MICHEALS’ MEMOIRS March 2013 Update “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV)
Dear Friends and Family, What difference does it make that people have access to God’s Word in their language? Hopefully, the growth of the church that came on the heels of the Reformation where there was a return to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) is enough to clearly show that it changes not only people, but whole cities and entire nations. This doctrine continues to impact language communities around the world as God’s Word is translated into minority languages. Today, the growth of the church in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the Pacific is exploding and while the evangelical church in the USA is growing, it is growing fastest where the Scriptures have recently been delivered. This explosion is a result of the Lord’s blessing and the efforts of churches, Bible translation organizations and Bible societies. Bible translation work has also moved forward because people have stepped forward to be used in this work and your support of our work continues to resource this effort. Last year dozens of young people participated in GET Global trips around the world and this year Barb continues to work on these trips. However, her work this year has changed slightly in that she is training two additional trip coordinators so that in future years there might be more GET Global trips so more young people can Go and Experience Translation. As in the past, these trips are bearing fruit of young people deciding to go on for training in Bible translation work. Some of these trip participants are now getting close to graduating from their translation
training and soon will be sent overseas and into Bible translation projects. Chuck’s work continues to be fruitful. Last year, 22 people joined Wycliffe as managers as a result of his work. So far, this year 10 people he has worked with have applied to Wycliffe. Please pray for the GET Global students who have gone on to do Bible translation training that they will complete their training and actually take up new translation work. Pray too that the 10 people who have applied will be accepted as new missionaries with Wycliffe. Pray too that many more will apply to Wycliffe and attend GET Global trips this year. Join us in praising the Lord for a mission’s prayer group that Chuck has recently started at the nearby Reformation Bible College! We are happy to state that the number of Bible translation needs around the world has fallen to below 2000! There are now 1967 languages needing Bible translation work. When we joined Wycliffe back in 1985, that number was over 3,000! There are now more Bible translations in progress (2,075) than there are needs. We praise the Lord for the progress being made. Pray that the progress will continue in the rest of this decade.
2013 - Bible Translation Needs Worldwide
We praise the Lord for many generous people who gave one time financial gifts to us over the Christmas holidays. We praise the Lord for His continued provision. Each year we continue to need your prayers and financial support and so we invite you to become involved in supporting our work with Wycliffe this year. Please visit this Wycliffe web link below for more information: Supporting The Micheals Work With Wycliffe