The Lambya Scripture brings Joy!

The Word of God in the Lambya language is bringing joy to people’s hearts. TWFTW are working in cooperation with the Seed Company to help bring this joy to the Lambyan speaking community of Malawi.

Since the launch of the New Testament in 2016, people can read and understand the message of love and hope in their heart language. Now preachers and chaplains can clearly teach the true message of the Bible. The Bible speaks directly to people’s hearts.

The aim now is to have Psalms, Isaiah, Joel, Hosea Habakkuk and Malachi in print by 2020.

Please keep praying for the TWFTW translators, consultants and all parties involved working towards this goal!

Mother Tongue Translation

“In our hearts we carry the vision: to see every person with the Word of God, translated into their mother tongue. To empower mother tongue speakers to translate the Bible into their own language”

When a person reads the Bible in their mother tongue language, it speaks to their hearts and makes it easier to apply in life. When understanding the message, it brings change to their lives, and the lives of their families.

Enjoy this video on the impact of mother tongue translation with us!

Isaiah 50:4 New International Version (NIV)
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

God Speaks My Language!

Imagine waking up one morning and everyone around you speaks a language you cannot understand. You are unable to fathom what is going on. You are unable to express your feelings. Helpless to speak and to be heard. You are at a total loss.

On a recent trip to a country I had never visited before, I sat in the plane listening to the voice of the airhostess. I could not understand any of what she was saying. Long sentences with many words, sounds that were meaningless to me. Foreign sounds. Then she switched to a language I understood. It was an incredible assurance!

I then realized what it must be like for so many people around the world who do not have the Bible in their own language. They hear the Word of God in a language they do not understand. What joy and revelation it must bring to people when they receive the Bible in their own language for the first time. The message of hope, love and salvation. The Good News in a language that speaks to their hearts!

TWFTW’s prayer is that every person will know that God loves them and speaks their language. The vision is that everyone will have access to the Word of God in the language God gave them.

The Words of His love and His ultimate sacrifice reaching the Bibleless everywhere!

Thank you for your support today that makes it possible to achieve this goal.

John 1:1 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Bringing Light to the Darkness!

The Democratic Republic of the Congo faced severe difficult situations in the past, which made the translation process of the Taabua Bible a long and difficult one. Due to the dedication of the translators, your support and prayers and through the Grace of God, the Taabua people received the Kitaabua audio New Testament!

The Taabua people of the DRC are so excited to receive these audio Bibles as they are planning to distribute them widely.

The Taabua New Testament is complete, but the people of DRC are yearning to have the Old Testament in their heart language as well. As at 31 December 2018 the Old Testament was 61% complete. Please continue to pray that the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo will receive the whole Bible in their heart language.

“Kalinde Nzika once summed up the eternal impact of the project when he wrote, “The Taabua Bible translation project is a splendid and powerful hammer to break the darkness in which the Taabua lived for so long. They were unseen, non-existent and ignored. But God will raise them up, as the Scriptures say in Hosea 2.23: …I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one’. I will say to those called ‘Not my people’, ’You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God’. The voice of God in Taabua will be with them and in them. He is in control.”

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Our God, the God of all People and all Languages

Moses Magega, an elder from the Makonji Village, Tanzania says: “Since I was born, I received many gifts, they did not transform my life, but I thank God almighty! In my age I have received a very special gift. My life has changed! I can see the goodness of God who created us, now I see the love of God from my Ngindo Bible. God is for all people in all languages under the sun. Now I share with my grandchildren and neighbours at Sunday school in Ngindo Bible”

Thank you for being part of this testimony! With your help TWFTW is able to help the people of Tanzania receive the Bible in their own languages! Having the Bible in their heart language, inspires more people to read from the Bible and come to Christ.

Story and Photos by George Chombo Tanzania

Such a time as this!

We are on the cusp of a new era in Bible translation in The Word for the World. A team of pioneers in South East Asia have been prying open doors to countless Bible-less ethnic groups in the region. Just what does a new pioneering phase entail?

During the pioneer phase, the team becomes aware of the needs in a particular region. While waiting on God for His timing, they prayerfully start investigating the possibilities. After visiting the area – sometimes numerous times – they attempt to find the key people God has been preparing for such a time as this.

Without faith it is impossible to please God*. And this is the heartbeat of initializing new projects. It is a faith venture, the coming together of the belief that God is moving us into a new region combined with God-moments, connecting us with those He has gone ahead and prepared for the team to meet.

It is a profound time where sweat, hard work and trusting God come together. The quality of the translations produced by The Word for the World bears testimony to the significance of identifying the right people to work with within a region. Join with us for such a time as this!

*Hebrews 11:6

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God’s Words: Creating Unity and Transformation

“Having the Word of God in my Ngindo language makes me happy. Reading it myself or with neighbours brings Unity.”

These are the words of Miriam, a Ngindo speaking lady from the Kitolgo village in Tanzania.

“I can see that God is the owner of all languages, I feel He is speaking to me. I love the Ngindo Bible.”

Being able to read the Bible in their heart language transforms lives, and the desire to read the Bible to themselves and their children increases.

449,618 people in Tanzania speak Ngindo. The New Testament was completed in 2016, but the Old Testament is only 33% complete.

Please pray with us that the Ngindo speaking people may receive the whole Bible to ensure further unity and transformation!

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The Word of God is Life

“There is power in our language,” says Marco Peter. “Now I can say that Jesus is Lord in my life.”

Marco is a Pogoro-speaking man in a small village in Tanzania. When he heard people from The Word for the World reading the Pogoro New Testament to some of the teenagers in the village, he went to them and said:

“I was listening when you told the young people about Jesus and read to them. Please, tell me how I can read the Bible too?”

The translation project leader, John Kahonga, offered to read with him. When Marco heard the words of Jesus in his mother tongue, he said, “There is power in our language that can lead me to say that Jesus is Lord in my life. I have complained a lot to God, but now that I hear Him speaking in my language, I believe God loves me and has a very good plan with me. He is the only way.”

Marco gave his life to the Lord that day because he heard the Word of God in his heart language. The Word of God is life!

Story and photos supplied by George Chombo and Spencer Erasto.

An Ordinary Weekend

Around 2,000 years ago, history was forever changed. Heaven broke open and released all of God’s love, mercy, power, freedom, and grace. The veil that hid His face from us was torn, and since then we have lived in close communion with the King of Kings, where before only a select few could be in His presence or hear His voice.

When history was changed, so were our stories. Jesus’s resurrection day was our resurrection day, too.

But there are many who may as well be living 2,000 years ago. The Light of Christ has not broken through into their hearts and lives - not because they’ve heard the Gospel and rejected it, but because they don’t know that this man called Jesus has broken their chains. They’ve never read his words or felt his love transform their entire being.

For them, this is just an ordinary weekend.

But you can help to change their stories, just as your story has been changed. You can help to bring the Light into their darkness. You can help them to know: Jesus loves you and he speaks your language.

Will you help make history?

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Veronique Krüger

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Transformation From Generation to Generation

“What I find incredible and what really touched my heart is that this work that we are doing will be going from generation to generation; it will never end,” said Tago, one of the Basketo translators in Ethiopia. He and his team members, Abate and Tezera, recently completed the final consultation of 1 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah with the help of TWFTW consultant Nel Claassen. This means that these books are almost ready to go to print and is an exciting milestone for the team.

The Basketo translation of the Old Testament is 28% complete. Since the project started, the impact on the community has been incredible. “Before, there was a resistance to the gospel, and even violence because of it. But because of Bible translation, the door for sharing the gospel is open. People are now asking for it,” said Tezera. “There is a pride that has developed because of Bible translation, because they recognise that they are important enough for God to have His Word in their language.”

Abate also said that a Basketo education program has even started because of the project. “This has given them an opportunity for a dictionary in their own language, something they’ve never had before. It is only because of Bible translation that this could happen. It makes the language precious, and it makes the people extremely happy.”

The impact that Bible translation is having on the Basketo people and the transformation that is happening in every sphere of their society is truly amazing. Your partnership with us is changing history, one people group at a time.

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