Which Translation Is Best?
Guest article by Daniel Huber, used by permission
Guest article by Daniel Huber, used by permission
Hello, readers!
What is God’s desire for how His children should live together in a broken world?
It is a helpless feeling to look into an indigenous person’s face and realize you have no way of communicating. The team enters as learners in the community because of their inability to communicate. Culture and Language Acquisition (CLA) is their first task.
Fulfilling the Great Commission calls followers of Jesus to communities that are difficult to enter. Once the target area is identified, a team may need to work for several years to gain long-term access.
We expect a surgeon to spend years in training before he attempts his first surgery. Likewise, a lawyer spends years in law school before he represents a case in court. Should a missionary go to the field without training? Should a translator translate the Scriptures with no preparation?
A small team of church planters and Bible translators has been working hard for many years. They finish the Bible translation. They ordain leaders in the local church. They leave a maturing church that can continue to grow in the Word.
As image-bearers of God, we are almost constantly communicating. Each day, we send and receive thousands of signals (verbal or non-verbal) to those around us. Encoded in each message sent are references to contextual information shared by both the sender and receiver of the message.
Bible translation is a chief task for All-Nations teams, but it is far from the only task. Frequently, it is more than a simple lack of a Bible which prevents an indigenous church from beginning and flourishing among an unreached people group.