Samuel* with Redemptive Stories shares the story of a dear friend of his that we’ll call Peter. 

Peter is from Iraq. He lived as a refugee in another country with his wife and children. About a year ago, he came to faith in Christ after months of meeting with Samuel and other team members in their ministry.

“He knew that there was God, but he didn’t believe in Islam anymore,” Samuel says. “So when he met a team of believers that were engaged with him and began to share with him, he felt something different that he had never seen before in someone’s life. He felt a joy and a peace.”

As these Christians drew closer and closer to telling Peter the story of why Jesus really came, they saw evidence of God’s work in his heart. 

“Every time that the team would meet with him, he would just cry, just tears of repentance,” Samuel says. 

“Fast forward a year, and he’s been working with his family, trying to share with them (and) others. (He) is just on fire for God and communicating the story of redemption, God’s story, with whomever will listen.”

But there has been a deep cost recently. At first, Peter’s wife was glad for his faith. She saw a difference in him and the new peace he had. But when Peter grew more bold in sharing his faith, she began to recognize its impact on their family. Their children’s reputations, future marriages and jobs within the Muslim community were at stake. For her, that was too much. Earlier this year, she left with their kids to return to Iraq. 

This devastating loss for Peter raises other concerns. If his extended family learns he has renounced Islam, there is a chance they will do something to harm him even in the host country he is remaining in. 

“Those realities are real,” Samuel says, “but he’s said over and over again to our team that it’s worth it, Jesus is worth it.”

The team read Luke 14 with Peter. 

“It talks about this reality of ‘anyone who comes after Me and follows Me must deny (himself)’ — it would look like hate towards their mother and their father and their son and their daughter, their wives,” Samuel says. 

Would you let Peter’s story be a call forward in your discipleship after Christ?

“I would say the same thing that my dear brother demands of himself, which is to follow Christ — which means give everything for the sake of winning some others to walk this journey with him,” Samuel says.

“That we all might count that cost and realize that any sort of other god that (we have) put before God Himself is not worth it compared to eternal riches that come through following Jesus Christ.” (cf. Philippians 3:7-11)

*Pseudonym

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Abyan Athif/Unsplash.

Then, only two years later, Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopia against a paramilitary group in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. That war ended in 2022, but in December of last year Eritrean troops were still present in Tigray. In the past two weeks, unrest has flared up again in Tigray, displacing nearly 29,000 people.

Even as concerns for the region’s long-term stability rise, an Eritrean Bible translation team is at work own people: the Kunama of Eritrea.

“They (the Kunama) have for decades experienced hardship through civil war in their country,” says Meg Hunt with Wycliffe USA. “Many of them have migrated to neighboring countries — and then actually several of them have come to North America as part of their refugee experience.” 

Population displacement due to Tigray conflict, 12 January 2021 (Photo courtesy of USAID via Wikimedia Commons)

Kunama translation teams live Ethiopia and North America. Together, they feel the effects of the regional tensions. 

“For the team that is translating the Old Testament (in Ethiopia), they are being targeted by the local government, so it’s been hard for them to continue to feel safe in that environment,” Hunt says.

“Although they have resettled into different cities (in Ethiopia), in more rural areas refugees experience fear of being relocated to refugee camps back in Northern Ethiopia where there is still unrest.”

For the North America team, who is working on the New Testament, their pressures are less dangerous but still real.

“It’s actually pretty incredible that it’s entirely volunteer-based in North America. The challenges for them are really that they’re balancing a lot. They’ve got a lot of things of care for their own families, their day jobs. But again, they’re so committed to translating God’s Word,” Hunt says. 

“One of the things that is really unique about the translation is that because they are a diaspora team, working together across multiple time zones and continents, keeping in step with one another is an opportunity and a challenge that they have.”

Meet this dedicated Bible translation team here. Several books of the Bible have already gone through community testing — one of the final steps before they go to print or audio publishing. The books are Ruth, Jonah, Haggai, Matthew and Galatians.

You can be part of this Bible translation project spanning the globe through your prayers and your partnership. Learn more and sign up for prayer updates here.

“Pray for the safety of these Kunama team members, especially those in Ethiopia. Pray for the just energy and stamina to continue this work,” Hunt says. 

Header photo of internally displaced persons in Tigray, April 2021 courtesy of Rastakwere via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mike Patino, COO of Global Catalytic Ministries (GCM), says they have two teams in Türkiye working with the underground Church. But now, those teams have also been mobilized to provide rescue support and emergency aid following the earthquake. Another GCM team from Israel also traveled to Türkiye to join relief efforts.

“One of our disciple makers was talking about how he has friends that are still buried and reports of women giving birth in the streets because the hospitals have collapsed. So it’s pretty horrible,” says Patino.

“One of the quotes I just got in this morning actually is, ‘The town is literally nothing, that town isn’t a thing anymore. It’s flat. It’s really catastrophic on many levels and the trauma with the people is so intense.’”

(Photo courtesy of Global Catalytic Ministries)

It’s not the story you’ll hear on mainstream media, but Patino says God is clearly at work directing His people.

“We can look at the devastation and if we have natural eyes, we can get overwhelmed. But we believe the Lord is speaking and He’s moving.

“For instance, we have two teams there. We have an Israel team, who was already on the way without knowing anything. Of course, the first thing is to assess what is the Lord saying. Where should we focus our efforts,” says Patino.

“All three teams separately heard the Lord say the ancient city of Antioch. So they were all going there separately. Then when I started communicating with them, they all said they’re going to the same place, and I was like, ‘Okay, the Lord is obviously highlighting this city.’

“[In] this specific city, there’s no aid or effort going on in the city. All the aid is going to other cities. So we are going to be focusing our efforts in the city of Antioch.”

(Photo courtesy of Horizons International)

The GCM team reported there are about 300 orphans in Antioch that need immediate care and safety.

The biggest needs include water, tents, food, and blankets. You can donate to GCM here as they support emergency rescue and relief efforts in Turkiye.

“We’re focusing our efforts in Antioch and that’s where the orphans are,” Patino says. “One of the disciple makers’ cousin’s daughter was killed; [the] little girl was crushed. The way that the father explained the situation, of course, is just heartbreaking. So there’s just massive emotional trauma going on right now as people are just in shock.”

Please pray for emotional and spiritual protection amidst trauma — both for survivors and first responders.

This is a long-term mission in Türkiye for the GCM teams.

Patino says, “When everyone pulls out, the aid stops, whatever happens, we’re going to continue to push the Church forward and share the love of Jesus and the hope to pretty desperate people right now.

(Photo courtesy of Global Catalytic Ministries)

“The prayer covering is going to be immense. For some reason, He’s highlighting this city and He is sovereign. I’m not saying that He created the earthquake, but I believe and the team believes that there’s a shaking going on in the spiritual world to wake people up. We believe that this can spark a move in Türkiye and we want to pray into that.”

Header photo courtesy of Horizons International.

Bible translation powerhouse Wycliffe USA is searching for believers called to bring Scripture to their brothers and sisters in Christ.

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

The organization is pushing to start translation initiatives for every language in need by 2025. By 2033, the goal is access for all of the world’s population. Currently, 3,384 languages have some Scripture translated and 698 of them have complete Bibles. Learn more here.

Ambitious goals require an ambitious team of dedicated believers from all walks of life.

“God is looking for people who are flexible and adaptable… Those are people that would be a good fit for these roles,” says Daysi Russell of Wycliffe USA.

The roles are well suited for the cross-culturally savvy and lifelong learner.

Are My Skills Needed?

Global Bible translations require more than translators. In fact, the local church communities complete much of the translation work. Instead, Wyliffe USA requires translation consultants and advisors, technology, management, literacy, and communications to support the native-speaking translators. Believers from any background can be part of the translation process and make an impact.

Technology has reinvented Bible translation and accelerated the process. The first 500 translations took 67 years to complete. It took 17 years to repeat that feat and translate another 500. Today, the vital Information Technology team members support translation team field

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

equipment and create apps to expand scripture access.

Bible translation is a process and sometimes a dangerous one. Office management and administrators keep translation work moving forward one day at a time. These roles include human resources and project management and mobilize the translation teams.

Wycliffe is also in need of educators. Some of the communities working on translation don’t widely use a writing system. Communities who want to read scripture need literary education. This would include training local leaders among the native speaking population to educate their neighbors, churches, and community, Russell says.

Finally, Wycliffe is looking for communicators to tell the stories of the work being done. Keeping the translation snowball moving requires global involvement. Good communication keeps the many parties engaged and up to date on the result of their efforts.

Do I Have What it Takes?

While joining a translation team doesn’t require moving across the world it does require a particular state of mind. Ideal candidates should be spiritually mature and seek God’s direction in their work. Team members need to be open to learning new ways of doing things, Russell says. Finally, flexibility is key, as it is common to work with many different language groups.

How do I get Involved?

Currently, there is great need working with Papua New Guinea, Asia, Cameroon, and Chad. To learn more about needed positions visit Wycliffe USA on LinkedIn or email here. A missions coach will connect with anyone who is interested and can answer any questions, Russell says.

Team members are responsible for raising their own ministry support for their work but Wycliffe USA provides a wide range of partnership development tools and training.

How to Pray

Believers not called to translation ministry can aid in prayer. Ask for wisdom among those considering stepping into ministry. Pray for wisdom and safety among communities translating scripture.

Oral Village Suffers Loss

In a village on the vast continent of Africa, an e3 orality team has shared the Gospel message through storytelling. Work in this particular location began in 2017. As the Gospel was shared, those who heard it passed it along and trained others to do the same.

(Photo courtesy of E3Partners via Facebook)

“We’re receiving all sorts of really positive reception; a lot of other people were coming to faith…In 2018, they arranged for a follow-up training to really push these people along even further in their training and raising them up as really strong Christian leaders,” e3 Partners’ Marketing Communication Manager Jeff Johnston says.

However, a tragedy happened. Two African men involved in the training were killed in an automobile accident. This happened days before an e3 orality team was to provide the follow-up training for the village.

“This was an extreme tragedy and something that that really affected the whole village and caused a lot of grief. It was something that our morality team was grieved by as well,” Johnston shares.

“[But] they were also…afraid that this is something that could really derail these villagers’ faith in Christ and their exuberance for sharing His Gospel.”

Hope Perseveres

The follow-up training was canceled to allow for the village to grieve. However, those involved with the trip remained in touch with the village. Despite this painful tragedy, the villagers’ faith in God did not waver. And recently, e3 received a recording from this same village.

(Photo by e3 Partners)

“It’s a recording of this child who’s no older than four or five years old. And he’s retelling the story that they call the ‘Who am I story’ from Matthew 16. This is the story of Jesus asking His followers ‘who [do] people say I am?’ and Peter responds, ‘you were the promised Savior, the Son of God’,” Johnston recalls.

“This recording is in their own native language. But you can hear this five-year-old child retelling this story with passion and with confidence. And even though we can’t really understand exactly what he’s saying, because of the language barrier, it’s captivating, it’s powerful to listen to him speak so confidently at such a young age.”

Johnston says at the end of the recording those surrounding the child are heard cheering. While heartache has pained this community, God has not abandoned it. Instead, He continues to make Himself known.

“God can reach people…even people…that don’t have access to the scriptures in their own language. It’s just incredible what God is able to do,” Johnston says.

Pray for this community as it tells of God’s faithfulness and makes the Gospel message heard. Pray for their hearts as they continue to move forward after the loss of these men. Finally, pray for their community as it grows in Christ.

Find how you can join an e3 team HERE.

Header photo courtesy of e3p.

The Bible says in 1 John 5:14-15 to have confidence that what we ask according to God’s will, He hears. Then, Ephesians 6:18 encourages believers to pray on all occasions with all different types of requests, to be alert, and always praying. Psalm 145:18 says God is near to all who call on Him in truth. Finally, Romans 8:26 reminds believers that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, even when we do not know how to pray.

(Photo courtesy of Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash)

Prayer is also an encouragement, and it is a powerful way to support ministries. SAT-7, a satellite TV ministry to the Middle East and North Africa, covets the prayers of their audience.

“SAT-7, as a Middle East/North Africa broadcaster, needs God’s people praying for the Church across the Middle East and North Africa and [for] what we’re doing to see a growing Church in that region. It’s not without its challenges. So we encourage people to join us by being on the prayer team,” says Dennis Wiens, Vice President for Ministry Operations with SAT-7 USA.

People who want to support SAT-7 through prayer can sign up and join SAT-7’s prayer team. As part of the prayer team, people receive monthly updates and a prayer guide detailing specific prayer items for each day.

Let’s Pray Together

While the SAT-7 prayer team is structured for independent involvement and not as a group, Wiens says some believers incorporate the prayer guide into their church involvement.

“I’ve talked to some women as I travel in churches, and…their women’s prayer group meet[s] and every week they pray for SAT-7,” Wiens explains.

“I send out a prayer request about every month to another church and it goes into their midweek prayer.”

SAT-7’s prayer team structure also allows for flexibility. This helps people on the prayer team arrange their schedule to dedicate time to pray for SAT-7.

Are you a prayer warrior? Then consider signing up for SAT-7’s prayer team! For now, pray for SAT-7’s ministry and the Church in the Middle East and North Africa. Ask God to provide for their work and continue to make His love known.

To sign up, click here.

Header photo courtesy of Jack Sharp via Unsplash.

This is why the workers at Wycliffe Bible Translators are so diverse in their skillsets. And one job you may have never thought of within this body of work is translation consulting.

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA)

Rick Floyd is a translation consultant with Wycliffe USA. He also is a professor and instructor teaching linguistics at Biola University. Part of his job includes coordinating translation projects for Spanish-speaking South America. He also consults with a language group he previously worked with in Peru.

So, just what is his job?

He says, “In my view, a translation consultant serves as an extra pair of eyes to maybe spot things that the translation team hasn’t thought of, they’ve overlooked. Suggestions on how something might be rendered that’s a little awkward. To help them think through exegetical issues. So it’s a multiplicity of roles and potential functions.”

He clarifies that it’s not his job to decide whether or not something is a good translation. Rather, his main goal is to help the translation team think through things from different perspectives. He does his best to help them avoid common pitfalls in translation work.

What makes this job such an important part of Bible translation at Wycliffe USA?

“Because one person doesn’t know everything. One group of people doesn’t know everything. So, in a sense the more eyes you have looking at something—within reason—and variety of experience, you can catch things that may be blind spots to one person and might not be to another person. Consideration of cultural issues, for example.”

Floyd explains that translation work is not a linear process. You don’t just start in Genesis and end in Revelation, going word by word, until it’s finished. Rather, he explains that it’s more cyclical as they comb the work done again, and again. Consulting is just part of the process—another net to try and keep errors from slipping by.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t mistakes.

“I’ve heard it said the seeds of revision are sown in the translation itself. So, all you have to do is start translating something and there’s going to be problems with something that you do. So, again, we’re very, very imperfect. We do our best… and commit the results to God.”

Now that you’ve learned a little bit more about the complicated work that goes into Bible translation, will you pray?

Floyd asks, “Pray that the Lord of the harvest sends workers to the field, to be able to begin work in the languages that remain. The Scriptures say that at the end, people from every tribe and tongue and nation will be around the throne, and we’re working to make that vision a reality.”

To learn more about how you can partner with Wycliffe USA, click here.

Praise God that the Tembo people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo now have the New Testament in their own language! PRAY for transformed lives. (Header photo, caption courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

The Compassionate Care team with Audio Scripture Ministries stands in the gap for Mozambicans who need hospice or palliative care. They recently celebrated their 100th patient — a sobering milestone showing how necessary their care has been.

Joshua Harrison with ASM explains, “Our Compassionate Care team helps distribute God’s Word in audio to their patients, and they deliver basic hygiene products and medicine. They offer compassionate care being the hands and feet of Jesus to people who receive very little hospital care, palliative care, [or] pain medication.”

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

The Compassionate Care ministry was started in 2015 by ASM missionary Dara Vanden Bosch in Mozambique. “She saw a young girl suffer with uncontrolled pain and die. As a trained nurse, Dara wanted to help reach out to that need in the community.”

Since then, Harrison says, “She has been training a team of three Mozambican women who now make regular visits to patients.”

There are currently 24 patients being served by ASM’s Compassionate Care team. The weekly journey to see each patient is difficult, and the team has to go “deep into the bush over pretty wild roads, sometimes bringing the supplies, bringing the care, talking with the patients, taking care of basic medical needs, and praying with them as well as seeing what they are listening to on their audio Bible and answering questions.”

The audio Bible distribution is just as critical as the medical care, if not more so. While the Compassionate Care team meets temporal, physical needs, they also address spiritual needs.

ASM records and distributes audio Bibles around the world, and making these resources available to patients in Mozambique prepares them for eternity.

“As people are lying there, many times unable to move from their sick beds and their families maybe don’t even know how to take care of them, we come, we pray with them, we give them some basic medicine, [and] we see how God brings physical comfort as they are listening to the audio Bible and amazing spiritual peace to those who are turning to Him.”

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

Last month, ASM also celebrated World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. The theme was, “Because I matter.”

Harrison says, “This resonates with our vision for the Mozambican Compassionate Care team because everything that we’re doing there is because each person is precious to God.

“As believers, we know everyone matters to God. ‘For God so loved the world.’ It’s a basic, underlying principle of why God is doing what He is doing and why He is calling us to reach out and to love people and to bring them into His Kingdom to proclaim the Gospel.”

Knowing this truth — that each person is precious in the eyes of our Heavenly Father — how does that drive us to action?

One thing you can do is come alongside ASM and their Compassionate Care team as they provide palliative and hospice care to beloved men, women, and children in Mozambique.

“We ask you to pray for our team as they make these visits. The travel is often precarious. The situations are often difficult. Many times since many of these patients come when they are at death’s doorstep, a lot of times the team doesn’t have long with these patients. So pray for open hearts to receive the Gospel,” asks Harrison.

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

“Pray for strength for the team as they meet with and pray for these patients and help their families cope with loss, that God would strengthen our team and also that He would do great things in people’s lives.”

To learn more about partnering with ASM, click here!

Header photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries.

Tribal fighting plagues southern Ethiopia, and Somalia has to deal with a Muslim terrorist group. These conflicts can leak into Kenya.

Earlier this month, Crossroads Prison Ministries sent a team to reach a prison in northern Kenya with the Gospel. Crossroads’ Kenya country director Jefferson Gathu was with the team of six other people.

They had already visited two prisons and were headed to the third and final prison. On the way, the Crossroads team was attacked.

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Gathu reports, “We found ourselves engulfed by the people from Somalia on the right, and actually when we proceeded, we had the fighting actually coming now from southern Ethiopia. It was terrible. I remember my team and [me], we were in such a big problem.”

The team had a security escort and their guards overpowered the attackers — likely terrorist militants from Somalia. They made it to the prison shaken but unscathed.

“There were casualties because people were fighting each other. We may not know the cause of the fighting because…there is a lot of insecurity in the country of Somalia and there is a lot of insecurity actually in southern Ethiopia…. We were surrounded by the tribal men who actually wanted to fight us. But, as I’ve said, God was on our side because we had the military with us and they helped us.

“[The guards] were telling us that if we had gone without an escort of security officers, we would not be talking because it was terrible. We are told that the previous night, [the terrorists] had killed about three people.”

According to Gathu, that area in northern Kenya is too dangerous to travel without an escort since fighting and attacks are common.

“If you are new in that area, you are not supposed to go. You can’t go to northern Kenya without security. Sometimes you can go during the day but from 3 pm in the evening, you can’t go alone. This is always common and the security is not good in that area.”

This means the visitors to these prisons in northern Kenya are few and far between. It’s even dangerous for the people who work in the prisons.

“I remember one of the prison officers who was in charge showed us where the bullets would always hit…. They hit the walls and actually, he shared with us how one of the kitchen staff was injured because one of the stray bullets caught up with him.”

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Gathu shares, “It was amazing when they received us. They told us they are lucky to have us because nobody wants to go to those prisons because they fear for their life. But we told them that God had sent us and we went and shared with them.”

In total, the team members with Crossroads told at least 5,000 inmates about Jesus Christ and over 100 of them embraced Him as their Savior.

Crossroads offers biblical courses for inmates to go through with Christian mentors outside the prison. Mentors communicate with the students through mail and grade their lessons. On this trip, 30 students enrolled in Crossroads’ biblical studies.

They are still trying to work out the details to stay connected with the students and new believers in these northern Kenyan prisons. But currently, Crossroads Kenya is looking at a system that would get mailed lessons to the inmates once a month.

As the Crossroads’ team praises God for keeping them safe, Gathu says their ministry could use encouragement from the global Body of Christ going forward.

“We need prayers because…nobody would like to risk his life going there. But our team, Crossroads Kenya, we have given ourselves out to go and reach those people. As the Bible says, if you don’t do it, who can go? We need to remember them as we ourselves are one of them.”

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Also, Gathu adds, “We need to raise funds so that we can have the parcels and Crossroads materials reaching them at the time they are needed every month.”

They also need funding for a reliable vehicle to use for future trips, since the team cannot count on vehicles from their security escorts.

If you would like to donate to Crossroads Prison Ministries, click here!

Finally, please pray for the inmates in northern Kenya. “We need to realize that those people are in need, not only that we go taking the Word of God to them. They are in need of food, they are in need of clothing…they don’t have even mattresses to sleep on. They sleep on the ground.”

Pray for the new believers to grow in discipleship and in their relationship with the Lord. Please pray also for those inmates who heard the Gospel, but did not yet accept Jesus. Ask God to soften their hearts over time and that the seed planted would eventually grow into a newfound faith in Christ.

Interesting in becoming a mentor with Crossroads in your area? Learn more about their mentorship program here!

(Header photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

That’s what makes China Partner’s team so effective.

On their most recent trip, their group included Chinese workers, a Christian leader from New Zealand, American believers, and representatives from a new partnership in the Philippines. According to Erik Burklin, that’s exactly the kind of combination China Partner is looking for.

“The more we can bring international pastors with us, we can help the Chinese understand this isn’t just an American Christ we’re bringing with us from the United States,” he says.

They want to show the Chinese Church that they are part of a global body of believers made up of many countries, cultures, and languages. China Partner is serving them, but they’re also serving China Partner.

“We always wanted to come across to them not as people who usurp our authority and our knowledge on to them but that we would be coming in a very neutral and humble way and saying ‘Hey, is there anything we could be learning from you, and from learning from you, maybe we can help each other.’”

Photo and header photo courtesy of China Partner

Take their approach to training young people. To make their work as effective as possible, China Partner has collaborated with local believers to learn what exactly the youth of China are looking for. The answer? Relationship.

“They are aching to be noticed,” Burklin says. “They want to belong. They want to honor their parents and grandparents by getting good grades in school, which is part of the whole mentality of proving your worth to somebody.”

Thanks in part to societal expectations, the influence of the one-child policy, and many other factors, many Chinese young people carry a heavy cultural burden. Burklin says that’s where the Church can step in.

“They’re crying out for relationship… A church can introduce Jesus Christ into that scenario and say ‘The most important relationship you can ever have is with the most-high God.’”

But many Chinese pastors don’t always know what stepping in will actually look like. China Partner’s training hopes to remedy that.

“We know we’re not just there to train pastors just for the sake of training pastors but we’re there to train the next generation of pastors so they can stay passionate for the Lord Jesus and His Word but compassionate for the people who need to know about His Word and need to know about Christ.”

Find out how you can support China Partner’s work by clicking right here.