The 1,000th New Testament that Wycliffe has helped to translate has been completed! The Keliko people of South Sudan will finally be able to read God’s Word in their own heart language. But the project was far from easy.

The desire for a Keliko translation began when pastors were reading Scripture in their own languages at a Christian conference. However one pastor, Rev. David Gale, could not because not one word of Scripture had yet been put into Keliko, the language of his people of South Sudan.

He returned home and shared his passion for a Keliko translation with other Keliko believers. Within a few years and with the help of linguists from SIL (one of Wycliffe’s main partner organizations), a story, a song, and a few Scriptures were published in a pamphlet.

Then war broke out. Most Keliko fled to Congo and northern Uganda. Translation staff were evacuated. Progress on the Keliko translation halted.

Ten years later, in 1998, the work was resumed. As momentum increased and the Keliko translation team was doing the final checking of their long-awaited New Testament, the Keliko homeland was ravaged again by violence. The translation team fled, most to northern Uganda, but this time they continued their work.

Despite the traumas of war and migration, the Keliko translation team has pressed on to see God’s message of hope available to their people. And that persistence is bearing fruit. The Keliko people welcomed their newly translated Scriptures last month on August 11.

John 3:16 in Keliko
Múngú lẽ ꞌbá nyọ̃ọ́kụ́ drị̃gé rĩ pi agaá rá, ĩsẽ ívé Mvá ãlukútaŋá rĩ ímụ́ nyọ̃ọ́kụ́ drị̃gé nõgó, ꞌbá ĩri ẹ̃ꞌyị̃ị́pi rá rĩ ã drã rí ku, ẽ ị́sụ́ rí ídri ꞌdániꞌdáni rĩ ãní bẽnĩ.
(Source)

Did You Know?

The rate of Bible translation has increased exponentially in the last century, so much so that we should, Lord willing, be able to have a Bible in every language that needs one in our lifetime. Of the 1,000 New Testaments that have been finished, the first 500 took 67 years to finish, while the next 500 took only 17 years! That’s four times faster, and the rate continues to accelerate as we work on the next 1,000.

Invest in Bible Translation

We are excited to help train Bible translators who will complete the next 1,000 New Testaments! You can join the effort too, through your prayers and financial gifts that will make our Wycliffe teaching role possible.

We invite you to join our prayer team and to partner with us financially in our Wycliffe ministry. Once we reach 100% of our Wycliffe monthly budget through our partners’ recurring financial gifts, Todd will be approved to start teaching in Dallas.

We’re currently at 43% and, because of that progress, we will be transitioning out of our church position Sept. 16 to focus more on sharing about our Wycliffe ministry and getting to 100%. This progress wouldn’t be possible without all of our current partners. Thank you!

Become a Partner

Praises…

• We’ve tripled our prayer team in the last 5-6 weeks, which is empowering and encouraging.
• Wycliffe has helped with 1,000 new translations, and together you and the Scacewaters can contribute to the next 1,000!
• Several friends have advocated for us by connecting us with others, setting up meetings for us to share, and making personal sacrifices to help us with this mission.
• God has provided for us a temporary, furnished duplex rental right next to campus, which will make our move to Dallas much simpler.

Pray for…

• Increased time to share about the need for and progress of Bible translation.
• Several upcoming church presentations in the next few months.
• Todd to finish with excellence at his church position, which ends Sept. 16.
• Full financial partnership for our Wycliffe ministry so that we’ll be released to move to Dallas in time to prepare for teaching classes in the Fall of 2019.