Mustard Seed

Mary Steele at an event in her honor

When I first took an assignment in Ghana in 2011, Mary Steele had already been here for almost 50 years.

She came to Ghana from Ireland to do Bible translation way back in the 1960s. She went to live among the Konkomba people in northern Ghana. In a video made a few years ago, Mary said that her first years were very difficult because none of he Konkomba were interested in what she was doing. That was on top of the fact that the Konkomba lived in a semi-arid area known for high temperatures with bad roads, no electricity, and no running water. Mary lived simply among the Konkomba and she persevered.

Eventually, the Konkomba began to see the usefulness of literacy in their language. The trickle slowly became a torrent. It renewed their sense of identity and pride in being Konkomba. It helped their children succeed in school. Many thousands of Konkomba adults learned to read even though they had never been in school.

Then came the translation. At first, it too was not well received. But over time more and more read the translated Scriptures and found them compelling. It took decades, but eventually they were reading their Bible avidly. A religious renewal ensued. Whereas there were very few Christians and churches when Mary arrived in the Konkomba area, there are now hundreds of churches and hundreds of thousands of Christians. Today, a third of the more than 1,000,000 Konkomba profess Christianity. The Konkomba have moved from being a people untouched by the Gospel to one that embraces, or at least respects, Christianity. That has resulted in a reduction in drunkenness and other ills. People moved out of poverty. The status of women was raised. So, like literacy, Mary’s translation work was eventually widely and enthusiastically received. Even though that took many decades.

In fact, Mary became a Konkomba hero. Everyone knew her. Konkomba chiefs and politicians praised her and granted her favors. The president of Ghana conferred on her a national award as did the Queen of England.

When Mary died in 2017, the Konkomba held one of their largest funerals ever. It made the national news. Chiefs and politicians attended.

What started humbly with an unmarried Irish woman braving difficult conditions and profound indifference to study a language, do literacy and translate the Bible became a big deal. It took decades of small, imperceptible changes, none of them dramatic. But now the Bible, Jesus and the God of the Bible are a living part of Konkomba culture.

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” – Matthew 13:31-32

Revitalized

I have written several times that translation committees are key to the success of translation in Africa. Have good translators is also important, of course. A translation committee is a group of carefully selected volunteers from the language community who oversee the work of the translators including setting goals, raising funds, creating awareness and organizing the sale and distribution of the translation. How well the committee does its job can affect how well the translation is accepted and how widely it is distributed and read. If it does not work well, some churches might just refuse to use translation, sticking with English or a regional language.

Siwu committee with regional translation coordinator

The translation into the Siwu language in Ghana’s Volta Region had a very dynamic and well-known translator who raised a lot of awareness for the translation and promoted it. When he fell ill and passed away, the translation committee knew that it would have to pick up the slack. Michael Serchie, the regional translation coordinator (center front) helped the community update the committee and revitalize it.

Michael is serving translation programs in more than a dozen languages. But even his wise and dynamic leadership is not enough if the language communities themselves are not interested enough to get involved. Sometimes, it takes a dramatic turn of events to get things moving. Michael saw that was happening and jumped in.

Pray for the translation in Siwu, and for the committee that they would work hard to see it widely used and distributed.

God’s agent(s)

The big religious question in the West is whether God exists. But that is not the issue in Africa. Everyone knows that God exists. An Akan proverb says that you do not need to show God to a child. By this proverb, the Akan people mean:

God is everywhere and we can know him through his creation which even children can see. Hence, even children don’t need anybody to point out that there is a creator (obooadee) who is the Supreme Being. This is a pervasive Akan world view that is so strongly held that it is the rare Akan who does not believe in God. Saying that even children do not need anybody to tell them that God exists suggests that it is foolish for an adult to claim He doesn’t.

But the belief in an almighty Supreme Being who created all we see is not the end of theological questions. Quite the contrary. Many African cultures believe that God has withdrawn. He is no longer directly involved with the world but is instead like an absentee landlord. The theological question of importance, then, is not whether God exists but rather whether he is to be invoked directly (the Christian teaching) or instead contacted through his agents who act on his behalf (traditional African teaching). God’s agents include various spirits and ancestors who are actually running things in God’s place, according to traditional beliefs.

The traditional teaching has a strong foothold. A Ghanaian friend told me that his uncle was an upstanding member of a prominent church, yet he also did traditional religious sacrifices. His uncle explained that he was covering all the bases just in case. His case is hardly unique.

Unintentionally, the missionaries who first translated the Bible into Akan reinforced the traditional view. Finding no plural for God, they invented one. The history of translation is littered with disasters where translators invented words where one supposedly did not exist. The invented plural “gods” in Akan is one such disaster. Had the translators used the plural for lesser divinities (abosom) Christians would probably have learned not to go to these lesser divinities instead of going directly to God.

In any case, defending the existence of God is useless in most of Africa because it is answering a question people don’t ask; wouldn’t even think to ask. It would be more faithful to the Bible to talk about the role, or lack of role, for God’s agents, a question we in the West don’t ask much.

Blessings spill out

Students who learned to read

The approximately 30 different people groups of northern Ghana are faced with real difficulties. Their land is semi-arid, they have few economic opportunities, and their children have to go to school in a language neither the students nor their parents know for the most part – English. In one school, only 2% of second and third graders could read.

But, using the alphabet for their language and a reading method developed by missionaries, primary school students from some languages in northern Ghana have started learning to read in their own language. A year ago, these school children could not read a single word. Today almost all reading short stories. Having mastered reading in their language, they will now bridge to Ghana’s official language, English. Experience has shown that they will be more successful in English after starting in their mother tongue. Not only that, they will be able to read the Bible in their language.

The blessings brought by missionaries have spilled over into education. That will, in turn reduce poverty and misery.

(Photos courtesy of J. Yacubu, GILLBT)

Celebrating a successful program

Elections Ghana style

This year is an election year in Ghana. There will be general and presidential elections on December 7. In recent years, Ghana has had several peaceful elections followed by peaceful changes of presidents, making it an example of hope for emerging African democracies.

I took the photos below during the 2012 campaign. As you can see, some Ghanaians are very colorful and ardent in their support for their party and their candidates.

Democracy has done something unexpected in Ghana. It has increased the importance of local languages. A candidate for parliament who does not speak in the language of his constituency is less likely to be elected. Previously, this was not the case. I hope and believe that this change is making politicians more accountable to their constituencies and making people more knowledgeable about how their country is governed.

Democracy is not the only trend boosting local languages. Liberalization of the regulations governing radio stations has resulted in an explosion of local FM stations most broadcasting mainly in local languages. These stations are looking for local content, so they host programs which read the Bible in local languages. The stations are also hungry for health, financial and other content in local languages. This revitalizes the language and gets useful information to people. In Ghana, radio is becoming a key way to get the Bible into people’s ears.

Pray for the peace of Ghana as elections approach. The photos below are fun, but there is always potential for violence and fir Ghana’s fragile democracy to regress. Pray too for Ghanaian translators that they would make full use of the opportunity presented to them.

Pray for kings and others in power, so that we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. 3 This kind of prayer is good, and it pleases God our Savior. (I Timothy 2:2-3 CEV)

Hover over a photo to enlarge it. Click any photo to see a slideshow.

Beyond mere understanding

I was intrigued by one story I got recently from Ghana. It was about an older man who followed his traditional religion. He offered sacrifices to his gods on a daily basis and had no interest in Christianity. The churches in his area used trade languages or English, but never his language. He thought that a god that did not speak or understand his language was not worth worshiping. After all, he prayed at his shrines in his own language.

One day, while walking to his fields he heard a gathering of Christians speaking his language. Out of curiosity, he stopped, listened and asked what was happening. They told him that they were reading the Bible in their language – his language. He abandoned his old religion and became a believer on the spot.

This story illustrates one of the reasons why we translate the Bible. It is not just so people will understand. Being easy to understand doesn’t mean much if people don’t listen to or read the Bible. This translation caught this man’s attention first. Understanding came next.

We translate the Bible so that God’s words will carry the intimate authenticity and life they had when God first spoke them in the heart language of the people being addressed.

The ideal body in Ghana

Typically, African painting is highly stylized. (Image courtesy of MaxPixel)

I was stopped at a stoplight in Accra where hawkers were selling things to the motorists. Two men were carrying poster-sized, framed paintings of African women, one woman in each painting. They were in a style I would call boudoir; that is they sexualized the female form without nudity. The ladies had on dresses that covered them in terms of what was covered, but not how it was covered. The fabric was clingy and thin. They were obviously intended to be alluring. But the ladies were quite different from those in such paintings or photos found in the US. First the women were decidedly plus sizes. Firm muscle was not in evidence, nor were six-packs. The ladies’ hips and thighs were especially ample and took a prominent place in the paintings.

The paintings depicted the ideal feminine form according to most Ghanaians.

When I saw those paintings, my thoughts went to an article I had just read stating that most young ladies in the US feel bad about their bodies. I wondered if those young ladies know that the the perfect body is not an absolute, but is defined by fickle culture. If they lived in a different place or time they would measure their own physique against a very different standard. It’s actually sad to put oneself into voluntary slavery to any societal standard without question.

Romans 12:1-2 calls us to transform our thinking. Part of that is seeing this world’s standards and judgments as fancies and fads that change from place to place and from time to time.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2

For granted

Title page of first Twi Bible

The Bible was first translated into the most widely spoken language of Ghana, Twi, in 1871. So when I arrived in Ghana in 2011, those people already had the Bible for 140 years. Children growing up in Christian families just found the Bible. Hardly anyone wondered how they came to have the Bible in their language. No one ever preached on the history of the Twi Bible. So it was just an unquestioned feature of their lives.

Not only that, most Twi Christians assumed without evidence that other languages in Ghana had the Bible too. All this makes Ghanaian like many American Christians who read their Bible without wondering where it came from or if it has been translated into other languages.

Meeting with pastor after presenting Bible translation to his church

When we began presenting Bible translation to Ghanaian churches, people were astonished. We frequently heard surprised voices realizing that they had never wondered how they got their Bible. They were even more surprised to learn that a number of languages in their country did not have the Bible. Knowing the role the Bible in their language played in their personal lives and their churches, they were dismayed that some of their compatriots lacked that same blessing.

On hearing the facts, church leaders sometimes committed their churches on the spot. They just needed to hear facts they didn’t know and to be challenged about things they had assumed or taken for granted. Besides, those who value the Bible in their own lives make the most ardent supporters of Bible translation.

Systematically putting out the facts to the right churches and church leaders is a key way to include them in the worldwide Bible translation movement. Growing that movement is speeding translation dramatically, outpacing even the speed increase from technology

Western Christmas in Africa

One of my Ghana colleagues and friends tells of Christmas in his village when he was a child. It was a big celebration. Most of the year people didn’t eat meat. It was a luxury. But at Christmas, my friend’s family butchered and had lots of meat. It was a real treat. Also, children got new clothes or even a pair of shoes. The adults’ Christmas parties involved unrestrained drunkenness.

Ideas about Christmas had leaked into my friends village from surrounding areas, mostly the western secular idea that it was a time to party. But the Christmas story was unknown.

Decorated palm branches

Nowadays, there is a translation of the New Testament in my friend’s language. That has changed how Christmas is celebrated. Families gather colorful flowers and weave them into palm branches that they attach to their doorframes for everyone to see. Children still get new clothes and everyone eats special meals. But now Christmas Eve is a time to go to church. The party has turned into a focus on Christ. People know who he was and what he did. They have allegiance to him.

Whereas secular western traditions of Christmas borrowed from British colonizers debased Christmas for my friend’s village, the Bible in the people’s language elevated it. In the process, the Bible has replaced secular western cultural influence with the real story of that amazing Middle Easterner named Jesus and the salvation he brings.

Who wears what?

Overflow seating at Korle Bu

I attended the 50th anniversary of the Korle Bu Community church in Accra. This church that has contributed to many different Christian ministries and churches in Ghana. At one time, all of the key evangelical ministries in Ghana had ties to this church including the organization Dayle and I work for, GILLBT. The church has consistently supported Bible translation through the years. It continues to support all kinds of missions and to run effective outreach into the community.

Man in tunic who prayed. You can see the preacher in his blue and white grand boubou behind on the platform to the left and others on the platform in suits and ties

At the event, which was a Sunday worship service, I saw something I have seen many times in Ghana, everybody was all dressed up, but each in his or her own way. The dress of the men was especially varied. The Master of Ceremonies was in a suit and tie. The Reverend who gave the main sermon was dressed in a grand boubou which is sometimes associated with Ghana’s other main religion. His boubou was made from the church anniversary cloth and decorated with the traditional embroidery. At least one other man in the congregation was also wearing a grand boubou. A prayer was offered by a main in a tunic, a style of dress also frequently worn by people following Ghana’s other main religion.

Other men in the congregation were sporting suits, slacks and dress shirts and a smattering of the traditional Ghanaian smock. So much for certain garments meaning that one belongs to a certain religion.

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink (or wear), but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17 NLT, parenthesis mine)

Ed in his Ghana smock

Mamadou Tanja, then President of Niger, dressed in a grand boubou visiting the White House in June 2005