MONTHLY FOCUS

      

 

 
We are the King family - Dan and Rachel, with Aaron now 17 and Lydia age 13.

Dan was a Careforce worker at Sale West Community Church many years ago when Steve Rankin was the curate there. We moved to Tanzania in partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

In Tanzania most people speak the heart language of their own community rather than Swahili the main language of the country. Very few have access to the Bible in their own heart language or are able to hear the gospel explained in the language they understand best. Translating the Bible into every language is a vital and urgent task for the people of God world-wide.

Dan works as a Translation Consultant for Bible Translation Projects in Tanzania. In essence this means that he oversees the training of local Bible translators and works with these teams as they translate the Scriptures, checking them for accuracy. Last year he worked with 2 languages in the West of the country, Ruwila and Knoongo. They have translated the Jesus film into these languages and are working through the early chapters of Luke’s gospel,

He’s filling the post of Translator Co-ordinator for Tanzania. This means that he co-ordinates all the translation work going on in the country now! They have 18 language projects in action just now with new starts planned next year, There are 16 languages which have completed New Testaments. They are looking for staff and funding to start translating the Old Testament too.

The team are currently helping the Nyakyusa and Ndai people numbering over 1.5 million people to distribute the recently translated New Testament widely and begin work on Genesis and the Psalms!

The latest project is to begin an Oral Bible Translation of Luke’s gospel for 3 groups living on the shores of Lake Victoria. They are virtually illiterate with no written language. The team tell them the story in Swahili, and they discuss how to say it naturally in their own language . It’s then recorded. They pray to have a recorded copy of Luke’s gospel by the end of the year.

Currently Dan is based in UK where his wife Rachel is a GP and the children go to local schools. This is partly because of the children’s education and partly because of visa issues meaning they can’t live in Tanzania full time. Dan makes regular short-term visits to support the translation teams and advises the translators daily via internet!

Pray for them – please pray that the Lord will guide the local translators as they work on preparing scripture for the many language groups living in Tanzania. May the Word of God be available to ALL in their heart language. Thank you.