My Home is in Heaven

What Type of Ministry? In the Christian world, there is room for all kinds of ministries: Bible Translation, Evangelism, Relief, Development, Publishing, Technology, Education, Media, Christian Growth, Foreign Missions, Support, and Advocacy, to name a few. Where would Wycliffe Associates’ ministry fall in this array? 1.      Hmm, Bible translation? Wycliffe Associates, who call themselves ‘one of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations’ [i] , boasts of doing translations in two weeks, with people who have no more than two weeks of training. They are not willing to do the long-term work that Bible translation needs. Their mission statement is ‘Accelerating Bible Translation’, so I guess it’s not Bible translation, or at least not honest, hard-won Bible translation. It’s more like the fast food version of Bible translation: it looks good and fills you up (for now), but you’ll pay for it in an assortment of unpleasant ways later. 2.    ...

  The Story You Didn’t Hear     “Mama Thandi, I have to go to my meeting. We will have to talk about this later.” Voices were raised and I felt my anxiety rise as I spoke.  “How dare you ask me where I was? I found someone to cover my class.” Mama Thandi, one of the Mamas at the South African AIDS orphanage where I was volunteering, asked in her normal, loud manner. ‘Mama’ is used for an older woman as a term of respect. The children called me Mama Deet.  “Well, that person didn’t show up, so I had to teach your class. It’s not a big deal, but in the future if you’re not going to be here, I just need to know.” I responded, trying to bring the conversation to a close. Mama Thandi was a large woman, both in physical size and in personality.  I had worked with her for seven months, and for most of that time I had felt intimidated and uncomfortable around her.  Wanting to move away from her, I walked to the small staff room to print some papers...