In This Issue: How many languages does God speak?
- BOOK: Stories of Bible Translation
- TRAINING: Online Studies for Christian Workers
- BOOK: Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids
- ARTICLE: Kids and Short-term Mission
- POSTERS: Motivational Mission Posters
- OPPORTUNITY: A Contest for Mission Supporters
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please share it freely!
BOOK: Stories of Bible Translation
The Multilingual God: Stories of Translation, by Steve Fortosis. William Carey Library, 2012. 205 pages.
Many popular books describing Bible translation tell the story of a single translator or translation. This one, with hundreds of anecdotes from all over the world, is different. Many of the stories and principles appeared in previous works on the topic. The author compiles them here along with others from his own correspondence. The result – like the work of Bible translation itself – is somewhat overwhelming, but very informative.
A major focus of The Multilingual God is portraying the difficult task of translating the Scriptures in such a way that they are faithful to the language and culture of the original manuscripts without being misunderstood by the peoples of languages and cultures where certain words or events might suggest quite different meanings.
As Paul Vollrath of the Summer Institute of Linguistics explains, “There has not been a book for the general Christian public for 30 years or more describing the aspects of the Bible translation task, the fun bits about language, and the snags in translating God’s Word into totally unrelated languages. This book hopes to fill that niche and also be of help to translators today in sharing the story of their work with supporters.”
>> Learn more or purchase from William Carey Library for US$11.19. See also Translating Christ: The Memoirs of Herman Peter Aschmann, Wycliffe Bible Translator.
TRAINING: Online Studies for Christian Workers
Source: Brigada Today, July 22, 2012
GIAL (Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics) is expanding its online courses so Christian workers in other countries can take them without leaving the work. Upcoming offerings are:
- Multi-Cultural Teamwork
- Scripture Engagement Strategy and Methods
- Relevance Theory (for Bible translators)
- Seminar in Applied Linguistics: Introduction to the Bible Translator’s Assistant
- Contextualization Issues among Muslim Peoples
GIAL courses are taught by people with many years of field experience as well as doctorates. These are graduate courses requiring plenty of study, but participants will come out with a deep and practical understanding of each topic.
>> Learn more about the courses.
BOOK: Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids
Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids: Short-term Missions for your Whole Family, by Jill Richardson. BeachGlass Communications, 2012. 83 pages.
Mom and author Jill Richardson explores the reasons for taking children on mission trips and responds to common objections, then addresses research, fundraising, logistics, culture stress, spiritual growth, and reentry, all with family concerns in mind.
As she points out, kids may tend to see the world in black and white more than adults do, and therefore navigate cultural issues differently. On the other hand, more accustomed to being students and servants than teachers and leaders, they may have a certain edge over their parents or other adults. Guess which mindset opens more doors?
The author is speaking from an American perspective and leans heavily on an experience taking her own children (then aged 6, 10, and 11) to China to work in an orphanage. She does, however, emphasize principles and practices likely to apply to readers in other situations as well.
>> Learn more or purchase from Amazon for US$8.00, or get the Kindle edition for US$3.99.
ARTICLES: Kids and Short-term Mission
Building Church Leaders, a ministry connected with Christianity Today, is selling a PDF with nine previously published articles about children and short-term missions (including some from Jill Richardson, the author of Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids). Here’s how they describe the package:
“This download will help answer your questions about taking your child to the mission field. There are articles dealing with the value to your child as well as to those being served, others that deal with the practical aspects of the trip, and several that share the experience from a parent’s and a child’s point of view. In addition, we’ve added a list of resources including links to missions agencies specializing in family mission trips.”
>> See the list of articles or purchase for US$9.95 from Building Church Leaders. While you’re there, check out some of their other articles and resource packs.
>> See also Preparing for a Family Missions Trip, a brief article from NavPress. This one is free but you’ll have to create an account and log in to access it.
Thanks to Peter at M-DAT for these recommendations.
POSTERS: Motivational Mission Posters
Source: Stand4Kids
Karen at Stand4Kids writes:
“Just ran across a set of four mission posters from Oriental Trading that would be great for anyone who is teaching the biblical basis of missions to kids and youth. Posters measure 22 by 17 inches. They have color photos of international children and a left border of international flags. Each poster has one of these mission-related Bible verses: Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 14:23, and Acts 1:8.”
>> Purchase the set from Oriental Trading for US$4.99.
OPPORTUNITY: A Contest for Mission Supporters
Love Global is a foundation dedicated to helping missionaries become fully funded. They offer charitable status and an online platform for missionaries to share their story through text, photos, and videos, and help supporters feel fully connected and invested in what the missionaries are doing.
Love Global is partnering with Missions Fest Vancouver to host a contest to help engage supporters and get them excited about missions. Three “champions” will win a trip to visit and volunteer with the missionary they support. They’ll also be given a video camera so they can further promote the missionary’s work when they get back. This is an opportunity for missionaries to attract new champions as well as motivate their existing supporters.
The contest launches October 1, and the winners will be announced at Missions Fest in January 2013.
The way to win? Raise the most money you can for a specific missionary, attract the most interest to your page about that missionary, or generate the most creative funding ideas. Maybe your idea could help others, too!
>> Learn more about this contest.
Marti Wade is a writer, speaker, and project manager for the Church Partnerships Team at Pioneers. Since the mid-90s she has also helped prepare cultural research teams to explore unreached communities and mobilize efforts to serve them.
Marti has managed and published Missions Catalyst since 2004 and is the author of Through Her Eyes, a book about the lives of women serving cross-culturally in the Muslim world. She married Chris Wade in May 2012.