When we
speak about Bible translation needs, we're really speaking about "two
groups": the unreached people groups (completely unevangelized, needing
the Word and the Gospel to be brought), and then also the people all over the
world that maybe have a church and are established believers, but have no
Scripture in their language.
The one that people usually think about when Bible translation comes
up are the unreached people groups of the world, (people in the "10/40
window"), while the second category of Bible translation needs are for the
hundreds of languages that are spoken in countries that may have millions of
believers, but very few with access to God's Word in their heart language. In a
lot of cases, this second group includes the oppressed church, or simply
believers that speak a different language than the country's nationally
recognized/standardized language (this group covers people in places like
Russia, First Nations tribes in northern Canada, the islands of Indonesia,
language varieties in Southern Italy and other European nations, evangelized
African nations, countries all over South America, and on and on an on!).
These people may understand some of the national language, but it's not the
language they speak at home, or in the market, and it's not the language they
speak to their children, spouses, loved ones. So
when they go to church, they experience the Lord speaking only to them as a
foreigner would, as an unfamiliar visitor might - not in the language that speaks to their heart or makes the
most sense to their minds, but in a language that is not their own. And this
experience can come riffled with misunderstanding about what our Abba is really
like!---Their whole experience of church, worship, and prayer may be teaching
them that God is not a personal God, but a formal, standardized, political god,
and that He does not understand their tongue, nor care to speak with them
as a friend does. In many places, the church cannot mature as it can here,
because its believers and even pastors do not have access to the Word to read
and study on their own, discipleship is limited, and belief remains thin,
unfed, and unfulfilled by Christ's coming.
Today' PassionBite video is about the great need for Bible
translation for already-existent believers. Author
and pastor, Francis Chan, speaks about the authority of the Word, and the
URGENT need for pastors and believers all over the world to have it.
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