Streams of Prayer for October 12
The Streams of Prayer for October 12, 2020 is a circular from Wycliffe Global Alliance. This is available through Wycliffe Caribbean.
Mission belongs to God and the agent of mission is the Church. Please join with us as we pray for Alliance organisations engaged in the Church Participation Stream and for the Church as it participates in the Bible translation movement.
Celebrating 40 years by launching 40 church partnerships: Papua New Guinea
The Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association (PNGBTA) launched a new initiative on 29 September. This is part of PNGBTA’s 40-year anniversary celebrations. Forty church congregations have been invited to sign a three-year Bible translation partnership agreement with the organisation.
PNGBTA is proposing that each congregation:
- contribute an annual financial gift of an agreed amount,
- advocate and pray for Bible translation, and
- assist in providing professional expertise (such as IT, accounting or media) as needed by the administration.
PNGBTA will reciprocate with the churches by:
- assisting with translation of Scripture and related materials (including songs, hymns, and liturgies),
- providing training in literacy, Scripture use and related areas, and by
- participating in the congregation’s activities.
So pray for God’s blessings on this initiative to strengthen relationships with the churches as part of developing a sustainable Bible translation movement in Papua New Guinea.
Collaboration for Bible Translation: United States
Seed Company is passionate about accelerating the translation of God’s Word in every heart language that needs it by 2025. The organisation works with over 1400 global partners. It serves the local church by providing training, consulting, funding and project management. These lead to a meaningful, accurate translation in the local mother tongue. Therefore, pray for members of local churches worldwide as they take ownership of Bible translation and work to complete projects. Also thank God for the thousands of prayer partners that provide a solid foundation for these Bible translation programmes with Seed Company involvement.
Church Growth: Peru
ATEK ministers to speakers of the Cusco Quechua language of southern Peru through biblical training and discipleship. Their vision is to build stable Quechua families, add to the development of strong churches, and support Quechua communities. ATEK reports extraordinary growth in the Quechua-speaking church. Although there are challenges because of the pandemic, people in the church meet in small groups to pray together. Some also trek into the mountains to fast and pray. In June, leaders distributed the last 600 Quechua Bibles they had, and people are requesting more copies. So give thanks that new followers of Jesus are being added to the church daily, and local congregations are discipling those who have renewed their commitments to Christ. Praise God also that the Quechua Scriptures are changing so many lives. In addition, pray for more Bibles to be printed, and ask that spiritual growth will continue in this community.
Mother Tongues Month: Togo
Mother Tongues Month (MMT) is an initiative of Wycliffe Togo. In collaboration with the Church, Wycliffe Togo annually devotes the month of February to celebrate the many mother-tongue languages in Togo and highlight the importance of translating the Bible into local languages. Wycliffe Togo celebrates the linguistic and ethnic diversity represented in Togolese churches and takes this opportunity to inform churches about Bible translation progress. They seek to build awareness in the Church about the important role mother-tongue language translation can have in accomplishing the Church’s vision to reach people for Christ.
- Praise God for a very moving celebration this year held at one of the largest buildings of the Assemblies of God church.
- Pray that MMT will impact more churches each year and thus commit to involvement in Bible translation.
Online leadership courses for church leaders: Bangladesh
Thank God for the partnership between Connections Bangladesh, Development Associates International and other organisations. They plan to conduct a leadership training course for local churches in Bangladesh. The three focus areas for the training are: spiritual leadership, skills development and community service. So ask God for wisdom and guidance for the leaders and trainers as they help church leaders to grow in knowledge and increase their participation in missions. Also pray that the attendees will have a clearer understanding of missions.
Literacy training: Central African Republic, United Kingdom
Three staff members of Wycliffe UK serve in the Central African Republic (CAR) assisting with literacy training and development. As the Word of God is being translated into various languages, many local people desire literacy training so they can read God’s Word. Pray that the churches in the CAR will find creative ways to encourage literacy training among their members so they can learn to read the Bible.
Building partnerships in Bible translation: Papua New Guinea
Praise the Lord for the vision by the United Church Papuan Islands Region to participate in Bible translation. The Church selected the Galea language in the Milne Bay Province as a pilot project. Pray for lasting partnerships to develop between the personnel from the United Church, the Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association (PNGBTA) and Wycliffe USA. Also ask the Lord for wisdom for the church and PNGBTA personnel as they work with the language community to guide and manage the project. In addition, pray for the Galea language community as they participate and model the Bible translation process for six other language communities in the area desiring to do Bible translation.
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.
