Over the next few newsletters I am going to reintroduce you to the vision of Wycliffe Canada and its four pillars, which are Scripture Engagement, Literacy, Engagement with Scripture, and Capacity Building. Each newsletter will focus on one pillar, introducing you to its meaning and purpose, as well as a member whose ministry represents that pillar.

A world where translated Scriptures 

lead to transformed lives 

among people of all languages.

Capacity Building is about strengthening the global church’s ability to carry out Bible translation. It happens when transformed lives bring glory to God. The translating of scripture has many steps and phases. A wide variety of people contribute to the task, leveraging skills ranging from linguistic and mother tongue education skills, to translation and exegetical knowledge, to IT support and typesetting, and even accounting and fund raising abilities.

The desire to build capacity comes from the recognition that local, sustainable ownership of translation is important. However, the needed experience and education are not yet available in many countries. A sense of ownership is important to meaningful translation and use of scripture. The more rooted in a culture a translation is, the more that meaning and nuance can come through correctly.

The world is changing. Factors such as politics, war, religious idealism, and less acceptance of foreigners are making it more difficult for our people to travel to and live in many countries where we work. The more local capacity exists, the less reliance there is on external skills and people. The result is a more stable translation project in an ever-changing international landscape.

One of our members tells of a workshop taught in Chad late last year, called Faith and Farming. The teacher at this workshop had attended a previous Faith and Farming workshop in Senegal. This material is being taught more and more across Africa by those who have themselves attended workshops. This is a perfect example of building capacity and multiplying the work of one into many. (To learn more about this initiative please visit the Faith and Farming website). Another way to build capacity is within Wycliffe Canada, as we recruit teachers and trainers to serve local colleagues. In this way, Wycliffe Canada strategically strengthens our focus regions with “value added” people and resources.

I want to introduce you to a fellow Wycliffe Canada member and Ontarian, Rachel Nweke and her husband Uche. Rachel explains her ministry as being about, “stewarding, strengthening and strategizing with SIL, our main partner, and other national Nigerian partners.” In Rachel’s work in mobilization as a mission coach, she learns the personnel needs of our partners around the world, and in turn, recruits Canadians accordingly, so as to strengthen the Bible translation work they are doing. She also supports the Scripture Engagement team with SIL Nigeria in their Faith and Farming initiative, which is the story above. Most, if not all, the languages where Bible translation work is being done in Nigeria, are spoken by farmers. Yet, there is often a disconnect between the life of a farmer and the life of the church. Rachel helps to bridge this gap with the specific training that she has. More about her and Uche’s ministry can be found at https://www.wycliffe.ca/member/nweke-rachel-and-uche/.

Pray for the projects around the world where Wycliffe Canada is involved in Capacity Building. Visit our website https://www.wycliffe.ca/projects/capacity-building/ to learn more about how Wycliffe Canada works towards this pillar.

Pray for Wycliffe Canada as we interact with partners and recruit the right people to support and meet the needs identified by our partners.

Pray for Wycliffe Canada as we have key spots to fill including our next President.