EMQ » July–September 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 3
Collaboration
Scripture translation is experiencing unprecedented progress as a result of a determined commitment to collaboration. This core value of Bible translation work is demonstrated in local projects all the way up to global strategy
A Perspective from Cameroon
By Paul Kimbi
There is an African proverb that says, “One hand cannot tie a bundle.” The proverb emphasizes the need for people within a community to work in synergy. The beauty of synergy goes beyond the fact that many hands do good and efficient work. It speaks about the intrinsic value of community. In other words, collaboration enables a community to function well. The necessity for collaboration in Bible translation is exacted by the nature of the Bible itself – it is a collaborative book! Borrowing from this proverb, we can say, “One hand cannot translate a Bible.”
The necessity for collaboration in Bible translation is exacted by the nature of the Bible itself – it is a collaborative book!
Out of the world’s 7,376 languages, only 757 of these languages have a whole Bible with portions of the Bible or work in progress in another 2,845 languages. In Africa, more than 2,200 languages exist across the total population of nearly 1.2 billion people. Out of these, only 285 languages (representing a population of almost 700 million) have a whole Bible, and 440 others have a New Testament.[1]
Hundreds of millions of people on the continent remain excluded from hearing God in the language of their primary socialization. We have not yet come close to fulfilling Habakkuk 2:14: “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Greater levels of collaboration both at local and international levels are key if we are to see this happen.
Translation as Transmission
Most people limit Bible translation to the activity of translating a text. When I use this phrase, I mean a program that facilitates transformation. This aligns with Wycliffe Global Alliance Bible Translation Programs Philosophy (BTPP) statement which describes translation this way:
“…the process of the indwelling of God’s Word into a language so that its speakers can participate and live in the fellowship and harmony of the community of the Body of believers here on earth and with all faithful people in eternity. This in dwelling comes through the many ways that God reveals Himself, including His Word primarily, but also through the life and witness of believers, especially those immediately in relationship with a language community.”[2]
The end goal of translation is the transformation of individuals and communities. Translation, therefore, is transmission where God makes himself known through his Word. When we see Bible translation as transmission,[3] we invariably admit the need for collaboration.
The end goal of translation is the transformation of individuals and communities.
Collaboration in Cameroon
The country of Cameroon has over 270 languages, and about 100 languages have no Scripture in any form, yet. In this context, collaboration is necessary to make God known through his Word. Domains for Bible translation collaboration include training for various roles in translation, advocacy and resource mobilization for Bible translation, vision building with the local church and Scripture engagement etc. These formed the basis for several collaborative initiatives in the country.
The Forum of Bible Translation Agencies of Cameroon (FOBAC)
Seed Company President Larry Jones explains that enhancing partnerships between the global Church and Bible agencies is an important way to gather the resources needed to support Bible translation. He says, “Such a partnership could leverage the available strengths of both groups in God’s kingdom.”[4]
In Cameroon, many missions’ organizations focus on Bible translation, Scripture engagement, and evangelism. These include the Bible Society of Cameroon, SIL Cameroon, Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy (CABTAL), Campus Crusade for Christ, Scripture Union, United Bible Society, the Lutheran Church, and World Team. These organizations have their own local and global connections with the Church.
This reflects David Bosch’s observation that the traditional view of missions – “from the West to the [rest]” – has been replaced by missions that goes in every direction by everyone.[5] These organizations come together in the Forum of Bible Agencies of Cameroon (FOBAC). Each brings their different ministry focus areas, gifts, and strengths. Through FOBAC, they leverage their strengths and blend their efforts in carrying out the Great Commission in Cameroon.
Two FOBAC organizations – CABTAL and SIL Cameroon – recognized their unique strengths, and strategically positioned themselves to work together for greater impact. One of CABTAL’s strengths is its nature as a local organization with the ability to penetrate the grassroots and better grasp the cultural landscape. It took the lead in community for Bible translation. SIL Cameroon wields expertise in many domains such as linguistics, literacy, and consultancy. It took the posture of a training organization. Then both organizations partnered to create a joint church relations department. The result was synergy, coherence, and effective management of resources.
A Strategic Partnership on Training
Bible translation is a multi-disciplinary activity that requires translators, linguists, biblical exegetes, literacy specialists, missiologists, anthropologists, consultants, etc. to work together. No one organization would be able to have a comprehensive training program that fits all these domains of the learning.
To facilitate Bible translation training, CABTAL and SIL Cameroon entered a partnership agreement with the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary (CBTS). In this partnership, SIL and CABTAL staff periodically go to CBTS to teach linguistics, literacy, and translation. In turn, CBTS handles the regular seminary courses like theology and biblical languages.
This has been described by many as a win-win partnership. Another advantage to this initiative is that pastors, including those who are not in the translation track, are influenced during their training to support translation as part of their missions’ program once they mount the pulpits in churches. The result has been a steady staff for these translation organizations over the years and a growing awareness of the need for Bible translation.
Partnering with Local Communities and Churches
Synergy with communities and local churches is essential. The BTPP[6] encourages translation agencies to take the posture of facilitators. This allows key leadership roles in projects to come from local churches. Friendship could also be a good synonym or description of collaboration because it happens amongst people who understand each other and enjoy the company of one another.
In this vein, CABTAL’s strategy has been to precede each translation project with community mobilization. Bible translation for a given project is not done for that community, it is done in partnership with that community. CABTAL assumes the role of a facilitator and helps communities to create structures, such as an inter-church committee, which will facilitate that partnership.
Executive briefings are another CABTAL strategy. These are used to mobilize and build partnerships with community and church leaders who are existing or potential local partners. The people who attend executive briefings hear reports and testimonies about the CABTAL’s work. In December 2021, I attended an executive briefing alongside a group of about 25 other people. Many were nongovernmental organizations CEOs. Others included church leaders, university professors, businessmen, accountants, etc.
During the meeting, CABTAL presented its annual report highlighting the impact of Bible translation in several communities and challenged invitees to be involved in Bible translation. CABTAL strategically invited people from domains that could contribute to CABTAL’s ministry and then challenged participants to consider ways to be involved. For example, one university professor who attended was asked to consider sharing about CABTAL’s vision with his students to open the way for CABTAL to recruit them as volunteers.
Conclusion
Collaboration reflects the nature of the trinity and demonstrates the way God designed the Christian community to function. This is evident in the apostle Paul’s metaphor of the church as a human body (1 Corinthians 12:12). Besides this, Bible translation is multi-disciplinary in nature and inevitably requires different stakeholders to join their efforts together for the task.
Bible translation is multi-disciplinary in nature and inevitably requires different stakeholders to join their efforts together for the task.
The need for collaboration is further demanded by the many languages of the world that are still without a verse of Scripture, yet. Millions of people still can’t hear God directly in their own language and God’s word continues to be mediated to millions of people around the world.
In their book entitled Teamwork: How to Build Relationships, Gordon and Rosemary Jones describe the beauty of collaboration in one Bible translation team they visited in rural Africa. They explain that the team excelled at practical life tasks – like repairing the Land Rover and maintaining the water supply – as well as cultivating local relationships. However, “they were struggling with all the deskwork involved in the technical side of the translation task.”
A young linguist, who joined them temporarily, found the analytic work of translation thrilling, but struggled connecting with local church leaders and officials. A synergy resulted leading to an enlarged team that included people who enjoyed connecting with others, those who handled practical jobs, and an “academically minded couple” who were then freed up “to concentrate on the linguistic and translation work.”[7]
Indeed, the “academically minded couple” could be seen as one hand that wanted to translate a Bible. Alone they could not do it. In collaboration with others, they could.
A Global Perspective
By Sarah Starrenburg
Unprecedented is a word many of us have heard more than enough over the last two years of pandemic disruption. But in the context of global Bible translation, this word should bring us great encouragement. Unprecedented progress is the story of Scripture translation around the world today, and it is a result of a determined commitment to collaboration.
Since 2000, the number of languages with a whole Bible has increased by over 70%. This rate of progress overtakes anything possible in centuries past. There has never been a more exciting time in Bible translation, and this is directly tied to collaboration. Bible translation agencies have always worked side by side to serve communities still waiting for the Scriptures in their own language. But increased communication, improved systems, shared strategies, and enhanced technologies have grown the fruit of what is possible through the posture of shared mission.
According to Progress Bible’s statistics from February 2022, 719 languages have a whole Bible translation available, but over a billion people are still waiting for that access to complete Scriptures in their language.[8] Across the world, collaboration to meet that need is taking place by a network of people joined not by a common logo but by a commitment to the power of logos.
Across the world, collaboration to meet that need is taking place by a network of people joined not by a common logo but by a commitment to the power of logos.
A Movement Birthed in Collaboration
Within United Bible Societies, a global movement of Bible Societies operating in over 240 countries and territories, collaboration is at the heart of our existence. Our movement formed in the aftermath of war when Bible Society leaders who had already cooperated for generations saw the value of collaborating more deeply.
Today, around 400 Scripture translation projects are underway across our global movement at any one time. In each, collaboration at a local level is deeply embedded in our approach. In Mozambique, for instance, where two new Bible translations – Xichangana and Emakhwa – were recently launched, the Bible Society actively nurtured collaboration amongst the full spectrum of local churches, including some that previously refused to meet together.
Regional collaboration is also key, especially in working together to pursue our Bible Translation Roadmap – a shared vision to complete 1,200 translations between 2018 and 2038, including full Bibles, testaments, and portions. We’ve seen Bible Societies and other partners planning, prioritizing, and collaborating in key regions – especially those with particularly high remaining language needs such as Asia-Pacific – in order to see Bible translation work increase and progress as effectively as possible.
Finally, global collaboration is the very heartbeat of our movement. It happens across all aspects of the Bible translation tapestry and is necessary for effective Scripture translation to happen. For example, in the key areas of training and technology, we work across borders and agencies to build needed skills.
Communications, marketing, and fundraising for Bible translation projects combine the efforts of Bible Societies collaborating across the globe, as each applies their own opportunities and gifts to the shared mission. Mobilising churches, too, happens hand-in-hand, whether it is in working with churches to grapple with the work of first-time translation, or casting vision for prayer and partnership about the work going on in other parts of the globe.
A recent scenario touched all of these forms of collaboration. A global community of colleagues all worked together across the domains of communications, marketing, translation training, coordination, project management, and more, to help a translation project guided by local experts, as part of a regional strategy, within a shared global translation roadmap. The most incredible part is that this is just a slice of a reality that happens every single day, reflected in projects across the planet!
The Evolving Face of Collaboration
Collaboration goes far beyond our global movement. At every layer of Bible mission work, working together across agencies has always been a key part of Scripture translation. Today, that is more extensive and deliberate than ever before.
At every layer of Bible mission work, working together across agencies has always been a key part of Scripture translation.
In 2010, the leaders of ten of the largest Bible translation agencies took a history of collaboration and propelled it forward into a new phase of intentionality. They formed an alliance together with resource partners now known as IllumiNations. This alliance focuses on working together to advance Bible translation for all those still waiting for Scripture in their language. This joining together of hands, vision, and strategies enables a clarity of vision about the shared work to be done, and the opportunity to steward the momentum of Bible translation in our time. This has galvinised a shared commitment to the cause amongst increasing circles of partners, whether in other organisations, in churches, or in the hearts and minds of individuals.
At the forefront of all Bible translation work is the dedication and skill of Bible translators themselves, and this is another area in which collaboration is key. Technology platforms and software are one of the things that enable this. Paratext is the leading software tool used by Bible translators across the world, enabling Scripture translation that is better, faster, and of a higher quality. The program represents a long-time collaboration between SIL and United Bible Societies. Around 10,000 people from almost 400 organisations actively use Paratext and the extensive translation resources it provides. Tools such as this have been of vital assistance during COVID when translators weren’t able to meet, since secure syncing and sharing of files enabled work to go on undeterred by distance.
Another technological tool making collaboration easier and more impactful is the Digital Bible Library, a platform created by United Bible Societies in 2011. This platform serves as a single access point for completed Bible translation texts, as well as translations in audio and video formats, including in sign languages. It enables any organisation to upload finalised Bible translation files and stores them in a standardised, secure format. This allows organisations to easily work with partners who can make their translations accessible through apps and websites to those wanting to access them. It currently holds translations in more than 1,800 languages and serves the ultimate goal of Bible translation – that people can access Scripture in their own language.
A Shared Point of Reference
That, of course, is the why behind any and all Bible translation collaboration. Everyone involved believes that every person on earth has the right to access Scripture in their own language – whether they come from a big, powerful language group, or a small, marginalised one. Our shared reference point is in the book of books that tells us of a God whose heart, in fact, is consistently for those who are marginalised, lacking power, or overlooked. A heart that says that all are equally valued within the new community of faith that becomes our primary identity. In the pursuit of Bible translation, we seek to make that heart known to all.
Everyone involved believes that every person on earth has the right to access Scripture in their own language.
Collaboration, then, is the living out of the belief that we are better together. It operationalises the reality that in seeking to extend God’s heart for humanity, we is a stronger reflection of that heart than I. It puts hands and feet to the shared revelation that we are, at our core, together in all of this.
Paul K. Kimbi, PhD (paul_kimbi@wycliffe.net), was born in the Northwest region of Cameroon. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Paul served as a translator for the Kom New Testament and later as a translation consultant for Cameroon Association of Bible Translation and Literacy (CABTAL). He currently serves as consultant for Bible translation programs for the Wycliffe Global Alliance and translation coordinator for Wycliffe Global Alliance Africa Area.
Sarah Starrenburg (sstarrenburg@biblesocieties.org) is the executive director of global collaboration for United Bible Societies, a not-for-profit network that operates in over 240 countries and territories to make sure that everyone who wants to can access and engage with the Bible. She has spent over a decade helping people around the world collaborate to advance shared priorities and projects. Sarah is passionate about helping people work together across distance and culture for impact and for good.
NOTES
[1] “SNAPSHOT,” ProgressBible, accessed February 15, 2022, https://www.progress.bible.
[2] “Bible Translation Programs Philosophy,” accessed February 15, 2022, https://www.wycliffe.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Bible_Translation_Programs_Philosophy_2019_EN.pdf.
[3] Bryan Harmelink, “Translation as Transmission,” in Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry 12, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 20–25.
[4] Larry Jones, “Global Church Bible Translation Agency Partnership: A Proposal for Twenty-First Century Bible Translation,” in Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry 12 no. 1 (Spring 2015): 43.
[5] David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Missions (New York: Orbis Books, 1991), 325.
[6] “Bible Translation Programs Philosophy.”
[7] Gordon and Rosemary Jones, Teamwork: How to Build Relationships, (London: Scripture Union, 1995), 81.
[8] “SNAPSHOT.”
EMQ, Volume 58, Issue 3. Copyright © 2022 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
