Those We Serve: Video from Wycliffe Foundation

Wycliffe Foundation exists to serve the Wycliffe family of organizations through its ministry of gift planning. Wycliffe supporters are often surprised to learn they can use a planned gift to support Bible translation and leave a legacy.

The following video from Wycliffe Foundation, “Those We Serve,” is a window into the Foundation’s ministry. For more information, visit www.wycliffefoundation.org.

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Celebrating Legacies…Changing Lives

All over the world, Wycliffe personnel are translating the Bible, teaching people how to read and sharing vital health knowledge in culturally relevant ways.

What makes all of this possible? As God provides for His work, He uses people like us to pray, give and go.

For the past six years, Wycliffe Foundation has offered a ministry of gift planning to help people support the Wycliffe family of organizations through their estates. More than 1,500 people have implemented planned gifts through the Foundation, comprising the William Cameron Townsend Legacy Society.

Now, Wycliffe Foundation is preparing to honor the legacies of its faithful partners and praise God’s faithfulness in using these gifts to further Bible translation around the world.

Tomorrow, Wycliffe staff and missionaries  will join together for Celebrating Legacies…Changing Lives. This day of celebration will showcase God’s work in the lives of partners and Wycliffe missionaries through the ministry of Wycliffe Foundation.

Stay tuned to this blog for photos and videos from Wycliffe Foundation in the coming week. Click here to learn more about Wycliffe Foundation’s ministry of gift planning.

Teach the Story of Jesus

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Gift 14

Teach the Story of Jesus to Bibleless People

Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke to groups, large and small, using stories. In fact, the Scriptures say He always taught using stories—stories like the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Prodigal Son. Those stories, recorded in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, still speak to us today. They were divinely crafted to reveal God’s character and provide instructions on how we should live—in a way that’s easy to understand, easy to remember and easy to share with others.

In many areas of the world, cultures remain much the same as in Jesus’ day. Many communities still do not have a written language, and even if they do, literacy is very low and people learn orally. In these oral societies, worldview is shaped by experience, as well as through stories, proverbs and songs. To reach oral communicators with the good news about Jesus Christ, Wycliffe Bible Translators takes part in the OneStory partnership. OneStory participants work with mother-tongue speakers to craft biblically accurate, culturally relevant oral stories.

Learn more about OneStory, or take part in the project.

Related Project

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Help People Who Can’t Read to Hear and See God’s Word

Wycliffe, Moody Radio raise $216,000 for Bible translation in early weeks of campaign

Moody Radio listeners have given more than $216,000 for Bible translation projects in Peru and Panama as part of a nationwide radio campaign produced by Wycliffe Bible Translators and Moody Radio.

Wycliffe’s work inspired Moody listeners in Indiana, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Washington, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee to donate by phone and online. Praise God for their generosity.

Kuna women of Panama sing "Onward Christian Soldiers" in a church service. Donations from Moody Radio listeners will help Kuna believers access God's Word. Credit: SCOTT TONCRAY/WYCLIFFE USA

What does this money mean for Bible translation?

It means 13 mother tongue translators in Peru will be supported financially as they translate Scriptures into their languages.

It means more than 9,000 families in Panama or Peru will hold a newly printed Bible in their language for the first time. 

It means that Quechua people in Peru can access the translated Scriptures through literacy training, Bible teaching, workshops and radio programs.

To see pictures of the lives that will benefit from these gifts, click here.

Now, as the last week of the campaign approaches, listeners in major radio markets such as Chicago will have a chance to participate, with a goal of raising $512,967 for Bible translation. Please pray that God would continue to bless this campaign in the home stretch.

To take part in unlocking God’s Word for the least, the last and the lost, click here or call (877) 495-0060. To learn more about the campaign schedule and hear radio interviews from Peru and Panama, click here.

submitted by Mary Tindall

Paraíso – Babneggi – Paradise

As we pull up to the the dock on Akwadup, one of many islands in the San Blas Island chain off the coast of Panama, someone in our boat says, “Wow! This is beautiful. It’s like paradise.” And from my perspective they could be right.

Akwadup

This island chain is built from coral reefs with amazing sea life, and boasts beautiful sand beaches and lush tropical island vegetation. It seems to contain everything you could need, with an amazing range of beautiful fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, conch, lobster, prawns, octopus and just about anything else you can imagine. On the island,  banana and coconut trees are plentiful.

Many would consider this paradise.

But for the San Blas Kuna, these islands represent life – not paradise. It’s the way they live, it’s the way they sustain their families, the source and inspiration for their traditions and lifestyle. But it’s certainly not paradise.

Kuna Dugout

The men of the San Blas Kuna are fishermen primarily, as one would imagine, but it’s the handicraft of the women that is most widely known. Known as Mola, the beautiful tapestries are used as clothing, placemats and other things. The women are also distinguished by their red and yellow-orange scarves, beads adorning their ankles and wrists, and often a gold nose ring. For this culture, it’s the ankles, wrists and nose that show a person’s beauty.

Mola

The Kuna may have a seemingly idyllic lifestyle, but many Kuna live without true peace. For all of their traditions and knowledge, only a few have knowledge of Babneggi or heaven.

The Kuna New Testament is a relatively new thing, but the Kuna already want more! They’re working passionately alongside Wycliffe translators to finish the work of translating the Old Testament. They’ve seen the value of God’s Word in their own lives as they move from fear to peace, from fighting to happiness. And as Claudina, a Kuna woman, put it, “Now I understand so clearly what it will be like to stand before God!”

Kuna Church

The end of the task is near. Let’s finish the task so that more may hear of true paradise – so that more may learn of “Babneggi.”

Top Ten Things Our Moody Radio Friends Never Knew about Wycliffe

For the past few days, we’ve been traveling around Peru with five people from various Moody Radio stations: John Blok, Paul Carter, Derek Cutlip, Brigitte Sylvestre and Angie Walters. Since none of them knew much about Wycliffe before this trip, we decided to check in with them to see what they’ve learned so far. So without further ado…

Top Ten Things Our Moody Radio Friends Never Knew about Wycliffe

1. It takes a really long time to complete a translation, and yet the people are so committed to it!
2. The people doing the work here count their sacrifices as nothing compared to the end result of translated Scripture.
3. The cluster approach is a great way for close dialects to work together on translation.
4. Wycliffe does more than just translate! They work with Scripture use, using things like the Women of the Bible programs, VBS and literacy. Prior to this trip, Wycliffe meant Bible translation, but it is so much more!
5. Wycliffe is partnering with several other ministries for the cause of Christ.
6. The English-speaking translators take pleasure in hearing the Quechua people recount the deeds of the Lord. It never gets old to them.
7. Radio plays such a part in reaching these people in their mother tongues.
8. Within the Americas, Wycliffe is not just working to translate various dialects of Spanish. In fact, they are working with completely unique indigenous languages!
9. Wycliffe’s colleagues have such a deep passion. There have been many teary-eyed and emotional conversations about the translation work here.
10. When a national translator shared about how weary he was, the shocking part was that he had no plans to retire because he wanted to see the translation in his dialect to completion. There is such a high level of dedication to the work.

It’s been exciting to observe our friends as they “get it” for the first time. We’re so thankful for the opportunity to introduce them to this important work!

Rachel Tidwell

Divine Appointments

Divine appointment: a time when God perfectly orchestrates something in ways you could never imagine.

Which pretty much means that divine appointments happen when you least expect them.

Yesterday was our first full day in Lima, Peru, and the plan was to spend the morning relaxing after the long day of travel. However, our in-country host, Ron Ryan, decided it would be a good idea to let us spend the morning visiting with some of the missionaries who work here in Lima.

This ended up being huge for our guests from Moody Radio. They were able to hear about the need for translation, the process behind it, and the work that goes into it. More importantly, though, they witnessed the passion that drives us, straight from the mouths of those God has divinely appointed to do Bible translation. When asked this morning why anyone would leave their comfortable life to enter the often “dangerous” work of translation in remote areas of the world, one missionary friend responded, “I think it would be more dangerous to disobey the call of the Lord, don’t you agree?”

I was so struck by the emotional connection the missionaries feel to their work here. They’re here because they believe God himself appointed them.

After lunch we stopped at CILTA, a linguistics training school for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. We thought our visit would last only 45 minutes, but before we knew it, we’d been there for an hour and a half. Sitting there listening to stories of God’s work in the lives of the peoples of the Americas, we lost track of time. We heard the story of Felix, a man who deciphered God’s divine appointment for him through a dream, leading him to work with a translation team on a dialect of the Quechua languages. We were touched not only by his story, but also by the tears of those who know Felix and have been personally impacted by his dedication to the work of Bible translation. In a world full of schedules, busy calendars and deadlines, it was nice to sit back and forget the clock, recognizing that God had our schedule carefully planned out…and it included an appointment to hear stories of the way Scripture in your heart language can change your life.

Yesterday also confirmed another divine appointment I feel privileged to be a part of: the partnership between Wycliffe Bible Translators and Moody Radio. This is a special time in our organization’s history. We have the opportunity to introduce not only the staff of Moody Radio, but also their listeners across the country, to the important work of Bible translation—and show them how to get involved. Today, as I’ve observed five Moody friends learn new things about our ministry, I’ve been keenly aware of God’s hand in this. Moody’s fall campaign will be focusing on Wycliffe’s work, and I believe God is going to do something big through it. I know He has chosen this time for a reason.

I’m thankful that I serve a God who loves to orchestrate the details of our lives—a God of divine appointments.

-Rachel Tidwell-

Translator Tears up Scripture

By Bob Creson

A few days ago, I blogged about a Rangi translator who had to tear up his most recent draft of the Gospel of Mark to distribute the portions to Christians who were hungry for Scripture in their mother tongue.  You can read about it here.  In Tanzania, 112 languages—more than 90 percent of all languages spoken in that country—do not have adequate Scriptures.  This lack of mother-tongue Scriptures is devastating.

Church services are conducted in Swahili, the national language.  As a result, 1.4 million speakers of nine Bantu languages in the Mara Region of Tanzania struggle to understand biblical teachings.

There are many longtime churchgoers who cannot adequately answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” or even explain biblically why He died for us.

I’ve been thinking about the hunger for God’s Word that led this Rangi translator to tear up his Gospel of Mark.  This story makes me appreciate the urgency of our work in that area through a project called Scripture Access for All: Tanzania and Uganda. The project is part of our larger, worldwide Last Languages Campaign to provide for “the least, the last, and the lost” who still hunger for the Scripture in their language.

As you read this post, Wycliffe missionaries are working with national translators and like-minded organizations in remote areas of Tanzania and Uganda to translate God’s Word for nearly 2 million people through Scripture Access for All. This work is vital.

If God so leads you, you can send a gift online today by clicking here.  I almost never use my blog to ask for support, but I am doing it today.  Your contribution will help ensure that churches grow stronger and more people hear the saving message of Christ.  Thank you for your prayers, and if you can click here and help meet this need, I would be grateful.

Feeding the Spiritually Hungry

By Bob Creson

As you know I recently returned from a trip to the African nations of Tanzania and Uganda. While I was there, I heard a story that spoke to the tremendous hunger the people have for God’s Word.

One of the Rangi translators had to literally tear apart the most recent draft of the Gospel of Mark—page by page—to distribute it to his neighbors and family pleading for this portion of Scripture in their language.

This story is recounted in a letter that you may have received a few days ago. If you did not receive this letter, you can read the rest of this amazing story online by clicking here.

This Rangi translation is part of an important Wycliffe project accomplishing great things for the glory of God in Africa. The project is called Scripture Access for All. If you enjoy hearing about God at work through His Word, you’ll be blessed by this story.

Watch as the Mara work to have the Christmas Story in their own language for the first time!