George W. Cowan
Case studies from W y cliffe
In Their Language
only a few words of explanation at certain points. The reading con cluded and still at a loss as to how to proceed, he read the entire book through again. After the reading, he suggested they all pray with each confessing his own part in the trouble. The reading of the Word of God in their own language, accompan ied by the Holy Spirit, had done its work of reproof and rebuke, and one by one each brother made con fession. Then one by one each for gave the other five his part. The matter which had started the trou ble was then discussed and they themselves set the matter right. The following day turkeys were killed and the brothers spread a love feast to mark their reconcili ation and the translator was among those invited to attend. An Ocaina believer spoke at four meetings a week among his own people, relating to them all he knew and could remember of what had been told him in Spanish by the missionary. When asked by one of his own people why it was neces sary that Christ should die, he re plied rather hesitatingly that he supposed it was i because all men have to die or else the world would get overpopulated, and so Christ showed us how to die. He did not mean to pervert the truth. He sim ply had no place to go to find the answer! He needed a translation of the Scriptures in Ocaina. In contrast, what a thrill it was to join with some 700 Tzeltal In dians of Mexico and see humble, barefoot, and until recently, illiter ate, Francisco step to the pulpit with the typed sheets of 1 Peter 2 in his hand and exhort the people to listen well to what God (not Francisco) had to say. First he read a verse, then restated it in his own words, explaining and exhorting
men faithfully taught their fellow tribesmen the rudiments of reading and writing. They also carried with them copies of the Scriptures, translated into their own Piro lan guage. After a month or two their first report came in. Things were going well, a good number were attend ing and interest continued high. In addition, they sent along two ruled sheets which bore the names of 61 Piro Indians who had accept ed our Lord as their Saviour through personal witness and read ing of their translated Scripture portions by the two Piro teachers. . At Amado Nervo, where approx imately 75 per cent of the village had turned to Christ and a large and active church with its own native leadership met regularly, the place and power of the Word in the life of the believer and the church was strikingly illustrated. Six brothers, all Christians, fell to quarreling over land. The situation became so serious and was such an offense to the church and the testi mony of the Lord in that commu nity that the church fathers talked with the men, beseeching them to settle the matter and be reconciled one to another. But all to no avail. Finally, in d e sp e ra tio n they turned to the one who had brought them the Word in their own tongue. Perhaps he could reason with the men in such a way as to convince them. The translator was a little bit surprised at the delegation that came to his door and a bit non plussed as to what to do. But lying on his desk was the rough, correct ed manuscript copy of the trans lation of the book of James which, with the help of a Choi believer, he had completed that same day. Seating the men, he proceeded to read the entire book through to them in their own language, adding
f c v W h e apostle Paul, in writing to the you n g C h ris tian worker Timothy, reminded X him that the written Word of God shad three very important ministries in his life. It was “able to make thee wise unto salvation . . . . profitable for doctrine, for re proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” and was the ef fective tool for Christian witness and ministry, for Timothy was to “preach the word.” No human tongue is as sharp as the two-edged sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, whether it be for evangelism, instruction or witness. The following accounts will show that the Word of God, translated into the languages of tribes-people of our own day, is still the most effective tool in these three basic missionary tasks. In June of 1954 a Wycliffe plane brought workers for the first time to the Piro Indian settlement of Cushabatay Island on one of the tributaries of the Amazon. This mission was part of the unfolding of the divine plan that has carried Wycliffe translators into over 125 tribal areas in some eight coun tries, for they had come to offer, in cooperation with the Peruvian gov ernment, to give the Piros a school in their own language. The In dians built two school buildings, but had to wait until the end of the 1955 teachers’ training course, con ducted by the Peruvian Department of Education at Wycliffe’s Jungle Base, for the first two bilingual Piro teachers to come. On the island, young Zacharias was teacher. Down stream in the other school, Hishonki, the first of all the Piro believers, opened the school. Officially backed by the gov ernment and equipped with liter acy materials prepared by conse crated Wycliffe workers, the two
THE KING'S BUSINESS
40
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker