Bible Translation, Scripture Engagement, and Missiology

The relationship between Bible Translation, Scripture Engagement, and Missiology can be seen as a Venn diagram with quite some overlap:

The relationship between some of these is fairly obvious (SE and Missiology, especially), and I will come back to the relationship between Translation and Missiology another time.

In addition we also talk about 'Language and Development'. Without language we would not need to translate, nor would we be able to express our trust in God, or desire to share him with our neighbours. So, language and its development (and general development of a minority people), is key. Our actual activities, however, are often more to do with translation and Scripture engagement, depending, where we work, and what the needs are. Our goal is not to create languages, but to create Scripture access. Our goals might include developing bilingual education programmes, but the greater goal is Kingdom growth (via bilingual Bible apps and in other ways). The language is the channel, not the target of our activity. We have to be careful not let our love of languages and linguistics turn into an idol. Nevertheless we work hard at these things - whatever we do, we need to carry it out to the best of our abilities and for the Lord, not for ourselves. May the Lord inspire us through the Holy Spirit, and help us when we are weak!

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Scripture Engagement

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