What are Strategic Opportunities?
Stories with the red "Strategic Opportunity" banner are from projects where there is a unique opportunity to make lasting impact with your financial investment and prayer support.
Aramaic M-South
These 15,000 speakers sequestered in a high mountain pass still speak the language of Jesus, but long to read His words for themselves. They have lived in relative isolation for hundreds of years in a remote mountain pass surrounded by harsh desert. Although there are several dialects of the ancient Aramaic language that are still spoken in the world today, theirs is the one that most closely resembles that spoken by Jesus and His disciples. Though Christians since early centuries of the church and even had one of the earliest translations of the Bible, the Peshitta, today they can no longer understand the archaic language of the text, and nearly 50 percent have fallen away from their faith. The primary goal will be to produce the New Testament, printed Bible booklets, and audio recordings of Scripture materials.
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Since the Aramaic translation is first handwritten, it needs to be typed into the computer afterwards. To date, all drafted New Testament books have been keyboarded except Hebrews, which is currently being typed. Pray for them as they tackle this new technology.
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The consultant and lead translator remain active as they check each translated book for accuracy and understandability. Pray that the Lord will give the translators wisdom to make revisions based on the consultant’s suggestions.
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Pray that the Portrait of Jesus in both audio and printed format will be completed this summer on schedule and be made available to Aramaic M-South speakers. Pray that many of these people will be impacted by the uniqueness of Jesus.