Wycliffe Associates has developed Symbolic Universal Notation (SUN), a written language available for the Deaf around the world.

Stacy Shawiak with Wycliffe Associates says, “We created a language of symbols or pictures so that we could easily communicate the Gospel in a way that could be quickly learned and we hope and pray is intuitive so that the pathway to literacy is quick.”

In 2020 Wycliffe Associates celebrated the completion of the New Testament in SUN. Four years later, the Old Testament is going through final accuracy checks.

(Graphic courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

“We also have Our Daily Bread version in SUN. We have 50 Bible stories. We have a catechism. We’ve come a long way in getting access to ways to understand Scripture in this new language,” Shawiak says.

Click here to learn more about SUN.

A massive need

The World Federation of the Deaf says approximately 56 million of the estimated 70 million Deaf people around the world receive no education. In many ways, they are cut off from their family, their community, and the world. Tools such as SUN are providing a way for change.

Already Wycliffe Associates has introduced SUN in 30 countries, 19 of which are in Africa. Here’s how one Deaf church in Tanzania responded.

“They said, ‘This is amazing. We have so many Deaf that don’t come to church because they don’t understand sign language. But this is so easy to learn.’ It spread to the ten Deaf congregations they have throughout the entire nation..Then they started going to other countries around Africa, and teaching it to their other sister churches and other nations. They saw hundreds of people come to know Christ,” Shawiak says.

During SUN workshops, the Deaf also have the chance to more fully enter their community through language learning. 

“We always partner with Deaf churches and organizations. As we teach SUN, we have the symbol and we have a picture to help connect the meaning. But we always teach it with the National sign language, so that the Deaf come in, and they learn the language of their community,” Shawiak says.

“It has so many more benefits than what we originally intended. There’s church [growth], they’re learning the language of the Deaf, they start to communicate, they get a community of people. It helps with self-confidence [and] it helps with autonomy. We’ve seen some beautiful blessings that we did not anticipate.”

(Graphic courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

Find your place in the story 

Ask God to protect those who have come to know Christ through SUN so that they would grow in the knowledge of Him. “Many of them come from Muslim families and are scared that their family will see that they’ve come to Christ,” Shawiak says.

Pray for Wycliffe Associates as they translate SUN training materials. Pray also for their ongoing work in creating tactile, 3D symbols to reach those who are both Deaf and blind.

“It is a huge task with many challenges. Every step of the way, we ask God to guide us, to provide, to let us not miss anything that He wants us to do.”

Header image courtesy of Wycliffe Associates

Ed Weaver with Spoken Worldwide says, “In many countries, whether it’s India or in the Middle East, there are cultural issues [where] men may see women as their servants, their slaves. They’re not given educational opportunities. Their voice isn’t welcomed.”

In many of the oral cultures that Spoken Worldwide reaches, women feel pressured to remain silent when in mixed company. This can carry over to Christian communities as well. Instead, Spoken Worldwide is inviting women to purposeful workshops.

“We are creating workshops for women only, training them in biblical principles using stories, songs, dramas, just like we do in our other programs. But this is specifically focused so that women have the opportunity to speak up,” Weaver says.

“They’re able to ask questions, they’re able to get greater clarity on things of the Bible. They blossom.”

(Photo courtesy of Spoken Worldwide)

One workshop leader shared this further testimony: “I can see how much it impacted [the women] as they were able to understand God’s truth through the Bible stories we shared. Many of the women also shared their personal struggles and how hearing God’s truth has given them hope. I’m happy to see the enthusiasm in the women as their confidence level was built up, and how joyous to see each woman answer the questions in the group discussions.”

Spoken Worldwide intends to take this model for biblical training for women to other countries. You can help them by praying.

“I would ask for prayer for our eyes to be opened, that we’ll be encouraged by the fruit that we see and use that encouragement to generate more focus around lifting up women around the world,” Weaver says.

Learn more about how you can get involved at spoken.org.

Header photo courtesy of Spoken Worldwide.

Eric Verstraete, President and CEO of Life Matters Worldwide, says, “There’s a difference between the church being anti-abortion and actually being pro-life.” Caring for mothers and fathers facing unplanned pregnancies, providing tangible needs for struggling families, supporting adoption efforts — these are all just a few examples of what it means to champion life.

(Photo courtesy of Akira Hojo via Unsplash)

So how can believers better support these holistically pro-life efforts? Verstraete says it’s crucial for pro-life Christians to engage with pro-life ministries doing the work on the ground, and that’s often done best through your local church!

This year, Life Matters is rolling out a new church engagement model to better connect local churches with pregnancy care centers. Many of these churches already financially support their local pregnancy care center, but that may be it in terms of involvement and support.

Verstraete says a church that is fully engaged in supporting a ministry will do these five things:

1. Pray for the ministry.
2. Learn more about the ministry.
3. Tell other people about the ministry.
4. Serve alongside the ministry.
5. Give financially to the ministry.

“Notice that four of those five have absolutely nothing to do with money,” Verstraete says. “I think that’s really important. Most churches, when nonprofits or ministries come to them and ask them to be involved, most churches believe that that ministry is coming and asking for their money.

(Photo courtesy of Life Matters Worldwide)

“Now, do these nonprofits need money to survive? Absolutely. They need to keep the lights on. They need to pay their staff. They need to do programming. They need to have marketing material to let people know that they’re there. But this engagement model is so much bigger than just trying to get money in the door.”

Life Matters is piloting their new church engagement model by working with four pro-life ministries in West Michigan. They asked the ministry directors about local churches that already support their ministries and collected information on how those churches could get more involved. Then Life Matters will work to educate and strengthen those relationships.

Verstraete says, “With those five parts — pray, learn, tell, serve, give — we are creating binders for each one of these ministries [so] that they can individually say, ‘This is how you can pray for us very specifically. Here’s how you can learn more about us. Please come and have a tour of our buildings so you understand more of who we are and what we do. Here’s some very specific marketing material so you can tell other people about us. And would we be able to come and speak at your churches to educate people more? Here [are] service opportunities — specific things that you can do to serve alongside us. And then here [are] very specific needs that we have when it comes to giving financially.’”

Life Matters’ new church engagement model also takes the pressure off church staff and encourages congregants to step up.

(Photo courtesy of Lfe Matters Worldwide)

“Church staff are already overworked and underpaid, just like the pregnancy resource center staff and we get that. So we’re going to be going to pastors and we’re going to be introducing this model to them…. Then we’re going to give them a specific binder to say, ‘Here’s what this looks like. But do you have…a champion within your church who we could talk to to really begin to champion this idea of engagement within your church?’”

If you want to learn more about this new church engagement model and how your church or pro-life ministry could get involved, contact Life Matters at staff@lifemattersww.org. You can also call 616-257-6800 and ask for Eric Verstraete. He says, “I’m happy to talk anybody through it!”

Also, please pray for Life Matters as they pilot this new church engagement model. This process, along with many other things, has been complicated by the current COVID-19 crisis. Ask God to provide for their financial and staffing needs as a ministry during this time. Pray for relationships between churches and pro-life ministries to be strengthened so they can serve like Jesus and ultimately proclaim the Gospel.

If you would like to support Life Matters’ ministry, click here!

Header graphic courtesy of johnhain via Pixabay.

Today, Native Americans aren’t given much thought by the general population or by the Church.

However, Ron Hutchcraft with Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says we still have a lot to learn from Native Americans.

A Nation Indebted

First, Hutchcraft points out that non-Native Americans owe Native Americans a great debt — maybe even in ways we don’t realize.

“They helped our initial [settlers] there, the Pilgrims, stay alive. Squanto was called an ‘instrument in the hands of God (to save us)’ by the governor of Plymouth colony. They survived because of Native Americans.

“Many people don’t know that they helped create our Constitution. Benjamin Franklin and the other founding fathers studied the representative government of the Iroquois and much of our representative government was modeled after what they learned from the Iroquois tribes.”

Native Americans have also been a pivotal support in US armed conflicts.

“George Washington talked about the help the Indians were. They have fought in every war of this country and they have served in larger numbers per capita than any other ethnic group in this country. I have met 29 Medal of Honor winners who were Native Americans.”

What the Church Can Learn

(Photo courtesy of Rick Cooper via Flickr: https://goo.gl/VCDWvP)

Beyond the gratitude our nation owes Native Americans, Hutchcraft says there is a lot we as Christians can learn from our Native brothers and sisters in Christ.

“I think perhaps we have viewed Native Americans as being on the receiving end from us. I will tell you that in the Body of Christ, they have so much to give us and we would be wise — if we have any opportunity — to reach out and sit down and let a Native brother or sister tell us about their journey with Jesus and what He has done for them and what He has brought them from.”

Hutchcraft has also personally been enriched because of Native American relationships in his life. On Eagles’ Wings is a ministry branch of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries which enables Native young people to reach their own communities with the Gospel. Through this ministry over the course of 26 years, Hutchcraft has gotten to know many Native Americans as brothers and sisters in Christ. He shares four lessons he has learned from Native believers.

Lesson One: ‘Your History Doesn’t Have to be Your Destiny’

“First, I will put it this way. Your history doesn’t have to be your destiny. What I mean by that is the pain of your past and having a wounding, hurting background and past doesn’t mean that has to be the way you live the rest of your life and becomes a defining factor of who you are,” Hutchcraft says.

“Now, there is nobody listening who doesn’t know the terrible history of our First People here. They have lost their land, they have lost their language, [and] they have lost their lives. Their young people are dying of suicide and alcohol and drug abuse at rates that are literally off the charts from any other group in this country. It is a serial grieving on reservations.

“But I have seen Native Americans who refuse to be defined by their wounds.”

Many Native men and women have lived difficult stories and come from broken experiences. But as Jesus heals their wounds, they find new hope and strength in Him that can only be through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Two: Your Story Can Change Someone Else’s Story

As Native believers find a new identity in Jesus Christ and release their broken pasts, Hutchcraft sees them using their pain to reach others with the Gospel.

“They have taught me that your story…can change someone else’s story forever.”

This lesson reminds him of a couple he knows from a Native community in Idaho. This couple had a son who served with the On Eagles’ Wings summer missions team a few years ago.

Five weeks after the summer of missions was over, their son was killed in a highway accident when a driver fell asleep at the wheel. Two years after that, their younger eight-year-old son was killed in another accident.

Hutchcraft says, “They could have absolutely sunk into despair and bitterness; but this incredible couple, what they have done is they have simply said, ‘We want people to know the Jesus that gives us hope for both of our sons who knew Jesus personally.’

(Photo courtesy of Warrior Leadership Summit)

“They come to our Warrior Leadership Summit conference and teach a battle council on how to handle grief in a way that doesn’t destroy you and how to emerge with hope.”

On a personal note, Hutchcraft shares, “My dear [wife] Karen went to Heaven suddenly a couple of years ago. I was so comforted and encouraged and loved by Native people, and I know where it comes from. It comes from their own grief because it seems like in the Native community there is always someone or something to grieve.”

Lesson Three: Generosity is Not Dependent on Prosperity

“They have modeled the fact that generosity does not depend on prosperity. In fact, many of them come from backgrounds where there is 50-, 60-, even 80 percent unemployment, where the poverty is well below the national poverty level,” Hutchcraft says.

“And yet, Karen and I have been, over the years, almost embarrassed by their generosity, giving us honor gifts and gifts I know they can’t afford [and] being hospitable.”

If we as Christians learned from our Native brothers and sisters and gave to others — not just out of our overabundance, but out of sacrifice — we would better model Hebrews 13:16 which says, “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

Lesson Four: Leave Your Comfort Zone To Reach Others

Finally, Hutchcraft reflects, “I think the other way I have been made rich by Native Americans is by their example that you have to leave your comfort zone if you really want to make a difference.

“Native Americans, generally speaking, are fairly reticent. They are guarded about showing their feelings, and yet, I see them weep openly for their people. I haven’t seen my folks shed too many tears for our people. But boy, I see my Native brothers and sisters do that and they refuse to leave their people broken, even if it means opening up their heart…in order to open someone else’s heart.”

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Hutchcraft witnesses this firsthand during the summer when the On Eagles’ Wings team of Native young people travels to different Native American communities. At each stop, these young people stand up and publicly share their stories on the local basketball court before their peers — and how Jesus changed those stories.

Every year, because of the outreach of Native young people, hundreds of their peers embrace Jesus.

“One of the young ladies on our team this summer, a Navajo young lady, is an introvert. No doubt about it. She will tell you that. She is pretty private about her feelings and not all that comfortable walking up and just meeting a stranger.”

However, Hutchcraft says, “I watched her every night this past summer — this young warrior and probably the youngest team member we had — every night she was out there engaging and meeting girls she had never met before, smiling, laughing with them…. She led at least a dozen girls to Christ this summer!

“At the end of the summer, I said, ‘What happened?’ She said, ‘Well, I can do it when it’s about people going to Heaven.’”

Praying and Advocating With Native Christians

Today, please pray with our Native Christian brothers and sisters as they reach their people with the Gospel. Pray for great spiritual breakthroughs in Native communities and that the Lord would bless the ministries of Native believers.

Hutchcraft adds, “We also need to become a voice for them. As I share with my non-Native brothers and sisters about the tragic things that are happening on reservations and the life-ending despair of so many Native young people, I continue to hear the same four words: ‘I had no idea.’

“Around our church tables and our decision making and our missions committees, a lot of times, Native people have no voice. We need to become advocates for these people who have been born, I think, with a warrior’s spirit. When that warrior’s spirit comes under the leadership of the Chief of all Chiefs, Jesus Christ, they are unstoppable. We have got a lot to learn from them.”

You can also hear their stories at hopefornativeamerica.com and learn how you can come alongside them in ministry.

“Native Americans have truly enriched my life and in these ways have modeled so much of what it means to be a courageous, conquering follower of Christ and warrior for Christ.”

Header photo courtesy of Warrior Leadership Summit.

“The response was so tremendous because of some people who just gave their hearts to Jesus. They said, ‘I want to believe this Jesus, and I believe He was the ultimate sacrifice.’”

The camps take kids through the Bible chronologically. Since almost every child is Muslim, these stories are ones they’re hearing for the first time or hearing from a different angle than they’re used to.

Nuna says one story from Genesis was particularly impactful.

“When we talked about the story of Abraham and Isaac and the sacrifice Abraham was making to God, they said, ‘I want to give myself on the altar and my life on the altar. This is the most precious thing I have, and I want to give to God.’”

The believers working with the kids reported profound questions from kids who are between 6 and 14 years old. They were especially interested in the sons of Abraham, wanting to know who and where they were and how they could become one.

But just introducing kids to the Gospel isn’t where the journey stops.

“All of their families are Muslims. Most of them don’t know anything about Islam, but they’re traditionally Muslim families that say, ‘This is the way we do it.’”

Yet parents are responding through ministry to their kids and families. Some of them are looking for explanation and understanding as they explore the Bible for themselves.

So Triumphant Mercy Ministries teams follow up with kids and their families even after the camp has ended.

“We have teams that are present all the time that will keep on visiting, especially with the kids who have shown such an interest and such a desire to know more,” Nuna says.

The workers gently walk children and adults through the Gospel message. Many families also choose to come together in small groups so they can learn about Scripture side-by-side. In other words, they form tent churches.

There are millions of refugees who still need help, and Triumphant Mercy Ministries wants to reach as many as they can. Want to help but can’t make the trip yourself? There are plenty of ways you can still get involved.

Photo and header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Ministries

For example, the teams need funds to continue their work.

“We have workers on the ground that are going and spending days just being with people, visiting house to house to house,” Nuna says. “These people need to have some income so they can continue doing what they’re doing.”

If you’re interested in helping out, click right here and we’ll connect you.

“Whatever people do, it’s a seed that they’re planting towards the advancing of the Kingdom. If it’s personal, if they can come and just be here, or if they planted seeds of an offering, all of this helps.”

But most of all, pray.

“Pray that these seeds would take root in the ground and nothing would be able to move them, that they would be protected from the eyes of the devil and from everything that tries to steal them.”

These kids will be faced with peer, religious, and community pressure. Pray that they would flourish to reach thousands for Christ.

Triumphant Mercy Ministries took a short break before resuming the camps again within the last few weeks, and they’re currently working on preparing ministry in Syria.