Not long ago, Christians in the DRC began translating Scriptures into new languages but weren’t able to finish.
Tribal warfare sent people running for their lives, leaving everything behind. Teams scattered. Many were injured. Some were killed. Others faced disease, famine, and natural disasters—Havu-language Bible translators died in floods. And we’ve received a devastating report of national Bible translators murdered by Islamic terrorists.
To this day, some translation teams don’t know where the other members are—and many have even lost their lives.
Yet believers in the DRC are so determined to have God’s Word in their own heart language that they have formed new teams—even in horrible conditions, and they are more committed than ever. But these new teams need the tools... the training... the technology to restart and complete translation of the Scriptures.
A Crisis Call from the DRC
Living every day under the threat of violence is almost beyond imagination, but that’s the reality for many of our translation partners in the DRC.
In their calls, emails, and letters, you can hear the desperation. The weariness, after generations of praying and waiting just to have Scripture they can read and understand. And yet, you also hear the passion and the refusal to give up hope...
And that’s what we heard recently in the voice of a precious Christian brother in Africa, asking—yet again—for tools to translate the Scriptures into the heart language of his people...
Listen to the crisis call from the DRC here.
This is just a tiny part of a long voicemail message, but our partner’s words are unforgettable and truly drive home the importance of Bible translation in the DRC today. He says, “In our tongue, the Bible doesn’t exist. Please help us. We need the Bible in our tongues, in our local languages. Please.”
And then, he asks a simple question: “What must we do?”
How to Help Believers in the DRC
Our brothers and sisters in the DRC will do anything they can to get tools for Bible translation. The only thing they can’t do is provide the funding. They have little or nothing. Poverty is so deep that some are living with hunger every day.
Yet they’re not pleading for food—or even money: They only plead for God’s Word, in the language of their hearts.
Please know that Wycliffe Associates is a committed partner with translation teams. When we got word of the awful plight of our brothers and sisters impacted by war and flooding in the DRC, we immediately sent crucial support from our Emergency 911 Fund to meet their most urgent physical needs, just to keep them alive.
But they still go to sleep every night without God’s Word in their own heart language.
It will take gifts from many caring friends to raise the $35,000 needed to re-start three language groups in the DRC. These funds will provide a safe place for national Bible translators to gather and work, plus specialized training for new workers, along with essential technology—a secure system to protect their progress and store the newly translated Scriptures in the cloud. This is crucial because violent conflict can spark at any moment, and translation work can get lost.
What Happens When Translation Work Begins again?
Please read these heartfelt words of thanks from Western Tanzania, where translation teams face many challenges but are so grateful for the tools, training, and technology they have received—
“Our community is filled with great joy and expectations as they await to receive the Word of God in our heart language, for it shall enable all members of our society to read and get a revelation of the Word of God.
“In the journey of translation, we’ve been faced with some challenges, such as a shortage of translation materials (books, pens) and difficulties in organizing our regular meetings, where we meet twice a month for the peer-to-peer check and keyword check. Despite the challenges, we are so determined and trusting in the Lord that we shall walk the journey to the very end and see the vision materialize in having the Bible in our mother language.”
Help them finish the work so they can share the entire Bible with their people!
Believers in three language groups are waiting. Their translation projects began—but then stalled.
Not because these Christians gave up, but because the enemy came “to steal and kill and destroy.” Some have a portion of the Scriptures. But they long to know God’s Word fully, not bits and pieces... “the whole counsel of God.”
Some are so close… more than 85% of the way there to completion!
Please make a gift now that lets believers of the DRC know that help is on the way. In memory of those who laid down their lives trying to bring God’s Word to life in a new language, thank you for giving generously to help re-start these Bible translation projects.
