WYCLIFFE: PUTTING THE WORD IN THE HANDS OF THE WORLD

One of our friends, Dave Brooks, recently moved with his wife Gwen to Singapore to become the Asian director for the support arm of Wycliffe Bible Translators. He sent us information that shows us the importance of continuing mission work of this type.

Can you imagine being a missionary in a country where there is no Bible in the people's language? Some primitive people groups may still have no written language and thus need to have their speech transcribed and to be taught to read.

We need to pray for workers for the harvest.If you feel led, please share with others this prayer need God has put on my heart. It's a matter of eternal life.

Worldwide Bible Translation Statistics

• World population: 6.5 billion
  
• Languages spoken in the world: 6,912 [Ethnologue, 15th edition, 2005]
  
• Languages with probable need of Bible translation: 2,251 representing 193 million people
  
• Languages with some or all of the Bible: 2,454. Of these, 438 have an adequate Bible; 1,168 have an adequate New Testament; 848 have Scripture portions [UBS 2007] (Wycliffe has participated in work for over half of all languages receiving translated Scriptures.)
  
• Language-based development and translation programs known to be in progress worldwide: 1,953 (Wycliffe is involved in 1,415, representing 73% of all projects, reaching an estimated population of over 568 million people)
  
• New language programs begun worldwide in Bibleless language communities since October 1, 1999 (the beginning of Vision 2025): 592 (Wycliffe involved in 490 —– 83%)

Wycliffe Participation in Bible Translation

• Countries represented by the languages in which Wycliffe personnel are working: 93 (including work among people who live outside their traditional homeland)
  
• Translation: Over the more than 70 years of history, Wycliffe personnel have been involved in the translation of 721 New Testaments and Bibles representing over 80 million people.
  
• Production: In 2007, Wycliffe personnel were involved in the completion of 2 Bibles; 9 New Testaments; 6 Jesus videos; 6 Luke videos and 5 Genesis videos.
  
• Wycliffe supported personnel: 6,453 workers. Partners at the local, national, regional and international levels include thousands of additional people committed to Bible translation, literacy and the other language development needs of minority peoples.
  
• Personnel needed: Over 3,000 needs for linguist/translators, literacy specialists, trainers, project managers, computer specialists, administrators and other roles.
  
• Organizations that are a part of Wycliffe International: 48 member organizations, 29 recognized partner organizations.
  

GENERATION NEXT MARRIAGE by Tricia Goyer--A Boomer Blogs to GenXers about Dreams and Goals, Chapter 17

GENERATION NEXT MARRIAGE by Tricia Goyer--
A Boomer Blogs to GenXers about Dreams and Goals, Chapter 17

When Steve and I met, we couldn’t stop conversing about all the things that mattered most to us. We had grown up with similar dreams of marriage and family, and each of us brought to our marriage individual dreams as well. Some of these didn’t emerge for many years. The prime example for me, like Tricia, is my writing. It’s something I had always loved, but I’d pushed writing to the background, thinking it wasn’t a practical way to spend most of my time.

The first thing I think of regarding marriage when discussing dreams and goals is encouragement. Steve has always brought out the best in me in a natural way. He listens, he cares, he insists I don’t sacrifice what’s important to me, such as my writers’ group meetings.

It’s only fair that I encourage my husband to go for his goals as well. Perhaps the greatest challenge ever to our marriage has come in a recent career choice Steve made with my blessing, because it involves us keeping our old home, yet he is working out of another city two hours away. I know he would have always wondered if he hadn’t taken up the gauntlet this particular job threw him.

Then I think of unity. If we aren’t in agreement about individual or couple goals, then it’s time to pray and to decide whether it’s worth making an issue of the situation. As the Bible says, Can two walk together except they be agreed? Of course, this doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything or come to a compromise right away. It just means even if we are agreeing to disagree, that we don’t let dreams, goals, or anything else pull us apart. Nothing that destroys our marital unity is worth that.

I can’t end a post about dreams, goals, and marriage without plugging the creativity our Creator gave us. Our goal as a married couple is to keep our marriage close and the feelings fresh. This year we’ve had to be creative in celebrating in another city both the Super Bowl and Valentine’s, which turned out to be more special because we had to put extra effort into these occasions. Our unfamiliar surroundings proved to be a unifying factor as we shopped for Super Bowl snacks—something I don’t think we’d ever done together before—and we boldly tried a new restaurant for Valentine’s after finding it on the Internet. New traditions, combined with old comfortable routines, provide a terrific backdrop for sharing our goals and dreams on a daily basis.
I’d love to hear how you and your spouse share your goals and dreams and help one another fulfill them.

Book excerpt:

http://www.triciagoyer.com/cmsdocuments/Ch__1_GNM_first_chap.pdf

What people are saying about Generation NeXt Marriage: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/1590529103/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Buy the book: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?event=AFF&p=1137620&item_no=529102

Tricia's website: http://triciagoyer.com/