Word Alive Magazine - Summer 2009

Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada • Summer 2009

Let

& Eyes Listen

Wycliffe aids Bible translation into sign languages for the Deaf.

New Director Named JAARS Receives First Kodiak Aircraft Missio Dei in the Midst of Uncertainty

Foreword Summer 2009 • Volume 27 • Number 2 Word Alive, which takes its name from Hebrews 4:12a, is the official publication of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Its mission is to inform, inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible translation movement.

Editor: Dwayne Janke

Give Me a Sign (Name) Dwayne Janke

Designer: Laird Salkeld Senior Staff Writer: Doug Lockhart Staff Writers: Janet Seever, Deborah Crough Staff Photographer: Alan Hood Director of Communications: Dave Crough Word Alive is published four times annually by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Copyright 2009 by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Permission to reprint articles and other magazine contents may be obtained by written request to the editor. A donation of $12 annually is suggested to cover the cost of printing and mailing the magazine. (Donate online or use the reply form in this issue.) Printed in Canada by McCallum Printing Group, Edmonton.

Member: The Canadian Church Press, Evangelical Press Association.

For additional copies: media_resources@wycliffe.ca To contact the editor: editor_wam@wycliffe.ca For address updates: circulation@wycliffe.ca Note to readers: References to “SIL” are occasionally made in Word Alive. SIL is a key partner organization, dedicated to training, language development and research, translation and literacy.

Wycliffe Canada Vision Statement: A world where translated Scriptures lead to transformed lives among people of all languages.

Translating Scripture, Transforming Lives Together with partners worldwide, we serve indigenous people through language-related ministries, especially Bible translation and literacy. Our goal is to empower local communities to express God’s love in Word and deed—for personal, social and spiritual transformation. Wycliffe personnel currently serve globally in nearly 1,500 language projects for more than a half billion people. However, about 2,400 minority groups still wait for the power of God working through their own languages.

Wycliffe invites you to participate in this effort through prayer, service and funding.

Canadian Head Office: 4316 10 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6K3. Phone: (403) 250-5411 or toll free 1-800-463-1143, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. mountain time. Fax: (403) 250-2623. Email: info@wycliffe.ca Cover: Estrella Camacho, Catalonian Sign Language Bible translator, leads worship at a Deaf church service near Barcelona, Spain (see story, pg. 24). Photograph by Alan Hood.

In Others’ Words “ . . . The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard.”

—John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian and reformer, in Institutes of the Christian Religion

P

hotographer Alan Hood and I were with 15 African sign language Bible translators for only a few days when they began brainstorming about us. They insisted that we have sign names—standard cultural practice for anyone who visits or joins a group of Deaf*.

Our Wycliffe colleague Harry Harms had finger-spelled our names D-w-a-y-n-e and A-l-a-n for the translators, who were being trained at the Deaf Opportunity OutReach (DOOR) centre in Nairobi, Kenya. But that couldn’t replace a real sign name; one based on some important or distinct physical or non-physical characteristic of ours. I had fears these young, fun-loving Africans would want to represent my larger-than-average nose or my balding head. Who would want to get labelled with those names?

Fortunately, through consensus, they decided on representing something less embarrassing: my glasses and beard, a distinct combination among this group. To introduce myself to other Deaf from now on, I make a fist just in front and to the side of my eye, with the heel of my hand pointing ahead and my thumb and index finger outstretched above and below my eye. That’s the “glasses” part. Then I open that same hand and rub my fingers down the side of my face.

That’s the “beard” part. My sign name is literally “Glasses-Beard.”

I felt more accepted by the Deaf having this sign name and they were always excited to see me use it, which I did for the rest of our trip this past September. Still, it was difficult to really enter the Deaf world beyond a superficial level without knowing the sign languages they speak to Without knowing the sign share their deepest thoughts and emotions.

A huge communication barrier divides us. languages that the Deaf Similarly, it is very difficult for God’s truth in His Word to enter and impact the use to share their deepest lives of the Deaf, unless it comes in their thoughts and emotions, heart languages—sign languages. For this reason, Wycliffe workers are on the cusp of a huge communication an accelerating effort to translate Scriptures into the 200-400 estimated sign languages barrier divides us. used by Deaf people worldwide.

In this issue of Word Alive, we take you to Africa and Spain to see this cutting-edge translation work in action. We also have stories about related efforts to: 1) develop software to aid in sign language animation, 2) offer sign language translation training, and 3) determine the translation need in Asia (by a Canadian).

I have no doubt that God wants many more names of Deaf people in His Book of Life, just as He does hearing folks. And maybe there will even be an extra column of information in that book . . . titled “Sign Name.” * To emphasize that Deaf cultures are distinct from hearing cultures, people often write “Deaf” when referring to a linguistic-cultural group, and “deaf” for the audiological condition of people. This approach is used in this magazine.

6 Contents

Features

6

It’s a Time of the Signs Led by a Kenyan farmer and aided by Wycliffe expertise, DOOR International mobilizes Deaf sign language Bible translators in Africa.

Articles By Dwayne Janke • Photographs by Alan Hood

18 Vital Signs

Diagnosis: Many of the world’s Deaf are in spiritual ill health. Part of the prescription: translate God’s Word into sign languages.

18

24 Signs Along the Way As God leads, Wycliffe’s Steve and Dianne Parkhurst are juggling not one, but two, sign language projects in Spain.

Departments 2

Foreword Give Me a Sign (Name).

4

Watchword W ycliffe Canada Board Names New Director.

34 Beyond Words Ring of the Lord’s.

Photograph by Alan Hood

35 Last Word M issio Dei in the Midst of Uncertainty.

By Kirk Franklin

24

Corrections: For various reasons, several mistakes were made in the Spring 2009 issue of Word Alive. Danny Foster actually coordinates training for translation projects in the Uganda-Tanzania Branch of SIL International. In the page 6/7 photo, he is driving through Lamadi, not Musoma. In photos on page 3 (top) and page 12, Foster is visiting Mikumi National Park. Word Alive regrets the errors.

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 3

Watchword Wycliffe Canada Board Names New Director

W

ycliffe Canada is in a period of transition, as current Executive Director Dave Ohlson finishes his service in November 2009.

To provide leadership upon completion of Ohlson’s term, the Wycliffe Canada board of directors recently decided unanimously to appoint Don Hekman (left) as interim executive director. Don and his wife Martha have been members of Wycliffe internationally for 37 years and Wycliffe Canada for 21 years.

“Don brings a rich diversity of experience and talent to this position,” said Hart Wiens, board chairman.

Hekman currently serves as director of language program services for the Americas Area of SIL, Wycliffe’s partner organization dedicated to training, language research, translation and literacy. The Hekmans are able to communicate in both official languages of Canada, having lived in Québec for 15 years where they served in a language project with one of Canada’s First Nations.

Wiens announced that Hekman will serve for two years, providing executive leadership as Wycliffe Canada tackles the major task of updating its corporate bylaws to be in line with current realities.

“With the support of the Wycliffe family, he will seek to identify and nurture an expanding pool of leaders to ensure that Wycliffe Canada will continue to play a vital and effective role as a major partner in Vision 2025,” added Wiens. Vision 2025 is the goal of seeing Bible translation started in every language group still needing it by the year 2025.

J

Don Horneman

AARS Inc., Wycliffe’s technical arm, has taken delivery of its first Kodiak, a 10-seat, turbo prop aircraft (below) capable of short take-offs and landings using readily available jet fuel.

Just the eighth Kodiak made by Quest Aircraft Company of Idaho (www.questaircraft.com), the plane will be used in mountainous Papua New Guinea. JAARS is the first mission or humanitarian organization to purchase and receive the specialty aircraft.

Kodiak planes are the key to continuing the provision of air travel to support Bible translation efforts worldwide. A new type of plane is needed because of an aging fleet of JAARS aircraft (primarily with piston-driven engines) and the phasing out of aviation grade gasoline. “. . .We looked into the future of aviation for a safe, effective solution to our passengers’ unique transportation requirements,” said David Reeves, JAARS president. “The Kodiak is well-poised to meet the challenging needs of the translation community in remote operations.”

4

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Kevin Gonsalves

JAARS Receives First Kodiak Aircraft

W

ycliffe Canada has reached an agreement with Tyndale University College to establish a linguistics program on its campus in Toronto. The agreement, signed in mid-February, enables Wycliffe candidates to complete many of their pre-field training requirements at Tyndale.

Wycliffe Canada Executive Director Dave Ohlson (below, right) sees the opportunity of working with Tyndale as a positive step, especially since the program will be offered in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with its highest population density in Canada.

“This agreement is significant in that it is affording Christian students in the GTA the opportunity to take linguistics as a part of their preparation, for potential missionary service, in a Christian context close to home.

“The agreement can only enhance recruitment opportunities as more students have the opportunity to explore what is happening in the ministries of the worldwide Bible translation movement.”

Tyndale President Brian Stiller (below, left) said the university was happy partnering with Wycliffe on the new linguistics program, which will strengthen both parties.

“I think Wycliffe has maintained both its spiritual and intellectual authority,” he said. “And I think their affiliation with us will accelerate their mission.”

Wycliffe, Tyndale Establish Linguistics Program

Bible Translation Agency Formed in Bolivia

D

irectors and leaders from 12 ministries and organizations in Bolivia have established “Bolivians in Translation and Literacy” (BETA). The new agency was formed in November in the city of Sucre.

BETA has begun planning its strategy to mobilize churches and individuals throughout their South American nation.

Creation of the new agency reflects the commitment of BETA’s organizing partners for Bible translation and Vision 2025. Vision 2025 is a goal initiated by Wycliffe Bible Translators to see Bible translation underway in every language of the world still needing it, by the year 2025.

Nigerians Get Language Survey Training

Literacy Helps Battle Malaria in Africa

F

our Nigerian interns, including a Lutheran pastor and an Anglican priest, have doubled the size of a language survey team working to clearly determine the Bible translation need in their African country.

The newcomers, who supplement four expatriate Wycliffe surveyors, have received six weeks of intensive classroom training, followed by their first sociolinguistic survey trip to investigate the Jarawa dialects spoken in Bauchi state, says Mike Rueck, the team’s leader. Their internship will Niger Chad continue for three years.

Lake “There are over 300 Nigerian languages needing assessment, Chad and a typical team might assess six languages in a year,” says Benin N I G E R I A Rueck. “Rather than take over 50 years to assess all of those Abuja languages, we want to multiply our efforts by training Nigerians as language surveyors.

“We want to enable the Nigerian Church to do this work.”

Sociolinguistic survey is the activity of gathering information Cameroon about how languages are used in a society, vital for discovering what Scripture translation needs exist.

Gulf of Guinea

A

community literacy program is boosting the success of a public health project designed to create a malaria-free zone in Burkina Faso, Africa.

The Kaan people are using mosquito nets and curtains properly when they are distributed (below) with educational materials about malaria prevention in their Kaansa language. The Kaan community developed the mother tongue information with the help of SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization. SIL has been working in the area since 1987.

Tests a year ago showed that almost everyone who received nets and curtains, accompanied by the vernacular info, used them properly. Cases of fever reported

by Kaan villagers in the distribution zone fell by 72 per cent from three months earlier.

More than 3,000 sets of nets and curtains have been distributed so far by the Association Kaan Alpha and Somerled Foundation. Their goal is to get nets into every bedroom, and curtains on every front door and sitting room window.

Translation Planning Across the Tundra

travelling to the language areas, identified a number of dialects.

Recommendations about the Wycliffe team has complet- need for Bible translation have been made and now leaders ed research of languages spoken by people groups spread must decide how to respond.

The team discovered the need across thousands of kilometres for Scriptures (even those in of tundra in Siberia.

Russian) to be presented in culThe language survey efforts, turally appropriate ways so they based on library research, have a real impact on lives. extensive networking and some

A

Spain’s PROEL Offers Advanced Linguistics Training

P

ROEL, the Wycliffe organization in Spain, is offering a master’s degree to prepare students for service in Bible translation.

This past year 10 students graduated from the program in applied linguistics, translation and literacy. Six are

As one area pastor put it: “Humanitarian aid should not be brought to us without the gospel. . . . It doesn’t help to give someone a new jumper in Siberia if that individual is going to collapse dead drunk on the street in –30 C. Rather give us God’s Word, which helps people to escape from alcoholism.”

already involved in Scripture translation. A new batch of students is currently studying in this year’s program.

PROEL is offering the training in partnership with the applied linguistics department of the University of Leon.

Word Count

500 Number of languages Wycliffe founder William Cameron Townsend thought needed Bible translation in the early 1930s.

3,000 Number of languages Wycliffe thought needed translation in the 1990s.

2,393 Nacceleration umber of languages thought to need translation now, thanks to a rapid of Bible translation starts since 1999.

Source: The Alphabet Makers; Wycliffe International

Lily Suggett

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 5

It’s a Time of the

Led by a Kenyan farmer and aided by Wycliffe expertise, DOOR International mobilizes Deaf sign language Bible translators in Africa.

Articles by Dwayne Janke Photographs by Alan Hood ear a footpath a few steps from his small farmyard, a smiling Paul Njatha swings a long knife at the base of thick, man-high grass. It’s quite cloudy on this warm Saturday morning, but the valley behind him still looks idyllically gorgeous, teeming with green trees and crops (right).

When Paul has cut a bundle of tall grass, he scampers up the path in flip-flops to his farmyard, located on his mother’s land. Using an electric-powered chopper, he cuts the grass into small bits and mixes it with commercial feed. This nourishes his three dairy cows, which supply the milk that Paul sells to support his wife and two children.

You’d never know it by looking at this tall farmer, but for most of the week, he is Paul the administrator/instructor in Nairobi, the bustling capital of Kenya. Every weekday, Paul changes into dress pants, shirt and shoes, catches a matatu (minibus) at the nearby village of Kindiga and makes a 55-km southerly commute.

In Nairobi, he jumps off the matatu and strolls to the Africa centre of Deaf Opportunity OutReach (DOOR) International. Here Paul leads an effort to translate God’s Word into sign languages for Africa’s Deaf, with the help of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

In doing so, Paul’s immediate focus widens tremendously—from his 100-by-100-ft. farm to the entire African continent, home to the millions of Deaf people unreached for the Lord, for whom he feels a burden.

“There are areas in Africa where there are no churches at all for the Deaf,” he says, through an interpreter. And “there are no [Deaf] believers at all in some parts of Africa.”

Paul, 42, knows firsthand about the plight of the Deaf. He was once without Christ—and he is deaf too.

Struggle

Paul remembers the fateful day, at age eight, when his hearing simply disappeared.

“Nothing really happened,” he says. “One day I woke up, I was deaf—I couldn’t hear. That’s all.”

Doctors said Paul had lost his hearing and there was nothing that could be done about it. He refused to accept this new personal reality. As one of two deaf boys in a rural family of eight children, Paul pressed on as best he could in the regular school.

“The hearing teachers explained things, but I didn’t understand.

I thought something else instead of the right meaning of things,” he recalls. “I felt lonely. I didn’t want to show people that I was deaf.

It was hard for me. At that point, I could still speak [my tribal languages] at least, but I couldn’t hear.”

Fortunately, Paul had learned enough when he was still hear-

in Silence

6

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

“ The hearing teachers explained things, but I didn’t understand. . . .

I felt lonely.

I didn’t want to show people that I was deaf. It was hard for me.”

ing—when he could sound out letters and words—to develop crucial reading and writing skills. His determined mother also worked with him after school to help her son keep pace. That continued until high school, where a good friend shared his class notes and materials. Paul pored over them each night as homework to stay afloat in class.

But Paul emphasizes that he was the exception. Many other people who are deaf from infancy in Africa have no family support to stay in school.

“Remember . . . I began as a hearing person, so that helped me,” he says. “If you can understand the hearing way of learning, then you will be okay.

“It depends on the parents. There’re very few parents, a small percentage of parents,” he adds, “that help their deaf children, to allow them to grow. The parents think, ‘Oh, this child doesn’t have a future.’ So they keep him inside. . . . They have no exposure outside their village or their home. They don’t have any hope.

“But my mother was exceptional; she was different. She encouraged us to go to school.”

Though a fearful Paul had resisted his mother’s earlier attempts to enrol him in a Deaf school, he finally agreed to pursue this after high school. Out of 200 student applicants who were interviewed to attend a Deaf vocational school, the 23-year-old was the only one with a high school education.

8

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Deaf and

After being selected to attend the school, Paul learned to be an electrician. But he acquired much more than a vocational skill there. He gained fluency in Kenyan Sign Language (KSL)—in 1986, coincidentally the same year it was standardized and officially recognized as a language in the country. Paul also began to grasp his Deaf identity.

“The drastic change was that I felt so much better in the Deaf school because I could communicate! Once I was with the Deaf and learned the sign language, I felt more confident: ‘This is my language!’ Before, I didn’t know my own language. I was afraid of being with the Deaf.”

For three years after vocational school, Paul worked as an electrician in Nairobi for a firm run by an Indian man. Though his mother was Catholic and he had attended a Catholic church at the Deaf school, he stopped attending church while working in Nairobi. Then a deaf friend he met, whom he had known in school, invited Paul to a church. An American missionary, who communicated in KSL (though not that naturally), ran the church.

“I was so excited to see someone signing the Bible stories in sign language,” Paul recalls. “The second Sunday, he was talking about the salvation message. It was in my heart language—sign language—so I was really touched.”

“I said, ‘Wow, that is new information I’m hearing.’ ”

Spiritual

Awakening

On weekends, Paul Njatha, who is deaf, works on his small farm in Kenya, doing chores such as chopping grass for his dairy cows (far left). But each weekday, as director of Deaf Opportunity OutReach (DOOR) International in Africa, Paul furthers sign language Scripture translation efforts in Deaf communities. Part of his role includes reviewing drafts and giving feedback to videotaped translations by sign language teams, as he does here at DOOR’s training centre in Nairobi (left).

“ There’s . . . a small percentage of parents that help their deaf children, to allow them to grow.”

The World’s Deaf At a Glance Population: Uncertain. About 1 in a 1,000 people are deaf in richer countries. In poor countries, the figure is usually higher. One authority estimates there are 20 million Deaf globally.

Languages Used: The Deaf have rich, complete, highly visual sign languages with hand movements, facial expression, eye gaze, shoulder position, etc. Complex, with a three-dimensional grammar and structure Location: Found in all of the world’s nations. shared around the world. Don’t follow the Most vibrant Deaf communities develop in order or thought process of surrounding major urban areas, where there are enough spoken and written languages.

Deaf to encourage this.

Number of Sign Languages: Uncertain, due to the lack of language survey research. 230 Identity: The Deaf are a distinct minority sign languages are confirmed. However, there people group within the context of their may be up to 400 distinct sign languages in home country. Have own customs, habits, the world (an average of 2 per country). thought patterns, language, common experiences and values. Don’t consider themselves handicapped or disabled.

Values/Lifestyle: The Deaf often identity more closely with other Deaf than with their own biological family. Highly value interaction with other Deaf as a means to process and internalize information. Tend to gather at Deaf schools, clubs, associations and churches.

Religious Beliefs: An estimated 2% of Deaf people have embraced the gospel globally.

Lack of access to understandable Scriptures is a major barrier. Deaf people connect with God and worship Him very differently than hearing people do. They prefer chronological stories, dramas and songs.

Bible Translation Status: Most Deaf people worldwide have no access to the Scriptures in any form they can understand. The entire New Testament has only been translated into American Sign Language (ASL), released in 2005. A handful of other sign languages have small portions of Scripture. Translations Literacy: Literacy rate estimated to be less are usually presented on DVD with videothan 15%. Even in the U.S., the Deaf in the taped signers. Bible translation has begun in regular school system acquire only a Grade about 50 sign languages by several different 4 English reading level. The Deaf rarely learn organizations, including Wycliffe’s partner, the written/spoken language of their counSIL, and many individual churches. (See try fluently. Sign language writing systems have not been widely embraced by the Deaf. related map, pg. 22.)

Sources: DOOR International (www.doorinternational.com/hearing); SIL International Sign Language Leadership Team.

Charles Ojok (left), a member of the Ugandan Sign Language Bible translation team, shares a fun moment with Philippe Gallant (right), DOOR’s international technology coordinator, from the U.S. The two play a board game during a

“ . . . I had education. I could read, I could write.

But many of the Deaf people don’t have that privilege. They are not educated and they don’t understand. How can I help them?”

10 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

break from training at DOOR’s Nairobi centre. Both are deaf and use Kenyan Sign Language as the common language of communication during sessions at the centre, which last several weeks at a time.

When the altar call was given on that February day in 1991, Paul accepted Jesus, whom he heard had died for his sins, as Saviour. “I felt so much better.”

Paul grew in his faith by attending Bible studies and memorizing Scripture, but a thought began to nag at him.

“In my life I understood that I had education. I could read, I could write. But many of the Deaf people don’t have that privilege. They are not educated and they don’t understand. How can I help them?”

Paul felt God calling him to minister to the Deaf. So, despite his furious mother’s objections, he quit his electrician’s job. He began teaching Deaf students about the Bible in their schools, where he ate and slept, seeing this as a provision of God since he was unsalaried. Several years later, he took a salaried position with the American missionary at his church and continued teaching.

Paul had previously heard about a Kenyan friend’s desire to start a training centre in Kenya, for a U.S.-based organization called DOOR International. Founded in 1983, it is a ministry dedicated to training Deaf leaders and establishing indigenous Deaf churches (Deaf believers’ fellowships) around the world. One of DOOR’s Deaf Christian Leadership Training Centres, run and led by Deaf leaders and teachers, was started in

A DOOR to

Growth

In addition to receiving training, African sign language teams come to the DOOR centre to use its studio facilities and camera/computer equipment to videotape and edit signed Scripture translations.

Nairobi, in a neighbourhood dotted with foreign embassies and consulates.

DOOR’s training program teaches students to learn and memorize 165 chronological Bible stories in sign language, in order to plant and lead strong, reproducing Deaf believers’ fellowships. Using this unique, highly effective, culturally appropriate approach, DOOR’s goal is to train a Deaf team from every country in the world in one generation.

In 2002, Paul took up the More On The Web: To find out more about invitation from his friend to DOOR, visit <www.doorinternational.com>. get training at the DOOR centre in Nairobi. “That was the time that I learned how I can teach the Deaf way, using stories,” he recalls.

A year later, convinced of the effectiveness of DOOR’s approach, he joined its staff and started training others.

Eventually, DOOR’s international leadership began pushing Paul to be Africa director, convinced of his ability and commitment.

He finally agreed to take the post, combining administration and teaching (his first love).

“ Working with Wycliffe on translation, we have a better understanding or a better way of communicating with Deaf people.”

‘Walk, Walk, Walk’ For hearing visitors who have never been to a Deaf church in Africa, the worship service is an almost surreal experience.

A good example is Harvest Mission Deaf Church, a 25-minute stroll from the DOOR centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Between 80 and 120 Deaf attend each Sunday in a window-lined chapel situated on “Dr. Cho’s African Missions Centre” compound.

To keep time for the group as it sings, a young man beats two large sticks on a metrehigh, hide-covered African drum (left). The Deaf can’t hear the drum’s sound—“bumbum . . . barum-bum-bum”—but can feel the

vibration from its beat.

A song leader stands at the front, signing the words of a chorus as the congregation stands, their hands and arms signing in unison.

Aside from the drum, there is very little sound: just the shuffling feet of believers swaying and dancing, some moaning from several of the Deaf worshippers, cries from young babies held by mothers, and talking from several hearing kids of Deaf parents, waiting to head to Sunday school outside.

For our benefit, DOOR staffer Mariam Nekesa interprets an example of what the group is

singing in Kenyan sign language: “It’s a good day to worship you, Jesus. It’s a good day to worship you, Jesus. Today is a good day to worship you, Jesus. Walk, walk, walk! Walk, walk, walk! Walk, walk, walk—in the light of God! Amen!”

Everything—the church’s announcements, the sermon, the congregational prayer, hymns by a robed choir (see photo, pg. 18), and a dramatized Bible story by visiting DOOR Bible translators—is done in Kenyan Sign Language.

And everyone who attends here regularly is “hearing” and understanding just fine.

A matatu mini-bus transports the Kenyan Sign Language translation team and several DOOR staff several hours east of Nairobi to a Deaf school (above). Once there (right), Paul Njatha helps lead seven deaf adults through a community comprehension test of a videotaped sign translation of “God Calls Moses: Exodus 3:4-20.” Wycliffe’s Harry Harm (in gray shirt, behind Paul) looks on, gratified to see that the Bible translation and consultant training he and his wife Geri gave to DOOR is being used so effectively in this field.

“ We train their people in Bible translation, check the resulting translation and train some of their people to be [Bible translation] consultants.”

12 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Drawing

Paul is helping to implement one of DOOR’s major global goals: to give Deaf people God’s Word in sign languages.

The agency has begun an international Scripture translation program by focusing on a 110-story set of chronological Bible passages developed in three series. First, a set of foundational stories to assist the Deaf in understanding God’s story. Second, a set of stories to help Deaf become obedient followers of Christ. Third, a set of New Testament stories to teach about the Church, leadership and how Christians interact with other Christians and with the world. DOOR chose the Scripture set with a Deaf worldview in mind. The aim is to provide a basic Bible understanding that can lead people to Christ and then increase their understanding to the point where they can plant churches.

To gain the necessary Bible translation expertise, DOOR turned to Wycliffe and its partner, SIL. Enter Harry and Geri Harm, a 25-year veteran Wycliffe husband-and-wife team. Their service has included an initial

on Wycliffe Expertise

assignment facilitating Bible translation with the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and plenty of subsequent experience as Bible translation consultants. The Harms were invited by DOOR to teach Bible translation principles to its hearing staff. Their 2006 workshop in Thailand emphasized the freedom translators have to adapt Scriptures so they are more natural in sign language.

“Before,” explains Paul, “we were following just one English [Bible] version and changing that into Deaf sign language.

Working with Wycliffe on translation, we have a better understanding or a better way of communicating with Deaf people.

“They helped us to think, to process things, in a way that made us realize you have more freedom. You have to think about your people—how will they understand? They helped us make the translation of stories more More On The Web: Jim Dowsett, SIL Africa clear and understandable.” sign language coordinator, talks about Because SIL Africa is still the many questions that hang over Bible building up its sign language translation for the Deaf on the continent, team it asked Harry, SIL Asia at <www.wycliffe.ca/wordalive>.

Area signed languages coordina-

tor, to serve DOOR on the continent in several aspects.

“We train their people in Bible translation,” explains Harry, “check the resulting translation and train some of their people to be [Bible translation] consultants.”

Bible translation consultants are crucial to the process. They review translations, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

As a translation consultant in training for DOOR, Paul is a beneficiary of this knowledge transfer from SIL.

Life

This past August and September, Harry came to DOOR’s Nairobi centre to work with several consultants-in-training. As well, he joined them on trips to the African homelands of several translation teams, where they tested draft translations in their particular sign languages among Deaf communities.

Also at the training centre were 15 Deaf Africans on four teams. They are doing Bible translation in their sign languages from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. Besides getting instruction, they use the centre’s facilities and equipment to prepare storyboards, videotape signed Scripture translations and edit them, adding supporting maps, photos and graphics.

On one community comprehension test trip, the Kenya Sign Language team drove several hours east of Nairobi to a Deaf

Like Insurance

school, to show a video of “God Calls Moses: Exodus 3:4-20.”

Paul led the team getting insightful feedback from seven Deaf who intently watched the signed Scriptures. A video camera was used to take notes, as it were, of the test group’s signed reaction.

Harry was there too, mostly standing on the sidelines, observing and making himself available as a resource person.

“My role is to be as peripheral as possible,” explained Harry, at the back of a schoolroom. “I’m sort of like the life insurance you never have to use.”

The two hours of testing revealed that some of the Deaf were uncertain about several key concepts and signs. Like Bible translators working in spoken languages, the Deaf team must carefully consider the input for its next draft on video.

‘ Good,

Despite the challenges of translation, the African teams press ahead, buoyed up by Deaf Christians’ eagerness for God’s Word in their heart language.

One of them is Patrick Chanari, who was a member of the community test group Paul led.

Patrick is a young Deaf leader serving a congregation of 50 Deaf. He says it is a struggle for Deaf people to come to faith and grow as disciples.

“Some are uneducated, so it is very hard for them to learn,” he explains, signing through an interpreter. “Many Deaf people don’t know exactly what the Bible says. It takes a long time for

Good,

Good’

Deaf Bible translators serving with DOOR in Africa, like these interacting in a workshop classroom, are working in the distinct sign languages of Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda. They come from diverse backgrounds, such as tailors, carpenters, evangelists, artists and the jobless.

them to get a clear understanding.”

Presently, Patrick studies the Scriptures and presents what he learns in his sermons in KSL. But this is limiting.

“It is very important for us, as the Deaf, to have lots of stories, because we are storytellers. But where can we get the stories?

People are interested in learning the [Bible] stories, but we don’t have any resources right now.”

Having a Bible translation in sign language on DVD will change that.

“It will be very good—good, good, good!” he says emphatically. “I want to teach other Deaf, so this would help me. If I had this, I would watch it in my home. Then I would practise from it, go to people and sign it.”

Paul says there are a few dozen Deaf churches averaging 30-40 believers each in Kenya, with its estimated “core” Deaf population of 222,000. The “core” Deaf are those who were born deaf, became deaf pre-lingually, or are deaf and non-literate. They will never read a Bible, hear a sermon, listen to a gospel recording, tune in to a Christian radio or television station, or watch and understand the JESUS film.

Unlike Patrick Charnari’s congregation, many Deaf churches are in larger urban areas where the Deaf tend to congregate to be with their own (see sidebar, pg. 11).

Much work and many challenges still must be tackled before the Deaf Church community grows to sizable numbers all over Africa, equipped with sign language Scriptures.

Paul says DOOR is pleased to be working with Deaf Bible translation team members from six nations on the continent (Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda). They include tailors, carpenters, evangelists, artists, and the jobless, all with at least a primary school education. DOOR can pay only small stipends to them.

Challenges Ahead

Patrick Chanari, a young Deaf leader serving 50 Deaf in a Kenyan congregation, is keen to see Bible stories finished in Kenyan Sign Language. Deaf Christians have scant resources for evangelism and discipleship.

“ We are storytellers.

But where can we get the stories? People are interested in learning the [Bible] stories, but we don’t have any resources right now.”

DEEP Thinking Beyond the challenges of actual translation in sign language, there is even more foundational work that is still needed: providing reference material for Deaf translators.

Leading that effort is Stuart Thiessen (at right), a 37-year-old American husband and father of two, who grew up in a Mennonite family and lost his hearing gradually—by age 18, he was completely deaf.

His story is one of a dream delayed.

Ironically, Stuart (whose childhood hero was Wycliffe founder Cameron Townsend) was once told by Wycliffe staff to forget about his passion to do Bible translation because he was deaf. Now he is a Bible translation consultant-in-training with Deaf Opportunity OutReach (DOOR International).

Stuart is joined by two Deaf colleagues, Mark Sorenson (DOOR staff member who has taught DOOR’s 165 Bible story curriculum to Deaf from 15 countries of Europe and Asia) and Philippe Gallant (DOOR’s international

technology coordinator). As a team they are working on a project called the DEEP (named after Deaf Christians’ desire to go “deep” into God’s Word).

“Hearing people have tons and tons of books as resources,” explains Stuart. “If they don’t understand what the Bible says, they pick up a book or commentary and read. But the Deaf have nothing—no resources!

“So our responsibility is to look at the hearing resources, all the information and technologies and pictures and maps, and the geography and history. We will convert all the resources needed for translation into sign language.”

The planned first version of the reference material will be on DVD and/or the Web in American Sign Language. This will be translated into Kenyan Sign Language, the working language used at joint sessions among Deaf Bible translators in Africa. The reference tools will include such computer programs as

Wycliffe’s “Translator’s Workplace.”

SIL Asia sign language coordinator, Harry Harm, and Jojo Ninan (DOOR staff member from India, trained by SIL as a Bible translation consultant), are assisting in development of the DEEP. They see the DEEP as an important tool to provide the historical, cultural, linguistic and descriptive details needed to convey concepts to the Deaf.

“A sign language translation is part way between a spoken language translation and a movie,” Harry explains. “There’s so many more details that need to be included in sign language that are not included in most spoken translations.

“If they talk about the height of Goliath, they raise their hands up to a certain height.

There’s more dimension [in sign language].

There’s less vagueness allowed, so you have to be fairly definite. If somebody walks down the road, you indicate the distance that they walk.”

Feeling the rhythm of a drum to keep time, Deaf Bible translation team members sign and dance at daily worship times during their training and work sessions at the DOOR centre in Nairobi. They are trusting that many more Deaf will join God’s family as His Word goes forward in sign language.

“ So we are part of it.

We are proud and we are happy!”

16 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

“Sometimes, it’s hard for us to find the right people and we prefer people who don’t have any jobs so they can come and concentrate on this,” he explains.

“I can see the excitement in their lives,” Paul adds.

The problem arises after training when they go back home, where DOOR wants them to do Bible translation.

“Sometimes their families want them to work. So they are stuck, because they have to earn some money to support the family,” adds Paul. “It is Africa. African life is very hard.”

As DOOR accelerates its efforts in Bible translation in Africa, it must expand its training. The agency, with the expertise of a Wycliffe Associates construction team, is building a new centre on 10 acres of grazing land it bought from a Maasai chief outside of Nairobi. Plans are to include three video studios and eight editing stations; a semicircle-shaped classroom built especially for Deaf interaction; housing for staff and 45 students; and perhaps a farm project for Nairobi’s Deaf.

Wycliffe personnel, partnering with DOOR in Bible translation as it spreads throughout Africa, will be frequent visitors at the new facility.

A Plan

As Paul surveys the overall growth of the work, he sees God’s unfolding plan for Africa’s Deaf and for DOOR. “In all of Africa, each country needs a sign language translation.

We are helping each country in Africa to have their own Bible.”

“So we are part of it,” he says with his characteristic large smile. “We are proud and we are happy!”

Taking stock of the situation, you can’t help but agree that God is at work on the continent. For Africa’s Deaf, all this activity is indeed a time of the signs.

Unfolding

As DOOR accelerates its Bible translation efforts in Africa, it must expand its training capacity. Paul Njatha leads signed prayer with several DOOR colleagues on the site of a future new training centre outside Nairobi, Kenya, built with the expertise of a Wycliffe Associates construction team. As they partner with DOOR, Wycliffe personnel will continue to be frequent visitors at the new facility.

Diagnosis: Many of the world’s Deaf are in spiritual ill health. Part of the prescription: translate God’s Word into sign languages.

18 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

W

hen you ask Geoffrey Hunt why Bible translation for the world’s Deaf is so important, he is quick to spell out the facts.

“They’re the last people to hear anything about anything, and that includes spiritual things,” says Hunt, leader of the sign language leadership team for SIL International, Wycliffe’s partner organization. “I’ve heard them described as the most unevangelized group in the world.”

Sadly, he says, the gospel has been embraced by only about two per cent of the world’s 20 million Deaf (the total population figure Hunt is comfortable using, though estimates vary widely). Lack of accessible Scriptures is a major reason for the spiritual ill health among the Deaf.

But why can’t the Deaf just read the Scriptures in the languages of wider communication of their country: Spanish in Spain or Swahili in Kenya, for example?

“For one thing,” says Hunt, “it’s not their language, so they are having to use a second language, a foreign language, really, in order to understand it.

“Secondly, the words as they are written usually represent sounds. They’ve never heard these sounds. They’ve never heard these words used in context and so it is like learning a set of telephone numbers for each concept. Reading is very hard for the Deaf.”

Deaf children who come through the American school system, for example, on average end up with a Grade 4 reading level in English.

“Now some people make it; the brilliant ones make it. But the gospel was never intended for just the brilliant ones,” stresses Hunt. “If you go to the New Testament, Jesus was out in the countryside teaching the ordinary people.”

Turning An Ear To The Deaf

Hunt and his wife Rosemary began their years of service in 1971, among the Hanga [HUNG-ah] of northern Ghana. In 1983, after closely working with local people, the Hanga New Testament was published—the 200th involving Wycliffe and SIL. Before the Scriptures came, there were no churches or Christians among the then 3,000 to 4,000 Hanga people. Today, the situation is much different.

Hunt, currently living near the Wycliffe U.K. main office at Horsley’s Green in The choir at Harvest Mission Deaf Church in Nairobi, Kenya, uses Kenyan Sign Language to sing a song for the congregation of more than 80. This vibrant church, which operates totally in sign language, is a rarity among the world’s Deaf. The gospel has been embraced by only about two per cent of the Deaf, and lack of Scriptures in their signed heart languages is a major reason why.

England, points to Josiah, a Hanga fetish priest who found Jesus as Lord and Saviour in the pages of God’s Word in his mother tongue. Today he is a pastor, wanting to build a church that will hold 5,000 people.

“When I see what the Lord has done among the Hanga in Ghana because they have the Scriptures . . . ,” says Hunt, his voice trailing off with emotion.

Hunt’s personal knowledge of the Hanga situation “ Now some [deaf] people make illustrates the potential he enviit; the brilliant ones make it. But sions for the Word of God among the Deaf—if it was availthe gospel was never intended able in their mother tongues, for just the brilliant ones.” their sign languages.

Unfortunately, the Deaf have been among the last people to be considered for Bible translation. In fact, while Wycliffe has worked among language groups, like the Hanga, for more than seven decades, it has only more recently focused some attention on sign languages.

Many Deaf sign languages only developed within the past several hundred years, says Hunt, as increasing groups of Deaf congregated in sufficient numbers in urban areas. “Sign languages develop where there is a need, and if there is no established sign language there, they will develop one to fill the vacuum.”

These visual, iconic forms of communication are distinct from region to region and country to country. “ Sign languages develop where In the late 19th century, some there is a need, and if there is social engineers and educators no established sign language in the Western world decided that all Deaf people should be there, they will develop one to taught to lip read and speak the fill the vacuum.” surrounding oral language they never heard, to integrate them into the hearing world.

“It took about a hundred years for people to really

find out that it really doesn’t work,” says Hunt. These kinds of integration efforts have helped create the animosity Deaf people often feel towards domination by the surrounding hearing society.

A Bit Of History

Wycliffe personnel have been involved in sign language work since the late 1980s, including early research and translation in Mexico, Spain (see story, below) and then Ugandan Sign Language.

Colombia. Starting in the mid-’90s, a sign language emphasis was added to linguistic and translation training courses run by SIL at the University of North Dakota (see sidebar, below). Survey of sign languages has started in the Americas, Eurasia and Asia. SIL has also begun sign language-related work in partnership with DOOR International (see story, pg. 6), Southern Baptist’s International Missions Board and United Bible Societies.

About a year ago, a more formal sign language leadership team was created for Wycliffe to give clearer direction to a ramped-up sign language translation effort, currently involving about 50 Wycliffe personTanzanian Sign Language. nel worldwide. Included on the leadership team is a key representative from the Deaf community, Stuart Thiessen of DOOR International (see related story, pg.

15). Increased Deaf perspective is crucial to the future work, says Hunt. “As an international group, we want to be able to make strategic decisions.”

230 And Counting

Today, sign languages have a growing profile in Wycliffe efforts to see every language receive a Bible translation that needs one. But how many sign languages are there?

Officially, SIL’s Ethnologue of the world’s languages lists 121 sign languages. But that falls well short of what the sign language team anticipates will be added in future editions after more research.

A New Kind of Class “We’re expecting quite a few more,” Hunt Each summer for 57 years, SIL has trained used in classes with or without interpretation says. “We know of More On The Web: To see a Bible translators and language workers in English. about 230 at the list of officially recognized sign moment and we are through its linguistic courses at the University “It is better if a class or meeting involving languages in the Ethnologue, of North Dakota (UND). But since 2002, a new Deaf people can be conducted entirely in expecting over 400 in visit <www.ethnologue.com>, kind of class has been available. sign,” he explains. “That allows everyone to total.” click “Language Family” & then The unique teaching is geared to those participate fully and normally.”

Hunt says every “Deaf sign language.” wanting to translate God’s Word for the Deaf.

At least 10 SIL-UND students are now servnation seems to have It’s not surprising that Wycliffe member ing in sign language work on the field, with an average of two sign languages—probably a Albert Bickford set up the courses. Now SILanother five-10 still preparing to go. conservative number.

Bickford’s vision is to see the number of deaf UND director, Bickford has been an enthusiasTo clarify the number of sign languages, tic advocate, as well as an adviser, networker students grow. The curriculum also needs furplenty of language survey is needed. So far, and researcher for sign language Bible trans- ther fine-tuning to meet the developing field SIL has three surveyors in the Americas, needs, he says. lation within Wycliffe, since the mid-1980s. one in Africa and two in Asia (including a “I’m just happy and grateful,” Bickford adds, Offering sign language-related training Canadian, see pg. 22). Another one is com“to have had the opportunity to see this one was an obvious step in the push to provide ing on board to do survey in the Pacific. She part of what God is doing to bring His Word to God’s Word to the Deaf, says the 54-year-old is from Sweden, the first Deaf member in Minnesota native. “In 2002, we had students Deaf people around the world.”

Wycliffe. from around the world who were involved Other Deaf members are in the applicaMore on the Web: For details about SIL-UND with 10 different sign languages.” tion pipeline preparing to join the team signed language courses, visit <www.und.

This past year, four deaf students and eight in various sign language-related roles. It is edu/dept/linguistics/catalog.htm> & click hearing students proficient in American Sign “Signed languages.”

Language (ASL) attended the courses. ASL is

Ghanaian Sign Language.

Spanish Sign Language.

Catalonian sign Language (northeast Spain).

One common misconception among hearing people is that the world’s Deaf use one, universal sign language. In fact, there are likely up to 400 sign languages globally. Word Alive photographer Alan

Hood took these multiple frames of people as they signed the phrase “God’s Word is powerful!” in five sign languages. The differences from country to country, and even within countries, are quite apparent.

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 21

Sign Language Translation for the Deaf Countries where Bible or Bible story translation, or preparatory work, is underway for sign language.

Countries where a sign language translation of the New Testament is completed.

Source: Mark Penner, on behalf of the United Bible Societies Sign Language Study Group.

challenging, however, to make a large, hearing-based organization like Wycliffe “Deaf friendly,” says Hunt. It may be best to second these workers to Deaf-run agencies, such as DOOR “ We know of about 230 [sign International. “We’ve got to find the right way to empower the Deaf.” languages] at the moment Wycliffe could use 30 couples and/or indiand we are expecting over viduals in a fairly short time. This includes 400 in total.” hearing personnel who Hunt says must know a sign language “really fluently” and have exposure to the Deaf as a basis to succeed on the field.

“We need people in a whole range of services. We need people who . . . are going to be able to work with Deaf groups, to empower them to do their translation,” says Hunt. “We need

people that can coordinate so the Deaf are the leaders of the projects but the hearing people are there to support what the Deaf want to see happen.”

This will include providing administration and getting resources for sign language projects, such as: funding, translation materials, training and translation consultants. It is estimated that the worldwide effort will need at least 50 Bible translation consultants to specifically check work done in sign language.

3D Solutions

Beyond getting personnel, there is the challenge of how to present translated Scriptures in sign language, says Hunt. While the stages in sign language Bible translation are generally similar to those for

‘Hope’ for Asia’s Deaf At 74 years of age, many people would be enjoying retirement. Not Hope Smith.* She is still making a contribution to Bible translation as the only Canadian serving in sign language-related work with SIL, Wycliffe’s partner organization.

“I have enjoyed my work, and the Lord has given me good health, so I see no need to cut back yet!” says Hope, who previously spent 30 years in a Scripture translation project for a Southeast Asia language group of 15,000.

In the past 10 years, Hope has been doing language survey research for Deaf signed languages in Asia, a crucial step in determining Bible translation needs.

Hope, whose dad was an interpreter, has been interested in sign language since she was a child. While serving in Asia in 1992, Hope took American Sign Language classes “just for fun.” She developed some fluency in the language through

further instruction while periodically back in Canada.

SIL colleagues in Asia asked Hope to do research in several countries. She was subsequently assigned to conduct language surveys for the Asia area. Hope has surveyed sign languages in nine countries and so far one of them has a translation project underway.

Survey begins by getting as many Deaf contacts as possible from a country’s Deaf association or Deaf schools, usually in the capital city. With help from a signer of the language, Hope videotapes several Deaf individuals signing 240 items from a list. These signs from several individuals in a province or state are compared to the signs found in other provinces or states in the same country to see whether one or more sign languages are used there.

Doing sign language survey among the Deaf has not been

easy. Hope has climbed mountains to reach isolated groups of Deaf, experienced hypothermia, and taken dozens of airplane flights in just one country to gather data. She’s also experienced culture shock interacting with the Deaf.

As she finishes up writing her most recent survey report, Hope is not sure what her next assignment will be. But she is sure of the need for Scriptures for Asia’s Deaf communities so they can understand God’s truth.

“In one country that I visited,” she says, “there were said to be about one million believers, but we met only one Deaf believer and one other Deaf who was interested. That was an extreme case, but all over Asia, except for the Philippines, the situation is not much better. “ * pseudonym used for the surname, due to sensitivity

Geoffrey Hunt, leader of the sign language leadership team for SIL International, Wycliffe’s key partner organization, views an early example of 3D sign language animation. Animation is an important emerging technology for presenting Bible translations in sign language for the world’s Deaf.

spoken languages—drafting, exegetical work, community testing, and consultant checks—the formats are different.

Text in translations for spoken/written languages can easily be changed on a computer screen. However, sign language translations ultimately must be done on video, explains Hunt.

Correcting and editing such a presen“ We need people who . . . tation is time consuming and techniare going to be able to work cally difficult. with Deaf groups, to empower In addition, some videotaped signthem to do their translation.” ers who present translated Scriptures may not be accepted by all Christian Deaf groups (Protestant vs.

Catholic, for example). Other Deaf signers, living in countries with sensitive political or religious situations, do not want to be pictured for fear of suffering persecution.

To deal with these technical and social challenges, a team at JAARS, Wycliffe’s technical arm, has been asked to create special software used with inexpensive equipment (see related story, pg. 28). It will visually capture the movements of Deaf persons signing Bible translations and transfer them into 3D animated characters.

“We want this to be a tool that anybody in a Deaf community can use,” says Hunt.

One is the account in Exodus, when God tells Moses at the burning bush: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute?” (Exodus 4:11 NIV) “For the Deaf,” says Hunt, “it is so important for them to know that God made them, to realize that they weren’t just an accident.”

The second passage is Jesus’ healing of the Deaf man in the New Testament (Mark 7:31-35). Christ took the man aside by himself, a unique approach among all of Christ’s miracles per“ For the Deaf, it is so important formed on people.

“One—Jesus had time for the for them to know that God Deaf person. That’s very important,” made them, to realize that explains Hunt. “Two—he took him they weren’t just an accident.” away from the crowd. When Deaf people are among crowds, they are really confused. It is important that they can come away and be separate.

“These two stories give the Deaf a sense of value. They are valued people.”

And if God values the Deaf, He certainly wants to speak to them in their heart language.

Not An Accident

Ultimately, though, Bible translation in sign language is about more than techniques and strategies. It’s about providing Scriptures to help the Deaf understand the special place that God holds for them in His heart. Hunt points to two specific Bible passages.

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 23

Signs Along The Way As God leads, Wycliffe’s Steve and Dianne Parkhurst are juggling not one, but two, sign language projects in Spain.

s the rays of the late afternoon sun cast their orangetinted light on a neighbourhood park in the city of Castellar del Vallès, near Barcelona, local families are celebrating a day off. Here, in Spain’s proud northeastern region of Catalonia, it’s “Fest Major,” a midSeptember holiday.

With Beatles music wafting through the warm air, kids and some parents are scaling climbing walls, spinning hoola-hoops, jumping on inflatable air trampolines and playing with an assortment of retro wooden tabletop games. Wycliffe’s Steve and Dianne Parkhurst are here too, with their two young sons, Spencer and Alex.

Strolling around the activities, the elder Parkhursts can’t resist the juggling area. They grab bowling pins, throwing and catching them in flashing, side-lit rhythmic circles, sometimes with serious, concentrating faces, sometimes with giggles. Steve is quite good at it; Dianne (at right) is even better, having learned to juggle long ago from a fellow student studying linguistics at the University of North Dakota.

This fun opportunity near the Mediterranean coast pretty much symbolizes what the Parkhursts do in real life. Steve and Dianne are juggling involvement in not one, but two sign language Bible translation projects in this European country: Spanish Sign Language (LSE) and Catalonian Sign Language (LSC).

In fact, since arriving 14 years ago, they have juggled a string of new, experimental activities that have served to inform Wycliffe’s wider sign language efforts around the globe.

“Our project is a ‘guinea pig’ project,” says Steve. “We try things and if they fail, then we tell other people why they failed.”

A

Bookish Workplace

Using this writing system in these projects goes back to when Steve and Dianne began doing language survey in Spain. The research ultimately determined that there are two sign languages in the country that need Scriptures: LSE, used by an estimated 56,000, and LSC, used by 24,000.

Steve and Dianne, from Seattle, Washington, and Shelby, North Carolina, respectively, were redirected to Spain after meeting each other in the Mexican Sign Language project in 1992 and later marrying. Their early work in Spain involved visiting numerous Deaf clubs to gather signs for a 200-item word list. They recorded them on paper using SignWriting. The Parkhursts found little initial interest among the Deaf to help them with Bible translation, but plenty of fascination with learning the writing system that the Deaf said looked “like Chinese or Egyptian hieroglyphics or something.”

Signwriting Eventually the Parkhursts were asked by the Spanish Deaf Federation to develop a curricuClasses

lum and teach SignWriting, seen as useful for training sign language interpreters and others. The couple spent seven years focused on teaching the writing system to about 300 Deaf and hearing people. These students could read the text fairly well after 30 hours of class time.

But the Parkhursts eventually learned about some of the obstacles to widespread use of SignWriting among the Deaf. In Spain, the Deaf did not gain enough fluency in the system to feel comfortable writing it. SignWriting is also difficult to do on computers because it is limited in use to older software or web-based technology. There are some More on the Web: To learn hang-ups about how “foreign” the symmore about SignWriting, visit bol-based writing appears compared to <www.signwriting.org>. the Roman alphabet. SignWriting is also seen by some Deaf as politically incorrect; an attempt to push a hearing culture’s high value of writing a language onto the Deaf “oral” culture.

“It’s worked very well for us,” adds Steve. “We’re the only team that’s used it, though.” Generally, other sign language Bible translation projects are non-written from the outset, using video, photos or line drawings.

With apartments that have no air conditioning and not a lot of extra room to work, the LSC translation team meets the next morning in a most unlikely place: smack in the middle of the Història book section of the cool, spacious Castellar Public Library. But since they interact entirely in sign language, Steve, Estrella [esTRAY-ya] Camacho and Rut [Root] Roldán don’t have to worry that patrons will complain about them being noisy to “shhhhh”ready librarians.

Sitting in front of two laptops at the corner of a table, the trio Living in Madrid, the Parkhursts continued to seek is having an animated discussion about the translation Estrella The and Rut drafted of the Book of Esther. Bible text in Spanish fills Nacho ways to kick start Bible translation. Recognizing the the computer screens while black, drop-down windows show the Factor need to work with the Catholic Church in such a Catholic country as Spain, the Parkhursts developed LSC translation in SignWriting, a system of writing sign languagearly contacts with key people in the Church. One of those peoes using visual symbols to represent hand shapes, movements ple was Jose Ignacio Bonacasa (“Nacho”) in Madrid. and facial expressions.

24 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Wycliffe’s Steve Parkhurst (right) and Bible translators, Rut Roldán (left) and Estrella Camacho (middle), review some signs for a translation of the Book of Esther that the two sisters-in-law drafted into Catalonian Sign Language. The language is used by 24,000 Deaf in northeast Spain.

“ Our project is a ‘guinea pig’ project. We try things and if they fail, then we tell other people why they failed.”

26 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Jose Ignacio Bonacasa (“Nacho”) has a passion for translating the Scriptures into Spanish Sign Language, used by about 56,000 Deaf in Spain. Based in Madrid, Nacho has worked extensively with the Parkhursts for his fellow Deaf.

Nacho had some questions for the Parkhursts at a large meeting they attended in 2003 of Catholic Deaf ministry leaders.

“He said,” recalls Steve, “ ‘Can we translate the Bible? Is that something that’s doable? Can you help us with that?’ ” Born in Madrid into a family headed by a military policeman, Nacho lost his hearing at age two and was sent by his parents to spend most of his life at residential Deaf schools. Privately run but strongly Catholic, one of the schools provided Saturday Bible classes that instilled some important truths in young Nacho.

“When I was young, they would just really come down hard on me and try to teach me things, and I wasn’t paying attention,” he explains through Steve as an interpreter. “When I got older, different things that I had learned in the Bible stuck with me and I realized the importance of the stuff that they taught me.”

After attending a Deaf vocational school, Nacho went on to work as an architectural draftsman for a company in Madrid, a position he’s held for 30 years. Though things have improved for the Deaf in Spain, Nacho says they still suffer discrimination from the general population, generally based on ignorance.

Ignorance also plagues the Deaf, says the 50-year-old deeply committed Catholic. “The majority of the Deaf don’t read well.

Their identity is not in the spoken language, so they don’t read the Bible. The majority of the Deaf don’t have any clue about deep religious stuff.”

When it was proposed that Nacho work with Steve on Bible translation in LSE, he had some initial second thoughts.

“From the beginning, I thought ‘Ooooh—that’s a cross for me to bear. I’m not very smart. How am I going to do this?’

“Plus working with a Protestant!” jokes Nacho, with his deep laugh and teasing eyes. “But we met together and we liked each other. Little by little, we started working together. I didn’t know what to do, but [I said] ‘God, it’s your work,’ so I did it.”

Nacho was able to give time to the project in the afternoons each day after his regular job.

Uncovering To see how feasible Bible translation was, Nacho Signs and the Parkhursts agreed to start with the

Christmas story. But it didn’t take long to realize that they first needed to build a vocabulary for religious and Bible terms. Many of those signs have fallen out of regular LSE use over time. Interacting with older Deaf people and doing other research, they gathered key terms in sign—such as “star town” for Bethlehem—on video, in photographs and in SignWriting. It was a fruitful but time-consuming job.

“There was a time when I put tons and tons of time into it; I got so tired,” says Nacho. “Sometimes I worked a lot on it and then I got frustrated and tired, and put it aside for awhile.”

Though Luke 1-9, Matthew 1-2 and a few parables have been translated, Nacho’s severe back problems during the past few years have slowed the work.

Despite the setbacks, Nacho and Steve were able to do an LSE translation of the Christmas story, culminating in release of a 46-minute DVD in 2007, entitled “El Nacimiento de Jesús en la LSE” (“The Birth of Jesus in Spanish Sign Language”).

The DVD is not a video of a live person signing the Scripture passages about Christ’s birth. The Spanish Bible Society, the

publisher of Bible materials in Spain’s sign languages, wants translations to be interconfessional, acceptable to both Catholics and Protestants. As a result, using a signer from either of these groups would limit its use in the other group.

To sidestep this problem in the Christmas DVD, the Parkhursts decided to try 3D animation, another guinea pig type of activity in the world of sign language Bible translation.

Animating Steve video recorded himself signing the Scriptures from a SignWriting translation he and Dr. Luke

Nacho produced. Then using a lower-end professional computer program, he created a signing avatar, author “Dr. Luke,” who presented the Christmas Scripture passage in LSE, matching Steve’s videotaped signs.

It was incredibly meticulous work. With delicate precision, hands and arms were adjusted. Transitions were smoothed.

Timing was perfected. Movements of eyebrows, glances and mouth shapes—all were nudged appropriately into position.

Steve worked for seven months to animate 152 verses.

“It would take me about eight hours to do one, sometimes two, verses,” he says.

The work paid off. The interactive DVD, which also includes an introduction to the Bible, maps, a dictionary of names and key terms, was very well received.

“In my many years of working with Deaf people,” said one hearing priest ministering to the Deaf, “I have done everything I possibly could do to make Scripture understandable by . . . explaining things in sign language to the best of my ability. But I have never been able to make a successful jump beyond the written Spanish Scriptures. But now we have the Scriptures in their own language and someone has finally broken through that barrier. . . .”

Said another: “The important thing I saw was how much interest and discussion the DVD generated about the Scripture passage. It captured their interest and attention.”

Nacho says the DVD’s reception shows a desire among the Deaf for the Bible in sign language.

“I’ve asked my Deaf friends about this. They’ve said, ‘Give us more, give us more. Where’s the rest of it? All we’ve got is the Christmas story! Come on, hurry up!’

“The Deaf need to be saved,” adds Nacho. “Deaf people are hungry and they don’t know Jesus yet. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Africa or America, the Bible’s got to be in sign language.”

Animation is now seen as the main way to publish future sign language Scriptures in Spain, possibly accompanied with a SignWriting version. Steve’s work on the DVD also showed there is a need for specialized and more efficient software that the

“ Can we translate the Bible? Is that something that’s doable? Can you help us with that?”

Deaf can use to do high quality, 3D animated sign language Bible translation. That is exactly what the WordSign team at JAARS, Wycliffe’s technical arm, is busy creating, with input from Steve and others with field experience (see related story below).

As Nacho’s illness slowed the LSE translation The Road to Catalonia project, the Parkhursts began shifting some

David Roldán (Estrella’s husband)—who has joined the Catalonian Sign Language team as an animator, with his brother Carlos—carries on a sign language conversation with a friend using live, two-way video over their cell phones. Such video conferencing has opened up a new wireless world for David and other Deaf in Spain.

focus to LSC. They followed up contacts they had first developed in 1995 with a remarkable evangelical family. The Roldán household included two born-deaf sons, David and Carlos, and a deeply empathetic daughter, Rut [Root]. The family was among a growing number of Deaf evangelicals who met at an annual Deaf Christian camp from all over Spain. The Parkhursts participated too, watching the attendance go from 25 eight years ago to up to 90 in recent years.

“When we first got here, we could probably count maybe 20 [deaf] evangelicals—if that—in all of Spain,” says Steve.

The Roldán parents did all they could to help their sons advance, get education and become independent. When Carlos was 29 and David was 19, the parents signed up for sign language classes. Before that, the school system encouraged them not to use sign language with them. Rut, on the other hand, used family signs and gestures to communicate to her brothers, even when she was a youngster. At age eight, Rut became surprised that her brothers didn’t want to go to church anymore.

“We’d just go there, we’d just sit there and watch, but not

Animation Creation By Michaela Riley To date, most sign language Bible translations have been presented on video; a Deaf signer is video recorded and the video files are manually edited. This process is fraught with difficulties. Videos can be expensive, time-consuming to record in multiple sessions and difficult to edit, especially for smooth and consistent delivery. Signers’ appearances may change over time, or they may become unavailable for work

on the project. Translations can be rejected due to a signer’s appearance, denomination or lack of personal credibility. In some sensitive country situations, signers do not want to be identified publicly.

In light of these challenges, Bible translators and support personnel began to wrestle with alternative methods to present the Scriptures in signed languages. Over 10 years ago, the concept of 3D animation was considered, but has only recently become a possibility.

In May 2008, representatives from JAARS (Wycliffe’s technical arm), SIL International (Wycliffe’s key partner organization), DOOR International (a Deaf ministry organization), and an animation tools expert, met together for a two-day planning session. The meeting, at the JAARS centre in Waxhaw, North Carolina, was the launching point for what has become a significant project, called WordSign.

Personnel in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Dallas and Waxhaw are now collaborating on the project, developing tools that will enable language workers to create photo-real 3D sign language animations efficiently and cost-effectively, without requiring animation experts.

To create an animated portion of Scripture, users will video record a Deaf signer using a “stereo camera.” The video is recorded on a computer, where specialized software will automatically map the signer’s precise movements onto an animated character or avatar. The animation can then be edited

using a special sign language production editing software to be developed by the WordSign project, that is a plug-in extension of Maya, an industrystandard program for 3D animation.

With the tools created

by WordSign, users will easily customize the animation to their unique needs: incorporating multiple characters and background scenery (left), adjusting lighting, choosing camera angles, adding text, even zooming and panning across a scene. They will also be able to integrate historically accurate clothing and scenery creating a video that looks like it was produced during Bible times. The tools will also allow users to utilize customized, culturally appropriate characters (above), regardless of the filmed signer’s appearance. Ethnicity, sex, and age can be changed so they suit each story and audience.

The WordSign project will also create a training package, enabling translation teams to produce impressive 3D animations in the field.

Though much work is yet to be done, team members at the JAARS centre are already conducting initial testing of some animation tools. Beta testing is expected to begin late 2009 in Spain, with the Catalonian Sign Language team.

Michaela Riley is content manager for the JAARS Inc. website.

understand anything,” explains David.

As Rut watched her brothers draw cars and fidget, she realized that they were stuck in a silent church world, cut off from the truth shared from the pulpit. She gradually learned sign language to interpret for her brothers as best she could. That concern would eventually lead Rut to get training to become a competent sign language interpreter.

More on the Web: Read Thanks largely to Rut’s determined about David’s two miracles at efforts at signing, God touched David’s <www.wycliffe.ca/wordalive>. and Carlos’ hearts and they became believers. David, however, waffled between Christian and worldly affections for some years. He finally got serious about serving God after two miraculous events: being healed, so he could hear for two days, and later being rescued in a scuba diving accident.

Several months after dating David, Estrella accepted his invitation to church.

“And Rut was interpreting,” says Estrella. “She wasn’t professional, she was kind of slow, but I watched her. Little by little, in about one or two weeks, I started to listen—about Jesus and His love. Before that I just didn’t have any love for anybody, anything. I opened up to Him and accepted Jesus.

“Before I found God, life was empty. I just had a lot of needs, and [God] was what I needed to fill that emptiness.”

After dating for four years, David and Estrella were married.

The new bride was welcomed by the supportive Roldáns, compensating for the strained relationship she had with her own family.

As for David, his ministry has grown. Today, the 32-year-old is leader of 25-30 Deaf believers at the hearing Iglesia Evangélica Jesus Eventually, David met Estrella, a young, attractive (Evangelical Church) in Sabadell, 20 km northwest of Barcelona. and His blonde woman. Born in Barcelona, Estrella was one He often uses translated Scripture passages in SignWriting as Love of two deaf girls in a flower-farming family of six. his text. The Deaf group has its own Saturday evening service in LSC and also joins the Sunday evening hearing church service, Living in the area, she had spent a few years in a residential Deaf school and then a hearing school, without interpreters. where sister Rut interprets in sign.

Late this past year, David and Carlos sold the two family shoe “I couldn’t communicate. I felt very isolated,” she recalls. “I would just sit and not understand anything.” repair shops they ran and joined the LSC translation team to begin working in sign language animation. The brothers will use Estrella grew to be very closed, even with her parents, who the new software being developed by the WordSign team (see knew no sign language. Teachers suggested she join a Deaf federation group in Barcelona. It was there that she developed her sidebar story, pg. 28).

Catalonia Sign Language ability and began to blossom as a person.

“When I was a kid, I used to draw all the time,” says David.

Estrella Camacho must function outside of her preferred Deaf world—in the surrounding hearing world in which she lives. That includes doing errands like grocery shopping at the corner store, using whatever motions and hand gestures necessary to communicate to those who don’t know sign language.

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 29

The Deaf identify most with the customs, habits, thought patterns, values and language of their Deaf world. David Roldán (in beige shirt) and his wife Estrella (extreme right) are no exception. As Deaf Christians, they are eager to lead their Iglesia Evangélica (Evangelical Church) Deaf home Bible study and share some fellowship afterwards.

“Now with this opportunity, maybe I could use some of that ability and mix it with animation. I think that would be wonderful!”

Almost four years ago, the Parkhursts asked Estrella to consider doing LSC Bible translation.

Estrella had been working as a hospital cleaner, juggling that job with caring for her young child.

“I thought at first that I’d just prefer to clean,” says Estrella.

“It’s just easier. Translating, no—I can’t do that.”

Estrella contracted meningitis from working at the hospital, and took 2 ½ months to recover. She and David decided she wouldn’t return to her old work. Prayerfully, they considered the Parkhursts’ request again, with some encouragement from Rut. Rut, a wife, mother of two, and trained childcare worker and teacher, urged Estrella to work on the Bible translation project.

Rut saw it as an opportunity for her close sister-in-law to learn new words, deepen her understanding of Scripture and grow spiritually. “Anything related to the Bible and the Lord—go for it!” she said.

Estrella finally agreed, acknowledging the deep need her fellow Deaf have for unhindered access to God’s Word.

Sisters-in-law Team

“I couldn’t communicate.

I felt very isolated. I would just sit and not understand anything.”

30 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

“They don’t understand. It’s not clear,” says Estrella. “They need to understand it clearly, and for me it is important. I like translating. It’s making me grow.”

The Parkhursts also challenged Rut to join the Bible translation project.

“Me—a Bible translator? I don’t know!” Rut recalls thinking.

“A Bible translator, no. But helping Estrella—yes. Because I’ve always done that. I’ve always been explaining things to her from the Bible.”

After some initial training from the Parkhursts, Estrella and Rut started translating, working three to four hours a day.

“Steve helped us a lot, and Dianne too, to concentrate on what each word means and all the details that a verse speaks about,” says Rut, who is thankful that her husband Eloy shares caring for the children so she can do translation.

Late last year the Parkhursts moved to Castellar from Madrid to work more closely with Estrella and Rut, rather than just make periodic visits to check their translation.

“We could do the draft translation without them [being right here],” says Rut, a petite 30-year-old Shania Twain look-a-like, “but the work is perfected better if they’re here.”

The Parkhursts see the sisters-in-law team as a gift from God. “Estrella is deaf so she has that understanding of what’s natural sign language, what’s good. She knows the language very well,” says Steve. “Rut knows the language well, but she also can read the Spanish [source Scriptures] a lot better and understand the meaning of the text.

“Each one adds a little something, and they kind of bounce off each other.”

So far, the team has worked on LSC translations of the books Ears to Hear?

For Wycliffe’s Steve and Dianne Parkhurst, moving Bible translation forward in Spain’s sign languages has required making friendships and partnerships among believers with a shared passion for the Deaf. Father Xavier Pagès (above), who heads up Deaf ministry at Barcelona’s Santa Teresa de l’Infant Jesús parish, is a strong Catholic advocate for the Bible translation. (Below) Among Protestant evangelicals, the Parkhursts (seated extreme left) found support and direct involvement from Rut, her husband Eloy (striped shirt), and sister-in-law Estrella—all part of the extended Roldán family near Barcelona.

“Me—a Bible translator? I don’t know! A Bible translator, no. But helping Estrella—yes.

Because I’ve always done that. I’ve always been explaining things to her from the Bible.”

Steve Parkhurst converses in Catalonian Sign Language with two parishioners outside their Santa Teresa de l’Infant Jesús cathedral in Old Barcelona. Checking draft sign language translation with older Deaf churchgoers is crucial because they have a deep religious and biblical vocabulary in sign.

“A lot of hearing people say, ‘I hear everything, I’ll just take in what I want and ignore what I don’t want.’ But Deaf people have this real hunger for understanding it because there is so much of the world that just goes by them.”

32 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

of Esther and Ruth and the Gospel of Mark, as well as some “hero stories” (David and Goliath, Joshua and the walls of Jericho, Gideon, Elijah).

“They’re doing great. The translation, I’m really happy with it,” says Steve, who brings his linguistic and Bible expertise to the mix.

The team carefully grapples with conveying the meaning behind Scripture. In some cases, a literal translation of some verses would falsely leave the Deaf feeling excluded. In Mark, for example, Jesus twice tells people to ‘hear’ Him if they have ‘ears to hear’ (4:9 and 4:23).

Jesus is telling people to pay attention to what He is communicating, says Steve. “So the sign that we chose can be interpreted for either hearing or Deaf people. If you’re deaf, pay attention, look. If you’re hearing, then listen.”

Periodically, the Parkhursts take LSC draft Hunger to translations on a 35-minute subway ride into Understand old Barcelona for community checking with the Deaf group at the Catholic parish, “Santa Teresa de l’Infant Jesús.” Led by hearing priest Father Xavier Pagès, the group includes many seniors, who are valuable sources of feedback.

“This group has the language experience of their many years in the deep, religious vocabulary that the younger team doesn’t have,” explains Steve, on one visit to the church.

Xavier says the older Deaf in his parish of about 100 families attended religious schools taught by nuns, so they have a biblical knowledge that can benefit the LSC Bible translation project.

“We must take advantage of the fact that they are still here on this earth, to give us all these good things before they are taken up to heaven,” adds Xavier, who signs and is a strong supporter of the LSC translation project.

Xavier has led his mass services entirely in sign language for 15 years. About 20 different Catholic dioceses in Spain have priests, like Xavier, whose time is divided between the Deaf and hearing.

Xavier sees a marked difference between the hearing and Deaf people he ministers to in the way they relate to the things of God. “In hearing meetings, they tend to fill them up with songs and with actions. Stand up and sit down and do this and do that,” he explains. “But the Deaf really seem to like to be quiet and contemplate.

“A lot of hearing people say, ‘I hear everything, I’ll just take in what I want and ignore what I don’t want.’ But Deaf people have this real hunger for understanding it because there is so much of the world that just goes by them.”

Nourishing that kind of hunger will keep the Parkhursts and their LSE and LSC Bible translation teams busy for probably at least another decade. They are determined to continue juggling their responsibilities, knowing that God will reveal more signs along the way—and maybe challenge them with a few more guinea pig projects, as well.

Rut Roldán interprets for the small, but growing number of Deaf believers in a hearing service at Iglesia Evangélica (Evangelical Church) in Sabadell, 20 km northwest of Barcelona. The banner hanging behind her asks, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” For the vast majority of Spain’s Deaf the answer

is “no.” Rut and others believe providing God’s Word in their heart sign language will go a long way in changing that answer to “yes” for many Deaf.

Beyond Words Ring of the Lord’s Photograph by Alan Hood

Members of the Deaf congregation at Iglesia Evangélica (Evangelical Church) near Barcelona, Spain, gather in a circle to converse in sign language after their Sunday afternoon service (see story, pg. 24).

The Deaf usually identify more with other Deaf than even their own biological hearing family. But these 25-30 deaf Christians have an even tighter bond—they are members of the family of God, drawn together in His Spirit.

34 Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca

Last Word Missio Dei in the Midst of Uncertainty

By Kirk Franklin

T

his year marks the tenth anniversary of Vision 2025 (a call to action initiated by Wycliffe to see a Bible translation in progress in every language that needs one by the year 2025). The world certainly looks different than it did 10 years ago.

Even so, we are called to faithfully serve God in the midst of uncertainty.

Many people, if they know of Wycliffe Bible Translators, know the Wycliffe organization in their own country (such as Wycliffe Canada).

Or, if they know something of Wycliffe’s founder Cameron Townsend, they may think of Wycliffe as an American sending organization. However, Wycliffe International (WBTI) has become an organization comprised of 48 “member” and 29 “partner” organizations (in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, and Europe), bound together by a common commitment to serve in advocacy and action to see God’s Word translated, accessible and in use in every language community We desire to see the Holy that still needs it.

Our biggest challenge Spirit transform the lives of is to discern how to best participate in the missio Dei those we serve in rapidly (the mission of God). As changing environments. we do so, we are affected by key global challenges and opportunities: The changing face of the Church worldwide, including attitudes, strategies and involvement in mission by people of all nations. From Romania to the Philippines, people of more nations are beginning to participate in Bible translation beyond their shores.

The growth of the Church in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. As the Christian faith is losing its welcome in parts of the West, it is finding new homes in the Global South where 91 per cent of new Christians are found1. New global plans for mission are now initiated and led

by Christians of the Global South2. As this occurs we want there to be “complete unity” (John 17:23) between the Church of the Global South and the West as a witness to the watching world.

The lingering effects of colonialism. The past five centuries have been marked by the rise and

fall of a series of empires. While most have disappeared, their influence continues and affects mission strategy from western nations, which send resources, and non-western nations, which receive resources.

The dignity and identity of all peoples. We are all made in God’s image, but sin often blocks an understanding of this fact. An indicator of shalom is when people live with “just, peaceful, harmonious, and enjoyable relationships”3 with each other and with God. However, shalom is far from communities affected by poverty, illiteracy and other significant social and spiritual concerns.

Much mission work is best described as ‘Task Partnerships’ because the task is the priority.

However, we desire to move our practice of mission to be integral. The Micah Network defines integral mission as the “proclamation and demonstration of the gospel.”4 Integral mission is focused on ‘Kingdom Partnerships’ because the Kingdom of God is the priority. We do our part to plant the seed or water it, but it is “only God, who makes things grow” (1 Cor 3:7, NIV).

These are indicators of some of the rapidly changing social, political, cultural, economic and religious environments in which we desire to see the Holy Spirit transform the lives of those we serve.

These are daunting times and we value your partnership as we work through them. You play an important part in all of this through your interest, prayer and support. And for that, we say “thank you!”

(Endnotes) 1 D Barrett, T Johnson and P Crossing, ‘Missiometrics 2008: Reality Checks for Christian World Communions’, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2008.

2 Ibid 3 B Myers, Walking with the Poor (1999), Orbis Books.

4 www.micahnetwork.org/en/integral-mission Kirk Franklin is executive director of Wycliffe International.

Word Alive • Summer 2009 • wycliffe.ca 35

Deliver to: PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40062756. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: CIRCULATION, WYCLIFFE CANADA, 4316 10 ST NE, CALGARY AB T2E 6K3. FOR ADDRESS UPDATES: CIRCULATION@WYCLIFFE.CA

We all could use A Kick in the Pants

H

ow do you follow up A Poke in the Ribs? A Kick in the Pants, of course!

Former Wycliffe Canada Director Jack Popjes gives us another book of stimulating stories, observation and opinions. As in his first book, A Poke in the Ribs, Jack is again reminding the Church that its main task is cross-cultural missions. The most foundational work is translating the Bible into the mother tongue of every person on earth who needs it.

Readers will be provoked and challenged 0 pages.

20 . er ov ftc to reconsider their individual life choices in 5.5” x 8” so d , plus GST an $14.95 each g. in dl the light of these truths, in 52 new columns shipping/han with such titles as, “Jesus and the Giant is th y form in Use the repl visit , Or r. de or Scissors,” “Western Culture’s Individualism magazine to or e.ca/store>, <www.wycliff 3.

28 t. ex , Reflects Satan,” “Contempt for a Holy Book,” 3-1143 call 1-800-46 and many more. Betcha can’t read just one!

Reduced price!

(Previously $22.95)

O

ne day God’s people will see Him eye to eye. Until then, His heart is calling out to our hearts, to all hearts. Giving God’s Word in a language people can truly understand ensures that hearts can hear directly from our ever-inviting Master. Eye to Eye, Heart to Heart takes you on a 164-page visual journey through the world and work of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Created by Dave and Deborah Crough, this pages.

4 16 . er ov coffee table-sized volume features 130 9” x 12” softc d , plus GST an $16.95 each g. in dl captivating full-colour and black-and-white shipping/han is photographs. It’s an engaging glimpse into the y form in th Use the repl order. Or, visit variety of ways that people relate in service magazine to or e.ca/store>, <www.wycliff 3.

28 t. to others so they can ultimately understand 3-1143, ex call 1-800-46 God’s Word—and be transformed by it.