After years of prayer, language learning, and recent evangelism trips into West African villages, our team is gearing up for the final stages of training in order to share God’s Word through oral translation with the Yalunka people. During a two-week seminar, FEC’s West Africa team will receive training in Community Health Evangelism, along with a “refresher” course in the “Simply the Story” Bible translation method. This method focuses on training village storytellers, who in turn can spread the Word to surrounding villages through their established oral tradition. “The methodology takes a lot of practice,” says Steve Nelson, team leader. “We are trainers of the trainers, or storytellers, in the villages. We never move on until those storytellers can teach that one story accurately, and then they teach someone else. When they can teach it accurately, we move on to the next story.”
The upcoming seminar will also include our team’s translators, along with likeminded ministry co-workers in the region. “Our translators need to work freely within the method,” says Steve Nelson, team leader. “This seminar will unify us as we prepare to share these Bible stories with storytellers in the villages.” Please join us in praying for the effectiveness of the training, along with successful application in the coming months!
