Dear Friends,
Thank you for your interest in the Centre for Global Mission (CGM). A big thank you as well to those who have donated funds to CGM in general or to specific translation projects. Without your help, many of these translation projects cannot happen.
In this edition of the CGM Newsletter there is a report on our recent public lecture about oral learners but this edition will mainly focus on PTC translation projects.
WHY TRANSLATE PTC?
PTC is a valuable resource that CGM can make available to under-resourced churches and ministries around the world for little or no cost. Of course, many of these under-resourced churches need training materials in their own languages and so the strategic translation of PTC into other languages enables CGM to meet many more training needs.
There are 19 active translation projects for PTC. We have made significant progress in the last few years in identifying and starting translation projects in the most used languages. However, many of these translation projects are still in the early stages with many more subjects to complete and there are still a number of other languages which we could start to translate if funds were available.
Here are a few updates about some of these projects:
BIBLE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA AND ‘PLAIN ENGLISH’
A new partnership has been established this year with The Bible Society of Australia to translate the first subject of PTC into ‘Plain English’. Plain English avoids the use of complex grammatical constructions and is used by the Bible Society within Aboriginal Communities where English is a second language.
Developing a Plain English version is not the end goal but is the first step towards translation of the material into aboriginal languages. There are few theological training resources like PTC available in Aboriginal languages and Bible Society is hopeful that resources like this can be used in the future to lift the theological level of Aboriginal Bible Translation teams.
THAI TRANSLATION PROJECT
Our partner in Thailand, ‘JOFC’ is responsible for the Thai translation. This is a new translation and will go online immediately, as subjects are completed. ‘Introduction to the Bible’ has been completed and in October, JOFC students will commence studying online in Thai for the first time. Two more subjects are expected to be completed soon with others to follow.
บทนำสู่พระคัมภีร์
MALAGASY IN MADAGASCAR
The first six subjects in Malagasy have been in ‘offline’ use for over one year.
PTC is being taught in week-long seminars to a group of twenty-five people that meet several times per year. This group comprises five people from each of the five dioceses in Madagascar (there are six dioceses altogether). It is hoped that these same people will start to teach PTC themselves in their own dioceses.
Our key contact in Madagascar, Rev Berthier Lainirina is the main teacher at these PTC seminars and is now the Principal of St Patrick’s College. PTC in Malagasy now also forms the core of the syllabus for St Patrick’s Bible College in the southern Madagascan Diocese of Toliara.
Students at St Patrick’s Bible School Toliara before their recent graduation.
From January 2023 St Patrick’s will embark on a new project – Malagasy PTC online. St Patrick’s is now the main training college for the majority of the Anglican Church in Madagascar and wants to extend its reach over this very large island by offering PTC online. Madagascar is a very poor country and most rural people do not have access to the internet. However, it is hoped that an online option will help train urban church leaders and future church leaders who do have online access. Our CGM Team is working hard to get the first subjects ready for online use by the new year.
OTHER TRANSLATION NEWS
We also have a team in Japan (CMS missionaries and others) beginning a Japanese translation. Good progress continues on some existing projects such as French, Russian, Portuguese and Swahili.
The technology behind our translation projects has seen some improvements which will lead to greater efficiencies. CGM is now providing templates to assist with the translation process and HTML (web) conversion. Word templates are provided for the translation of the notes and PowerPoint templates are provided for translation of the images. This important work by our team means that the time taken to get new material online is greatly reduced.
Please pray for these and other translation projects. To find out more about translations please go to our website.
EVENT – PUBLIC MISSIOLOGY LECTURE
In July CGM, in conjunction with the Department of Mission, held our annual public missiology lecture. The aim of these yearly events, is to engage Sydney Christians on relevant and helpful missiological issues.
This year the subject was ‘The Written Word in an Oral World’. The speakers were Dr Simon Gillham (MTC Vice Principal) and Bishop Malcolm Richards (CGM Director).
Simon Gillham looked at what the Bible says about itself, a written document designed for a largely illiterate people, while Malcolm Richards looked at what the church has learned about teaching oral preference learners from its history and from the modern missionary movement.
If you missed the event, you can view the two talks and the Q&A session in the video below.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
We covet your ongoing prayers for our work – that the Lord would be pleased to use our work for the growth of His church and the establishment of His Kingdom.
We would also value your financial help in support of the translation projects. If you wish to give to any of the translation projects please visit our website.
Thank you.
