The Seed Company™ - Accelerated Bible Translation

700,000 people who have lived as shepherds for hundreds of years. Traditionally, they make their homes in the valleys. Nearly all of the Guan people practice the traditional religion of their country. The Guan people value their language and want to see literature in their mother tongue. This interest opened the door for a translation team to move into the area in January 1998. A husband-and-wife team began learning the Guan language, but at that time, they didn’t know of even one Guan Christian. Since then, they’ve discovered a handful of Guan believers. These Christians are helping them with the translation project, and they’ve begun drafting parts of the New Testament.

• Before Mark’s Gospel was sent to the consultant for final approval, they’d done last-minute testing of the translation in the local community to gauge if the meaning was clear and the wording sounded natural. During this testing, one native speaker who had a good command of the state language noted that the translation of God’s Word in Guan was better than the one in the state language. She said the Guan was simple, plain and communicated the message well with a good flow between the verses. Pray that the Guan team will continue working well together to provide a good quality translation for the local people.
• Pray for the spiritual growth of Guan people as they receive God’s Word in their heart language. Pray that some will become mother-tongue translators.
• Two newly identified Guan believers are translating Christian tracts to be used in evangelism. The team plans to begin training evangelists to use this material and work among the Guan people. Pray that the powerful gospel message will find its way into many Guan hearts.