Streams of Prayer for March 21, 2021
The Streams of Prayer for March 21, 2021, is a circular from Wycliffe Global Alliance. This is available through Wycliffe Caribbean.
The current theme for Streams of Prayer is Training. We will pray for those who are teaching, their students and the institutions that host these training programmes. We will ask God to provide staff, finances and equipment for training programmes, so that translation programme staff will be equipped in the many disciplines required to finish translations of the Bible well.
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.
Wycliffe Caribbean Bible Translators
We ask for your prayer for the ongoing ministry of Wycliffe Caribbean in the following areas:-
- Jamaican Old Testament Project – for the members of the Bible translation team, funding and all the planning and ongoing work that must be done on a regular basis.
- Increased interest and participation from the Caribbean Church to be involved in playing a part in reaching the millions of people worldwide still without one word of Scripture.
- Additional committed personnel to serve with Wycliffe Caribbean.
Training translators: Burkina Faso
Praise God that ANTBA (L’Association Nationale pour la Traduction de la Bible et l’Alphabétisation) started or restarted translation projects in January in five language communities in Burkina Faso. Pray that all the translators from the Sambla, Toussian Nord, Koronfé, Ninkaré and Kusaal projects will receive all the training that they need to help them translate the Word of God accurately and naturally for their communities. Pray especially for a Tools for Translation workshop between 22 and 26 March where translators will be trained to use the software Paratext 9. Pray also for plans for a Bible storying workshop that will be offered later in the year.
The School of Language and Scripture: United Kingdom
The Masters in Language, Community and Development provided as part of the School of Language and Scripture at Moorlands College (in partnership with Seed Company and the Wycliffe Global Alliance) has continued in the UK despite lockdowns and travel restrictions. The programme provides trainees with essential tools in community-based development, linguistics, literacy and Scripture engagement and will equip students for service amongst communities across the world. Pray for the staff and prospective students from the UK, Europe and around the world as they plan to begin courses face to face in the new academic year beginning September 2021.
AI-Enabled translation quality assessment: Global
Praise God for the funds received from ETEN towards a research project on Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Translation Quality Assessment. Pray for the team leading the development of the project as they fill out the goals and plans. Pray for the translation consultants who will be involved. Pray for the developers as they look for ways to flag issues so that translators can deal with them before the consultant checking. Ask God to use this project to help reduce the current bottleneck in translation checking bottleneck.
Teaching Sunday School teachers to tell Bible stories: Papua New Guinea
Praise the Lord for Rufus Babaisiyan, a translator and an Oral Bible Storyteller from the Miniafia language. Rufus has been conducting Oral Bible Storytelling (OBS) training for people in his language community for several years now. Many of those who have attended the training are women involved in teaching Sunday School for children. Learning and telling Bible stories in the language has encouraged the people to learn and study the Scriptures. The Miniafia New Testament was launched in 2010. The Old Testament translation is progressing well. Consultants checked several Old Testament books in December 2020 and January 2021.
- Pray that many Miniaifa people will have a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus as they engage with the Scriptures using the OBS approach.
- Pray for Rufus and the other trainers as they plan and run OBS training this year in the language community.
Creative missions and language training: Taiwan
Praise God for two creative training workshops offered by Wycliffe Taiwan. The Journey is a training that captures a mission worker’s experience to help participants have a clearer view of what it is like to serve in missions. Made to Measure is a language learning programme offered to short-term mission trip participants one or two days before their departure. This is to train them to handle basic conversation in the language used where they will serve cross-culturally. Praise God for close partnerships with the churches in Taiwan to put on these training workshops.
- Pray that these church partnerships will be further strengthened through working together on the training initiatives.
- Pray for creativity and wisdom for the trainers as they seek to engage participants.
- Ask God to increase the understanding of the participants about service in missions and to open their minds and hearts as they prepare to serve.
Need to complete consultant training: Papua New Guinea
Three personnel of the Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association are in the advanced stages of training to become translation consultants. One of the main components for consultant trainees is to observe and participate in actual checking sessions with a senior consultant. The three trainees, David Loea, Steven Ttopoqogo and Meya Ivano each have a varying number of hours still pending to fulfil the quota required in attaining full consultant status. Due to a number of factors, COVID restrictions hindered this aspect of the training last year.
- Pray that God will provide the needed opportunities for each of them to participate in consultant checking sessions.
- Pray that they will have wisdom to order their work calendars this year and that they will be able to fulfil the requirements and complete their training in order to begin serving in much-needed consultant roles.
Online communications forum: Europe, Global
As a result of the pandemic, the Wycliffe Global Alliance Europe Area Communications Forum has gone global! This online event has already generated significant interest from Alliance organisations beyond Europe. Over 50 participants from more than 30 countries around the world will gather online from 23-26 March. The focus will be on communicating well with churches and partners. A geographically diverse group of presenters adds variety and a broader perspective. Topics include story writing, social media strategies, smartphone photography/videography, communication about Deaf sign language, theology of story:-
- Pray for Bud Speck, Europe Area Communications Consultant, and the Alliance Europe team as they handle the added logistical load of hosting this global online event.
- Pray for the presenters and participants as they interact to share expertise and ideas.
- Pray also for good internet connections and well-functioning technology.
Let us know if you are interested in also receiving the “Streams of Prayer” bulletin sent to your inbox. Send us an email at webmaster@gmc-mca.org and we will gladly add you to our list.
