Spreading the Word about Translating the Word

(originally posted on 2016-11-28)

Jeff writes: Do you remember being in your early twenties and trying to figure out what to do with your life? That’s the stage of life that my Linguistics students at Tyndale are in, along with their peers who are studying in other programs. As students at a Christian university, they’re seeking God’s will for their careers, and they’re open to trying new things. Some of them are already committed to missionary work, some specifically to Bible translation. Others have other careers in mind, or perhaps have never seriously considered a career in full-time cross-cultural ministry.

I was in their place once too. I took the summer between my 3rd and 4th years of university to explore Linguistics and Bible translation by taking classes at Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL). At the time, I told myself I was “giving God a chance to talk me into missions.” And He did! And He used my teachers, my classmates, and the speakers in chapel services to open my eyes to the need for Bible translation and the gifts He’d given me that could make a difference in this work.

Earlier this month we put on an event for Tyndale students to introduce them to Bible translation. CanIL’s president was visiting for meetings, and he was happy to be our speaker that evening. We bought pizza, pop, and water for the students, and publicized the event around campus by putting up posters inviting anyone who was interested. (And by “we”, I’m including our Linguistics students: they really got behind this event and did a lot of work spreading the word and helping out.)

We set our expectations low; we’d never done something like this here before. We were hoping for 20 students and we bought pizza for 40 (just in case!); about 30 attended. They were really engaged, they asked great questions, and our students told us they were still talking about the event for days afterwards.

That same week was "Missions Week" at Emmanuel Bible College, and I went and spoke to a class there about Wycliffe and Bible translation.

It’s a privilege to be a part of this part of these students’ lives, to help them learn about the need for Bible translation, to help them explore whether they might have a part to play, and to equip them for the work if they choose to go that direction.