At the Core

Bible translation is a multi-faceted ministry. On any given day, the translation advisor studies or leads meetings or checks translated material. He or she teaches or performs linguistic analysis. The advisor takes people to the hospital, does carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, IT … This ministry places unique demands on its practitioners. Especially when in the village (rather than in a city or at a specialized training center), the translator must be a jack (or jill) of all trades—and all too often, master of none.

At the core of all of these responsibilities lies a dependence upon the grace and mercy of God to fill in what we are lacking. The primary activity of dependence is prayer.

Prayer is the primary activity of dependence

Prayer is …

People divide prayer into categories like confession or petition or intercession or adoration. Petition, for example, is when I go to God the Father with my needs. I move beyond my own needs when I ask God to meet others’ needs. Adoration is the activity of recognizing the majesty and beauty and uniqueness of God’s character and verbally (or musically) worshiping Him. We express adoration through doxology and eulogy and verse. When I confess, I admit my wrongdoing to God, seeking to set my relationship with Him aright.

Bible translation is a multi-faceted ministry in another way. The success of Bible translation depends upon those who send and those who go. The senders send by providing finances, encouraging the sent ones, and by praying. The sent ones use the finances, operate more bodly because of the encouragement, and see fruitbearing in ministry because of answered prayer.

Answers

Seeing God’s hand at work, especially if we are praying day after day specific requests, is encouraging. If you were praying with us through the month of May, you prayed for God to bring peace and restore civility to the Somau Garia-speaking area (southern Madang Province along the Ramu Highway).

Mid-May, the head Somau Garia translation, Ezekiel, began traveling safely once again between Kawawar Market and the city of Madang. Another translator, Kisama, reported that the parties involved in the violence had begun working out the differences that led to the conflict. Thank God with us for this resolution to animosity and an at least partial restoration of normalcy.

You also prayed that my work permit (Todd’s) and our visas (Todd’s and Angela’s) would make it all the way through the approval process, allowing us to travel to Papua New Guinea at the end of May for June checking sessions. Always when we pray, we desire to pray according to God’s will—which sometimes means that God will say ‘no’. That is the case with this request. At the end of May, we still wait for the approvals. 

Thank God that, in his infinite wisdom, He has said ‘no’ to this heartfelt prayer. Though it is not what we asked for, we trust that his wisdom supercedes our inability to see the whole picture. Thank God that he has provided technology and will co-workers to allow us to continue on with the consultant checking of 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Peter, and Jude via video-conferencing software.

Intercession

We are now operating on Plan Z (for Zoom). June 1 through 26, the Somau Garia translation team, our consultant and I (Todd) will be joining together on a Zoom conference daily to check each and every one of the 884 verses that comprise the books listed above. We thus find ourselves, once again, shamelessly dependent upon the grace and mercy of God. We also, once again, find ourselves asking you to consistently pray daily with us for many things. Here are a few prayer points for you to carry into your prayer closet:

  • Ask God to allow the technology to work flawlessly.
    • Often, in the waning months of a translation program, the enemy will introduce all sorts snares and stumbling blocks to the process to interrupt people’s ability to gain access to God’s Word in their heart language.
  • Pray for God to allow us the ability to communicate clearly (it can be more challenging online than in person).
  • Call on God to give each of us clarity, resourcefulness, insight, and ability to find creative solutions to translation problems.
  • Ask God to allow us to complete checking all 884 verses in the time allotted.
  • Ask God to use the process and the Word to transform hearts and minds into the likeness of Jesus Christ

So, as we kick off the month of June, we find ourselves ever more dependent upon the grace and mercy of God, thanking him for creative alternatives to what we consider to be ideal, and ready to serve on a moment’s notice.

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and give you peace.

Regular updates during June

If you’d like to check in from time to time throughout the month for ongoing updates, feel free to stop by our Facebook Ministry Page, Owen Prayer and Provision Team. I will be posting there regularly throughout the month. Blessings!