Category: Bible Translation

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. – Luke 10:21 As John Piper points out in his article What Makes Jesus Rejoice, the verse above is only one of two places where Jesus is described as rejoicing. The reason for his joy was because when the seventy-two disciples returned from their preaching tour, they told him that the Gospel message was…

Where we have been. We arrived in the US in March 2017, and you may be thinking we have just been vacationing. Au contraire my friends, we have been quite busy. Let me tell you what we have been up to. STUDY. The majority of our time has been spent in Dallas, TX where we have been studying at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. The reason we were here is because we knew that we needed more training before we began translating the Bible. At GIAL took the following classes: Advanced Grammar Advanced Phonology Cross-cultural Teaching Seminar Discourse Analysis…

We always knew that Bible translation was a life’s work and that fruit from it would likely not be enjoyed for many years. We have contented ourselves in the fact that ensuring that the Word of God was translated faithfully and understandably was worth the time investment. Some things are too sacred to be rushed. Further, we know that not one of God’s elect will be lost. However, since we have been in the States, three of our friends in our village have died. We know that in the 20-ish years that it’ll take to translate the Word of God,…

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela By God’s grace through much coffee, loud dance music, many late nights, hundreds of neglected emails, and a year’s worth of dreams about tone, we now have a writing system in the Bakoum language!   If I was not convinced that revisions will be necessary, I’d consider getting a tattoo of the Bakoum alphabet – just as an expression of my joy.   Not only do we have a system of writing (with tone markings, I might add), but through Dave’s work we have a solid understanding of how the…

We have now been back in the US for over 10 months. Traveling around, talking about Bible translation, we occasionally get asked the question, “Why not just teach the people French?” I have asked this question myself. If the people could read French well, it would open them up to a wealth of resources: multiple translations, commentaries, sermons, and pastoral training materials. And Stacey has a great article examining some reasons HERE. But along that line, I was recommended a book called The Finish Line, by Bob Creson, the current President of Wycliffe Bible Translators. Before arriving in this current position, he…

We just finished up another whirlwind round of classes. The last two months have been filled with late nights, neglected emails, and hours spent pouring over Bakoum folktales and the Word of God. The Lord has once again proved faithful to help us wade through technical linguistic information, figuring out how to exegete the passage about Melchizedek and how to deal with squabbling second graders. The Lord’s faithfulness, plus all the incredible things we learned this semester causes the excitement to overshadow the fatigue. Here are a couple highlights: Exploiting the Polygamous “god” for the Glory of JesusDave and I…

I just had the amazing opportunity to attend the 9th Biennial Bible Translation Conference put on by GIAL and SIL International. The theme this year was “Tradition and Innovation in Bible Translation.” It was a fantastic time of remembering those who have gone before us, and thinking about what is to come. I heard lectures on Luther’s translation principles, historical surveys of people groups in Africa that have now had the Scripture for a number of years, as well as several presentations about how technology is changing the Bible translation landscape. The opening lecture was given by Dr. Margaret Muthwii…

One day, the title of this blog will be about Kwakum. But for now, we are rejoicing with our co-workers that have spent the last 20 years working on the Oroko New Testament in Southwest Cameroon. Check out the letter below from our Field Director: —- World Team Cameroon is approaching a new milestone. Our first New Testament translation is about to be published! Rejoice with us that the 140,000+ Oroko people will soon have God’s Word in their language! World Team Cameroon’s Oroko Team, Dan and Lisa Friesen and Mike and Becky Scott, have been working alongside the Oroko…

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 I love to read and I have read many books. I have read books that have deeply moved me, and books that have changed my mind on major issues. I have read books that were so powerful that I would have a hard time concentrating on other things during the day because I want to know what is going to happen….

Am I the only one who starts to pray for a Bible-less people group but gets a little stuck? I start my prayer like this: “May they put their faith in Christ”….but then I realize they do not have a good understanding of who he is. So I try a different approach: Oh God, please change this people…but then I am reminded that without the power of the Spirit, we all remain slaves to sin. It is only those who repent and believe in Christ who receive the Holy Spirit. And then that brings me back to prayer attempt #1:…