As the Rain and Snow Come Down

Isaiah 55


The Bible is so foundational to what we do as individuals and as the Church. What do we base our church planting, discipleship, teaching, evangelism, prayer, fellowship, and worship in if not in God's Word? How do we even know to do these things?

As the Bible is translated into a new language, that language community is never immune to it's transformative power. God promises that in Isaiah 55:10-11 (ESV) which says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." God's Word always does what He set it out to do.

Oniyan


There are so many stories of the way God changes people through His Word being translated into their language. Many of them take place in Francophone Africa where I'll be serving, such as the story of Pastor Tama Nicodeme Biesse and his team of translators. Nicodeme and his fellow translators in Senegal had just completed the final check of Mark, the first book they translated into their language, Oniyan. A lot of changes were happening in their community. Nicodeme testified, "We have a clearer understanding of what we have always accepted by faith. We know in our souls a peace and a sense of wellbeing. Our prayer lives have changed a lot. Our thirst for God's Word has grown so much that we have already done the first draft of the Gospel of Luke in less than a month."

Nicodeme began to pray in his mother tongue. Because his pastoral studies and his Bible was all in French, whether he spoke to God or others about spiritual truths it was always in that language. The translation process forced him to find ways to express Biblical truth in Oniyan, and he was able to pray in his heart language and had a new sense of communion with God. He also began to preach in Oniyan and saw that the congregation could clearly understand his sermons for the first time. They started to talk about sermons with one another and with their unbelieving neighbors.

Other members of the team also experienced God working in their lives. Gerard felt himself becoming more sensitive to the spiritual needs of those around him and more willing to share the Gospel. Jeremie was an unbeliever when he joined the translation team and he gave his life to Christ through translating Mark. When asked why he's changed so much by his family, he shared the scriptures with them and the team conducted a translation-testing session in their home.

The translation team did a showing of the JESUS Film, and several people came to Christ, including a chief of a nearby village. Because of that, the team started having a church service in his village every Saturday.

Nicodeme rejoices in the work the Bible is doing as he says, "Glory to God who makes His Word powerful and effective in our midst, even when the Oniyan New Testament is far from finished!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dallas Bound

Image
I wrote in my November newsletter that it was critical for me to be at 50% of my Wycliffe ministry budget by January in order to start linguistics training. A couple weeks later, God provided! He did it beyond what I needed and far sooner than I anticipated. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21, ESV). I'll be packing my bags and heading to Dallas to attend classes at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. I have orientation January 3-4 and classes start on January 5. I'll be in Dallas until mid-September. I'm so thankful for those of you who have already partnered in my Wycliffe ministry through prayer, finances, and encouragement.  In Christ, Kaley
Read more

Assignment: Central African Republic

Image
I'm done with my studies in Texas and back in the North for a few months. Here's an update: New Assignment: Central African Republic God has guided me through the process of deciding where to serve and  has led me to the Central African Republic (CAR). CAR is a country that’s about the size of Texas in the heart of Africa. I’ll be living in the capital, Bangui, working closely with the national translation organization that’s one of Wycliffe’s strategic partners. As I start out, I’ll serve by helping with linguistic analysis which lays the foundation for Bible translation projects. One thing that has drawn me to the central part of Africa is the great need there. CAR has around 72 languages and around 53 of those have no Scripture at all. Don't know a lot about CAR? Here's a video that will give you an intro to the country: CAR Quick Facts: Population: 5,000,000 Capital: Bangui Number of Languages: 72 Number of Languages withou...
Read more

A Year in Review

Image
This year was not what I would call "normal." About a year and a half ago, I started looking at Bible translation and became a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators in April. I would like to say that this has always been a dream of mine, but it hasn't. Up until about six years ago, my goal was to live and work overseas in Europe, having nothing to do with ministry and certainly not missions. It was God that gave me new goals. Now I couldn't be more excited about being a missionary. I will live overseas, but in an underdeveloped country, helping to translate God's Word so that he can be glorified among the nations.  There are a lot of changes to come in 2017; for starters, my New Years will begin with a trip to Dallas to start linguistics training. Looking back, God has been so good to me this year, but I want to acknowledge that He's always been good. Even when I felt I had little to report or wasn't content, He was good. The lack was in my grate...
Read more