TRANSLATING FOR AFRICA

As conversions slow in America and are far and few between in Western Europe, Africa has opened up as a fertile field for the Lord's word. Attempting to facilitate the spreading of that word in Africa and elsewhere is a Jerusalem home for translators:

Tucked in the hillsides of the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion is what could be your average dormitory. The spacious villa includes 10 rooms — a common dining area, several bedrooms and a large library with three computers hooked up to the Internet. And there are also students, though of a slightly unusual kind.

Welcome to the Home for Bible Translators.

The home was established in 1995 by a Christian couple, Mirja and Halvor Ronning, who wanted to enable Bible translators to truly understand their sources by offering them Hebrew classes as well as tours of the land of the Bible. The couple affiliated their project with the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University, and thus they were able to offer students an academic program tailor-made for their needs, as well as an opportunity to become part of a worldwide family of scholars with whom they can exchange ideas.

The course is given in English or French, and this year's graduates are nine French-speaking Christian scholars from the Congo, Benin, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. The majority of the scholars originate from African countries, where there are hundreds of different dialects and languages.

"Christianity is spreading throughout Africa, and the existence of 200 translation projects is the evidence of that," Ronning said.

Nothing can be more valuable to the spreading of the pure gospel message than for clear, accurate translations of the Bible to be available in what many of us might view as obscure languages. In many ways, Africans can relate more directly to Biblical passages:

On a recent afternoon, three of the students — Genelosse Awankra from Togo, Issifou Korogo from Benin and Thomas Kore from Ivory Coast — sat around discussing their experience, which began when they all met on the same flight to Israel. Since then, the men — aged between 30 and 40 — have become good friends.

"You can't understand the New Testament without reading the old one" said Kore, who is not a translator himself but intends to set up a Hebrew course for those scholars who wish to register for this program. And despite being Christians, all scholars emphasized the importance of the Old Testament.

"Our culture in Africa is closer to the culture of the Old Testament, and people have a better image of God," said Korogo, who is engaged in translating the Old Testament into Yom, a language spoken by 200,000 people. "They can relate to the Bible's themes — the sacrifice, for example."

"In my language, Lama, a tribal dialect spoken by 200,000 people, there are some expressions similar to Hebrew," added Awankra, a former teacher and Bible translator. He intends to translate the Old Testament along with a team that includes his brother, who participated in the program last year.

Whether the language is obscure to us or not, we must remember that the promise of Acts 2 is still open to you, your children and all who are far off. We ought always to offer a great hand of support to those laying the groundwork of making the spreading of that message possible.