Four people groups in the DRC

In the aftermath of a ten-year civil war, the DRC is emerging from isolation. And God is moving! Teams from four related languages—Budu, Lika, Tembo and Filiiru (total pop. 660,000)—are working together to translate the Bible into their respective languages. They’ve finished Genesis and Luke, and in this project which lasts just two years, they’re translating Matthew.

Local pastors are receiving translated drafts so they can make edits to improve them. But when they’re asked to return the drafts, they’re reluctant to—they’d much rather keep them for use in their services!

  • Pray for the Tembo team: militia groups threaten their home area, and so they sacrifice much to live and work in a faraway city.

  • Praise God that displaced people get to hear Scriptures in the Tembo language on the radio—a ministry of our Tembo translation team!

  • Pray for God’s redeeming work in this war-torn land.

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Enula of Southeast Asia

As a result of this project, 17,000+ Enula people will finally have access to God’s Word in the language that speaks directly to their hearts. And what we expect is transformed lives. Fortunately, that’s already happening as local translators share Scripture portions with their people:

Translator M attends sewing classes with Enula women who are preparing to enter the trade. On the first day, he read aloud from the drafted book of Philippians as a devotional. Another translator joins him and reads Scriptures aloud too. Their motivation: connecting the Scriptures to the people’s everyday life. Praise God for these faithful servants!

  • Pray for the team and other Enula believers as they seek creative ways to share the gospel and touch the people’s felt needs.

  • Praise God the team is about to publish the Gospel of Luke in Enula!

  • Pray that Bible study groups will flourish by using newly printed Scripture portions.

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Peoples of East Papua New Guinea

The people of Papua New Guinea have a rich love of storytelling. Wherever they are—in the garden, at the market, or beside a campfire—they take turns telling stories to each other. It seems natural, then, that they would relish sharing Bible stories with each other!

New Guineans from 8 languages attend Bible storytelling workshops from 2010 to 2012, with the goal of crafting 25 to 50 Bible stories to tell in their communities.

Storytellers are already impacting their churches. In the Tawala church, the current practice is to read aloud each Scripture verse number with each verse. But then the congregation loses the story’s flow. Meya sparked enthusiasm when, instead of reading from Scripture, he told a Bible story from memory, leaving out the verse numbers and providing equivalent measurements for Goliath’s height, for example. After the service ended, people couldn’t stop talking about how the story spoke so clearly to them!

  • Praise God for a productive workshop on storytelling and the students’ avid interest!

  • Pray for power from on High as the Bible storytellers share stories in their communities.

  • Pray that these Bible stories will touch many people’s lives and open them up to a deep relationship
    with God.

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Dhao of Southeast Asia

Since 1998 a Dhao team has been hard at work, preparing the first ever Dhao New Testament and Genesis. They can’t wait to deliver the Scriptures to their people, who have long called themselves Christians yet have lacked depth of faith. Praise God—they’re on target to do just that by 2012!

What are people already saying? After reading some drafted Scripture portions, one man says, “These Scriptures in Dhao are so much easier to understand than the Bible [in the national language].” Another says, “This Dhao translation helps me be able to explain things to people who don’t understand what the Bible [in the national language] is saying.”

  • Praise God for truths in His Word, which are being clearly communicated in the people’s own language! God speaks Dhao!

  • Pray for wisdom as the team reviews their draft of 2 Corinthians.

  • Pray for physical healing for several members of the team, who’ve been suffering from ailments.

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Dogon of West Africa

In 1997 the Dogon church dedicated the New Testament in their language and the first printing sold out. Today 20 percent (from a population of 600,000) have become Christians and the Church is growing fast. Praise God! Now think of what joy they’ll express when they can cherish the entire Bible—in their heart language—with all the richness conveyed in the Old Testament.

  • Pray that the Lord will remove all obstacles so the publication of the Old Testament can move ahead quickly. The plan is to celebrate the completed Old Testament this year!

  • Pray for two Dogon translators who are carefully checking for errors before the final version is sent to the printers.

  • Pray for God’s Spirit to ready the people’s hearts to receive His Word—like the farmer who planted seed on good soil.

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Ehugbo of Nigeria

“How great is God if He can’t speak our language?” This was the comment of several elderly Ehugbo women before this project started last year in 2009. But quickly things are changing: the team has translated drafts of the Gospel books and getting the word out.

Recently the news media in the capital city helped spread God’s Word in Ehugbo! When government officials heard Ehugbo Scripture being read, the news media covered it and broadcast it on national television and radio stations. Isn’t it amazing how God engineers circumstances for His glory?

This is a project to translate the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament in Ehugbo by 2013.

  • Praise God the team has such peace and unity, causing the translation to flow rapidly!

  • Pray that the Ehugbo Scriptures—as heard on television and radio—will find fertile soil in the people’s hearts, resulting in a harvest of Christ-followers.

  • Pray for wisdom as the team chooses the right Ehugbo words to convey the meaning in the Scriptures.

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Denya language of Cameroon

God’s Word is coming to the 20,000 Anyang people for the first time! The New Testament is being printed and will be dedicated this year. In the meantime, translators and Faith Comes By Hearing have finished recording the translation so that the majority of people—who cannot read—can hear the gospel!

Pastor Gabriel Besong received a vision for translating the Bible into Denya—the language of the Anyang people—back in 1986. Today he says: “I’ve been a pastor all my adult life, but translation has been so challenging. Acts 20:24* spoke to me clearly for the first time when I translated it into my language,” he recalls. “It has transformed my whole life.”

Further translation work may be in store for Pastor Besong. “We’re looking for the Old Testament in Denya now,” he says with enthusiasm.

*Acts 20:24 (NIV)—”However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

  • Praise God for the recorded Denya New Testament! Pray that it will impact many lives as people listen to His Word in their language.

  • Pray for the swift and safe delivery of the Denya New Testament from the printers in Korea.

  • Pray that God will move upon the people’s hearts, preparing them to receive His Word with great joy.

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Dadiya of Nigeria

Evangelism among the Dadiya (pop. 30,000) is making strong headway through showing the “JESUS” film in all the villages. Meanwhile four Dadiya translators are working on the entire New Testament, which they plan to complete by 2013 after starting in 2009.

During a showing of the “JESUS” film, people in the audience were heard saying, “Jesus has become a Dadiya man!”

  • Pray that both the “JESUS” film and the Luke audio recording will whet people’s appetite for the full New Testament in Dadiya.

  • Praise God for local churches providing office space and monetary support to help speed the project along.

  • Pray for God to provide the office equipment the team needs.

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Butbut Kalinga of the Philippines

Filipino translators Alfred and Racquel are now drafting the book of Romans into the Butbut language, spoken by a population of about 8,000 people. How exciting to think what it must be like for the Butbut Kalinga believers to soon read the powerful message of Romans—they are a grafted-in people, accepted by God. From a culture of death rituals, they’ll rejoice in God’s form of spiritual worship—offering their bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1).

Few are Christians today, but that is changing with the arrival of newly planted churches. Those pastors want to have the best tool for their congregations: the Word in the language the people truly understand. The goal of this project is the New Testament by 2011.

  • Ask for God’s provision: one Butbut church is growing tremendously and now faces the challenge of expanding the building, not just for Sunday services, but possibly for a training center in the future.

  • Pray for God-given insight as the team drafts Matthew and Romans.

  • Pray that the Holy Spirit will move among the Butbut Kalinga people in a mighty way, preparing them to receive the transforming message of God’s Word.

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Bekwarra of Nigeria

150,000 people who speak Bekwarra are in for a real treat. Their own translators are ambitiously seeking to accomplish four goals by 2015: (1) translate the Old Testament, (2) revise the entire New Testament, published in 1983, (3) produce the script for “JESUS” film based on Luke, and (4) record the New Testament for audio distribution. Wow!

Many people right now say they are Christians, but they don’t really understand key teachings in Scripture. This multi-pronged strategy is sure to benefit them, impacting their lives—and generations to come—for the glory of our Lord!

  • Ask God to supply the furniture and equipment for the new translation office, sure to make the translation work more efficient.

  • Ask God to send a typist to the team who can steadily enter translated Scripture portions.

  • Pray that local churches will be nourished through the newly published book of Malachi.

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