Streams of Prayer for 25 July 2022
The Streams of Prayer for 25 July 2022, is a circular from Wycliffe Global Alliance. Wycliffe Caribbean makes this available.
Bible Translation Programmes
The vision of the Wycliffe Global Alliance is “Individuals, communities and nations transformed through God’s love and his Word expressed in their languages and cultures.” Each Alliance organization serves Bible translation movements in various ways. Many are directly involved in the participation stream Bible translation programmes.
It is wonderful that people in the movement are developing skills and resources for a range of different types of translation including Oral, Bible storying, Sign Language, and written. We also see that communities desire and need translations of the whole Bible in order to fully understand the revelation of Jesus as found in the New Testament. This is wonderful news and alerts us to the need for more training and new ways of working. So join us as we pray this month on the theme of Bible translation projects. Also, ask God to transform individuals, communities and nations through his living Word.
Three books checked for Bilua: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
In the first two weeks of June, the books of Joshua, Haggai, and Habakkuk were successfully checked for the Bilua Old Testament project in the Solomon Islands. Along with the Bilua team, translation consultant Kidu Magi from the Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association completed the checking. It was Kidu’s first time accomplishing this virtually. Praise the Lord for strengthening Kidu and the Bilua team to persevere through the checking process. All the translators, their advisor, and the consultant were sick with the flu, and one of them had malaria. Ask the Lord for his healing and refreshment for all of them. Pray for wisdom for the translators as they edit and make corrections to prepare these books for publication.
Waiting for the Word: Kenya
Pray for the Lower Pokomo people from the coastal region of Kenya and the Ilchamus community from the Rift Valley. They eagerly await the printing and distribution of the Pokomo Bible and the Ilchamus New Testament. Pokomo church leaders recently organized a community thanksgiving event, attended by Her Excellency Mrs. Rachael Ruto, wife to the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya. She stated: ‘The necessity of having the Bible in vernacular languages is crucial in spreading the good news of the gospel… [and] continues to play an important role in fostering fellowship between the local, regional, and international communities of faith’. Praise God for the community’s generous offering for the launch of the Bible. Pray that these Bibles are printed soon so that the two communities can begin making use of them.
God’s Word is going out: Papua New Guinea, Australia
Praise God that Wycliffe Australia CEO Max Sahl and his wife Helen were able to attend the SIL Papua New Guinea (PNG) Conference in March. Praise God for reports at the Conference that despite COVID-19, five more language communities have received Scripture translations since April 2020. Plans are also underway to typeset twenty Scriptures for publication in 2022 and 2023. Also praise God for eight orthographies approved in 2021, four literacy training courses held, and six more planned for 2022. Thank God for the faithful Papua New Guinean and expatriate workers involved in Bible translation work in PNG! Praise God for Wycliffe Australia personnel serving in PNG. God’s Word is going out (Isaiah 55:11)!
Eastern Lawa Bible translation project: Thailand
Praise God for the generous support for the Eastern Lawa Bible translation project led by the Wycliffe Thai Foundation. Thank the Lord for Opel and Natt, who recently joined the team and moved to the area. Opel is helping in translation, and Natt is helping in literacy. Praise the Lord for the Korean couple who just committed to joining the team, while currently assisting their daughter to adjust to living and studying in South Korea. Pray also for the approval of the couple’s visa application, sponsored by Wycliffe Thai Foundation. And also pray for the Lord’s guidance and wisdom as the team learns the language, adapts to living in the village, and works together.
Pray for the Robeno cluster team: Indonesia
Indonesia has 715* living languages, the second highest number of languages in a country in the world. Kartidaya, an Alliance organization in Indonesia, has been working on cluster projects—grouping together language families to bring God’s Word to each language community. So praise God for the well-attended sixth language workshop for the Robeno cluster team focusing on hortatory discourse** from 9 to 27 May. Also, ask God to provide opportunities to share the Scriptures and the gospel with these communities as they apply what they have learned from the workshop. In addition, pray that the translated Word of God would bring hope to all who receive it.
*Source: Ethnologue
**Hortatory discourse is a discourse that is an attempt to persuade the addressee to fulfill commands that are given in the discourse.
Cree Initiative Project, Wycliffe Canada
Wycliffe Canada’s Cree Initiative project trains and supports local First Nations people in Canada in Bible translation and promoting the use of God’s Word in their traditional languages. The project is currently focused on three Cree-related language groups in Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. In Oji-Cree, a consultant recently finished checking translations of John’s epistles, while a team completed checking the first four chapters of John’s Gospel. The Gospel of Mark was recorded by Oji-Cree speakers. Also, training has commenced in the development of a Bible app.
Therefore, pray for understanding and wisdom in how to help the Swampy Cree reach their translation goals and revitalize their language. Also pray that a training workshop for First Nations translators will go ahead this November in Guelph, Ontario. It is to facilitate learning translation principles, effective methods of literacy education, and translation checking procedures. Praise God that John’s epistles have been translated into Oji-Cree and are being prepared for publication. In addition, pray that translated Scriptures will bring lasting transformation to First Nations individuals and communities.
Involvement in a Translation project in West Asia: Sweden
Folk&Språk, the Alliance organization in Sweden, participates in a translation project in Magend (a pseudonym). The language is spoken in West Asia and has about 10 million speakers. The work has been taking place outside the area where the Magend people live for a number of years. So pray for the recording of Bible books this summer and that they will be a blessing for many people. Pray also for the recently started web-based course in reading and writing Magend. Finally, pray that God will open ways to share the gospel through this course and for the ongoing exegetical review of Exodus.
Streams of Prayer is the prayer bulletin of the Wycliffe Global Alliance.
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Valrie McCarthy
Proclaimer Officer
Wycliffe Caribbean
7A South Avenue
Kingston 5
JAMAICA, W. I.
876 754 9334, 908 2970, 582 6592
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