding we end up believing we have nothing to learn from people from other cultures and religions and so we resort to shouting the truth of the gospel at them and often not hanging around to listen to the response. I would like to balance Chan’s dire warnings of the dangers of postmodernity with the positive things postmoderns can bring to the discussion. Postmoderns help us recognize that we are all culturally biased, and therefore in every missionary encounter we have something to learn. The apostle Peter spent three years on the road with Jesus and preached the Pentecost sermon where thousands were converted, yet he still had more to learn about the implications of the gospel. It was only as he crossed cultural boundaries to evangelize that he realized “God does not show favouritism but accepts those from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35, TNIV). I believe the gospel is God’s unique truth, but I also believe that we Christians cannot claim to have comprehended it exhaustively. We must learn the boldness to speak but also the humility to listen and learn.
Reluctant Tourism
The second danger is that we are reluctant to engage other cultures and so retreat into our own ghettos. I have eaten in McDonald’s on Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay, on Moscow’s Pushkin Square and on Hollywood Boulevard, and I know that as I walk through the door, it doesn’t matter which continent I am on. I get the same sense of cultural dislocation when I walk into many churches around the world, as I find recognizable books, songs, and fashions. I agree with Chan that the gospel is “universal truth”, but when this is emphasized at the expense of valuing culture, we can end up with a bland “Mcdonaldized” evangel. A fast-food message cannot compare to the nourishment offered by a local flavoursome organic church. read more
In cross-cultural mission it’s so easy to think in terms of what is easiest, most efficient and quickest, particularly if you are coming from a position of power. But this article reinforces for me the importance of not just shouting the gospel from a distance, but really engaging with each person in their own language and culture, so that like Peter we can learn at the same time as we proclaim Christ, and he can be lifted up in the glorious diversity of peoples serving him.
Another great reason not to teach everyone English!
(Image from Tim at Bible and Mission)
Tags: Culture, Diversity, Gospel, Lausanne, Unity
Posted in Church, Culture, Theology, Under the Baobab Tree | No Comments »
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