Training

What Would You Do?!

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What would you do…

…if you found yourself in a remote village and had to learn the language?

…if no one there spoke any English? …or they spoke no English at all?

…if there were no CDs, books, teachers, schools or websites to help you?

…there were no dictionaries or published explanations of the grammar?

What would you do if you had to learn that language ALL BY YOURSELF?

This is the very situation in which missionaries who work with Unreached Peoples find themselves. They need to learn the people’s Heart Language. To do this they must succeed at do-it-yourself language learning (and no… sadly, there is no machine to instantly zap the language into your brain.)

Missionaries need help. Lots of help.

What we are doing…

New Tribes Mission provides that kind of help. Our training programs in the USA, Canada and Europe, etc., train missionaries how to learn unknown languages, to learn them well enough to minister effectively; to preach the gospel, to turn new believers into serious disciples, and to teach and counsel those disciples through life’s most difficult challenges.

But what about missionaries who do not speak English and cannot benefit from those training programs?

A big part of our new ministry is to think about how to provide this kind of training for non-Western missionaries around the world. Next week we’re going to our mission headquarters so Bill can meet with other members of his team. We are working to collate the latest and best language learning helps, and to come up with easier ways for the average missionary to analyze a new language and figure out the grammar.

We are thinking especially of how to help those missionaries who are not already fluent in English. So on top of everything else, we will face the challenge of taking all those training materials and having them put into languages like Hindi and Tamil and Chinese and Vietnamese and Burmese so we can train missionaries coming out of Asian countries who want to work with Unreached People Groups.

We believe that the Heart Language is the best way to communicate with anyone. So that is why we want to help these non-Western missionaries to minister in the Heart Language of Unreached Peoples. Well, it also means we need to train these missionaries using their Heart Language!

What you can do…

Pray for us! Pray for wisdom and clear thinking, for open doors to develop training for missionaries from other nations. Pray as we face the challenge of translating these materials and equipping trainers who can teach them. Pray for God to richly provide for the needs of this ministry. Consider partnering with us financially. Pray that we remain healthy and have the strength we need.

We appreciate each one of you. You are making a difference in the world. You are investing in seeing the gospel clearly communicated to Unreached Peoples….

…Because everyone deserves to hear in their Heart Language.

A Joy: Teaching at Radius International

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Bill overlooking tijuana

Bill with the city of Tijuana spread out behind him, and San Diego in the distance

One of our joys during this season of ministry is Bill’s involvement at Radius International as part-time adjunct faculty, training young missionaries.

bill teaching radius

Radius equips cross-cultural workers to plant churches among unreached people groups. Bill teaches two courses. The first one is five days (10 hours) long, called Form & Meaning. It is part of the Culture Acquisition curriculum at Radius, and is presented during the students’ first semester. Here’s how the Radius website describes that course:

In all areas communication, the difference between “form” and “meaning” is hugely significant. When functioning in our own language and culture, we intuitively manage that difference, and we depend upon it constantly! But what we do intuitively in our own culture can really hinder clear communication across cultural and linguistic boundaries. We want you to avoid the common communication errors that take place when we assume that similar “forms” shared by two cultures have similar “meanings”. We’ll equip you to become aware of the form-meaning challenge and teach you how to successfully manage it.

Bill uses lots of examples from the Philippines and the Palawano people. It’s a fun, interesting module.

Tijuana street with church

Tijuana street scene

The Radius campus is in Tijuana, Mexico. Now that we are based in San Diego, we can drive across the border into Mexico. It takes us almost exactly 30 minutes to get from our house to the school.

Donna often accompanies Bill on the days he teaches, as she really enjoys interacting with the students and staff.

The second course he teaches is Semantics and Translation. It is two weeks long (20 hours), and a bit more intense and technical. It expands on the Form and Meaning course, and covers many of the areas involved in Bible translation with an emphasis on translating the original meaning.

bill teaching radius 2

The students are a committed bunch. They live in Tijuana for 10 months developing ministry skills and character to be effective, long-term cross-cultural workers.

“Radius is a serious, 10-month course,
designed for people who are planning to do serious, long-lasting church planting among unreached peoples.”

They inspire us! One young couple is headed to a war-torn Asian nation, another wants to work in South Asia, another couple is headed for Africa.

The Radius Kitchen

The Radius kitchen

The students live full-time in Tijuana, and eat at the school. We get to join them for lunches when we are down there. Wonderful, home-cooked Mexican food.

Great lunches!

Great lunches! This one was chile rellenos by Donna’s special request.

This past December, Radius’ second graduating class made its exit. And now, just this week, another group of students have started their year of studies.

The map below shows where they may end up in the years to come. Bill and I sincerely hope our relationships with these students will be long-term, and that we will be able to see some of them in their future places of ministry over the coming years, to encourage them, to help them in their language learning, and to see in person what God is doing among Unreached Peoples.

Unreached people group map 2014

For a close-up, interactive version of this map, go to this link.

We appreciate your partnership as we train these young people to effectively plant churches among Unreached People Groups by ministering in their Heart Languages.