Streams of Prayer for April 12, 2021
The Streams of Prayer for April 12, 2021, is a circular from Wycliffe Global Alliance. This is available through Wycliffe Caribbean.
Missions belong to God and the agent of missions is the Church. Please join with us as we pray for Alliance organisations engaged in the Church Participation Stream. We pray also for the Church as it participates in the Bible translation movement.
Please also be in prayer for St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada and St. LuciaThey are all impacted by the volcanic eruption in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Reports from our Wycliffe Teams in St Vincent & Barbados indicate that those on our teams are safe. The ash and debris from the volcano continue to be a daily challenge, especially in St. Vincent.
Using Scripture to bring transformation: Namibia and Botswana
Wycliffe South Africa has been partnering with churches of the Hambukushu people in Namibia and Botswana to translate oral Scriptures into their heart language. The first set of Scriptures are completed and checked, but plans to celebrate and distribute the Scriptures were delayed due to Covid-19. Please pray that the Hambukushu churches will receive the translated Scriptures well and will use the published Scriptures to evangelise and disciple people in their communities.
Oral translation: Namibia and Angola
The Himba people of Namibia and Angola are a semi-nomadic, pastoral people group who are completely oral. Wycliffe South Africa and the Bible Society of Namibia have been working with a group of local pastors to do oral translation of the Bible into the Himba language. A panoramic Bible story set and the book of Luke are finished, and the pastors are translating Genesis and Romans. The translation team has been able to share the Himba Scriptures in the local churches and via the local community radio station. Pray for the ongoing translation work and for provision for SD cards and/or solar-powered mp3 players to allow the distribution of oral Scriptures among Himba communities.
Inspiration for the Church: Brazil
Various organisations in Brazil work together within the Bible translation movement. Pray that they will collaborate in a complementary way to inform, inspire and involve the Brazilian church in the global Bible translation movement as well. Since the pandemic began, many nonlocal members of translation teams have had to leave their village locations and have not yet been able to return. Pray for creative ways to continue working with local translation team members from a distance. Ask God to bring an end to the pandemic and remove all obstacles that prevent translation teams from having face-to-face interaction.
Serving churches through missions partnership: Sweden
Wycliffe Sweden is exploring an exciting opportunity to collaborate more fully with other mission organisations. They aim to offer Swedish churches a new Gospel Advance Partnership in which Bible translation, evangelism and discipleship are the clear focus. This is exciting as it puts a renewed focus on Bible translation and the transformation that Scripture in the heart language can bring. It also puts Wycliffe Sweden into a consortium of like-minded organisations that recognise translation as a key step in the journey towards spiritual transformation. Praise God for the successful discernment process so far but pray for wisdom in the next steps. Pray also for Mats-Jan Söderberg, the director of Wycliffe Sweden, as he leads a group of six mission organisations into a deeper relationship in order to serve churches in Sweden that are keen to get involved in overseas initiatives to advance the gospel.
Collaboration with churches: Papua New Guinea
Praise God for churches that have expressed an interest in and commitment to Bible translation. Bible translation organisations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have the privilege to offer these churches the appropriate training to increase awareness and build knowledge and technical skills needed for this ministry. We pray that with growing experience in technical and administration skills these churches will eventually lead and sustain Bible translation ministries in PNG. Pray also for increased opportunities for collaboration between the churches and Bible translation agencies.
Relating to churches: United States
Pray for many churches in the United States that are relating to Wycliffe USA in some way. Ask God to strengthen their leaders, particularly in this time when the future of church activities is limited or uncertain. Pray also for wisdom and courage to lead into the unknown. In addition, pray for the Wycliffe USA church relations team, which has recently added several new members. Ask God to encourage them as they seek to partner well with churches that want to engage in Bible translation. Pray for unity as the team develops new strategies for promoting church engagement.
Serving alongside churches: Bangladesh
Praise God for the 40 Bible story translations finished in the Tripura language in Bangladesh, as a result of close coordination and partnership between Bangladeshi churches and Connections Bangladesh. So pray for the current development of a software application for easy access to translated Bible stories. Also ask the Lord for his protection and guidance for all the teams involved as they plan to translate the Bible stories in the Murong, Khiang and Khasia languages this year. May their trust and reliance in the Lord inspire more people and churches in Bangladesh to participate in cooperative efforts for Bible translation.
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