Sadly, the girls were disinclined to be enthused about news today, though immediately after the video, Anya and Mira started racing up and down the bridge…
We’re looking for 19 partners in 43 days! Sounds impossible! Then again, we serve a God who sent his Son to earth for you, me, and people from every nation and tongue.
Partner with us!
Partnership opportunities graph below video if you prefer that.
Our girls were quite a bit younger when we started Carter Action News. It typically airs when we want to share life from their perspective – which would be valuable to do more often! For those who’ve seen our presentations in-person, you know we like to give the girls a chance to share.
The update below includes our financial partnership status as of Nov 5, see video starting at 0:54. Partner with us!
We shared about Papua New Guinea 11 times during two trips this month. From ten minutes with an excited group of kids to an hour-plus with a group around a fire, what we shared was different each time. We enjoy and are blessed by these opportunities to connect with others and focus on PNG.
However, my overriding sentiment by that fire was frustration with trying to communicate cogently about the people of PNG. Why frustration?
Jesus’ call is to radical faith-lived-out, to sacrifice, to being transformed each day into the new being he originally designed us to be. His commands to Pray! Give! Go! are for you, me, and the people of Papua New Guinea too. For PNGans, ‘the ends of the earth’ is places like America, which needs Jesus’ saving and sanctifying every bit as much as PNG does. Disciples of Jesus should expect to crisscross the globe – and other earthly barriers – until Jesus comes.
Feeling frustrated brings reminds us of Jesus’ words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30) And so we pray that the urgency appropriate to the task be paired with the peace that passes understanding (Phil 4:7).
I’ve been around Bible-less peoples my whole life, and the question below still don’t have good answers. There are some answers – we’re not without hope, and God has his ways – but the lack of vernacular Scriptures in a huge barrier!
Praise God for the work he accomplishes in hearts and minds even where vernacular Scripture doesn’t exist! Pray that he would be swift to rally his children to translate Scripture for all peoples.
May Jesus “do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Indeed, may it be in PNG, the USA, and among every tribe and tongue, that “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Eph 3:20-21).
78 days to PNG!
See more pictures from the PNG gallery at beautiful PNG. Other galleries at the Carters and survey trips.
As fall colors sweep in waves across northern forests, we rejoice in the sacred rhythm of seasons, Creator-sanctified by an eternal God. When chill chills, we think fondly of PNG, where the changing of seasons is subtle, and green persists year-round.
Enjoy PNG’s splendor below, and see the full album at https://carter-pathways.com/?page_id=120. We are 85 days from return!
Heaven’s glory, expressed on earth
Tree stone flower, divine mirth
Ballet of temporal splendor
Timed tune, eternal metaphor
“Let there be light” – the first command
Climax creation – woman, man
Dare we dance to heaven’s voice?
Maestro plays, joyfully noise!
Psalm 19 and others speak more on this topic. How does God use creation to speak to you? What is he saying to you? How are you responding?
God gives us everything. EVERYTHING, not least these precious and incredible bodies. How is your body his temple? How do you use your body to seek first God’s Kingdom?
Our generous Father is delighted when we praise him for his goodness, and when we worship him by revering him with the resources he has given us. As I reflect on this, I perceive we’re doing fairly well in the longer-term redeployment of the resources God’s given us stewardship of (see this recent post), but less well at being ready to be generous-without-notice: with cash, possessions, or time.
PNGans practice relational generosity regularly. We continue to learn from them.
As I look at our list of financial partners, I find it remarkable that this model works for cross-cultural work all over the world.
Money and time are precious to people. They worry and labor and toil to preserve and increase them. Jesus addresses those concerns in Mt 6: “Do not be anxious.”
Jesus counsels to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Our partners are the most ordinary of people (see the post on Tikvah for thoughts on ‘ordinary’). As I look at the list of 83 individual/family partners, I see:
And the list goes on. In the 11 years we’ve been in PNG, these partners have experienced deaths and births and job changes and relocations and… you name it, it’s happened. Each partner has many reasons to have stopped giving. But they’ve chosen to trust God and to seek first the kingdom that God is building. What a miracle! What a marvelous testimony to the transformative work of God in their lives! What a privilege for us to be the bridge between these partners and PNGans.
I started with, “I find it remarkable that this model works.” Oh, it’s isn’t perfect and has its pros and cons like any strategy. But at its heart, it is relational – these partners and their relationships with us, our relationships with PNGans. Those relationships aren’t perfect either; there is much opportunity for iron to sharpen iron (Pro 27:17) as we journey together! But this approach reflects Jesus’ prioritization of relational approaches. The result is a delicate-but-resilient network dedicated to God’s kingdom work.
Praise God for prayer and financial partners! They’ve chosen to trust God with their time and money, and God is using them to make disciples in PNG. “Your kingdom come!”
Pray for us as we engage in these relationships with partners and with PNGans. It is an immense privilege, a solemn responsibility, and hard work.
If you are a partner, I ask you to invite others to this network! If you need ideas for how, we can help.
If you’re not a partner, consider joining. It’s fantastic to be part of what God’s doing in PNG.
This weekend we’re headed to Ohio to connect with a new church there, and we’ll send a newsletter today. Let us know if you want a copy.
On a research trip in 2020, the survey team sits together under a leaf shelter. It is attached to the jungle-materials house belonging to one of our guides, which we will sleep in. We had hiked from the coast along a narrow ridge to his village in the mountains, which we were to conduct research. From within the shelter’s shade, we see a great deal more mountain above us. The breeze blows chill and there’s a hint of rain in the air, but no running water of any kind on the ridge.
The fire in our midst grows in prominence as sunlight fades, and ease settles over the group as strangeness wears off. Our hands are busy with a mundane task: separating the leaves of what would be our supper from their stems. A huge pile of a garden plant had been brought – it looked far more than we’d need – but between getting rid of the stems, the leaves boiling down, and our hike-induced hunger, we would do justice to our verdant repast.
As the light dies, I listen as the mama of the house gives instructions related to the food. Watch with interest as the old man in the traditional loincloth sits for hours without saying a word. Enjoy my PNGan teammates joking and laughing with each other and our hosts.
I reflect on the trip thus far:
After supper it rains. Sky-water becomes ground-water, sending probing fingers into our shelter. Ditches are dug to channel it away.
As we sit together, faces barely lit by the fire’s embers, the future in uncertain. It’s likely that life will go on much as it has for these people. Living in small communities, eating from the land, looking for education and business opportunities where they can.
The big question is: will they continue to see God through the clouded lens of another language, or can that barrier be removed by producing vernacular Scripture? How much better that they can see clearly, so they can follow well! Unfortunately, one might argue that their view has always been blurry, and that they need opportunity to “taste and see” without that distortion to discover how much better it is!
Put another way, perhaps vernacular Scripture is like a new food; you don’t know it’s wonderful until you’ve tried it. Soul-food.
Several days later we learned that our participation in the preparation of our supper was perceived as remarkable. Properly dignified guests would perhaps have excused themselves from such duties. But our incarnational savior Jesus set an example of service, and demonstrated that he was very much concerned with – even focused on – society’s outcast, or those deemed unimportant. Pray for these people of the misty mountains, and those on the sandy coasts, and all those everywhere to see God. Pray, and look for a way to participate in God’s care for them. See Call to Action for suggestions.
“God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:36-39
[Mail recipients, please go to the webpage to see the video.]
In our first post, we invited you to tell us what you want to see here! That invitation stands.
Also in our first post, we said, “[Surveyors] write reports, but we aren’t fully satisfied when readers are just informed. Our research is intended to be applied, acted upon – in the survey context, this means language communities being served as a result of our research into their needs. Likewise, we’d love for you to act on what you see here by praying, becoming part of our team, or getting involved in a more direct way yourself! Jesus’ call to “Go!” is for all believers.
This week, instead of adding to the word count, I want to invite you to action, or to conversation. So, today, I’ll share highlights from posts to date. They’re organized by our call to action: Pray! Give! Go!
Watch the video or read the text below, they are nearly identical.
We answered “What is Language Survey?” with “We do applied research, desiring that those we study would benefit from language development.”
We recounted a 2011 survey and defined language survey as: research the sociolinguistic situation to identify needs and desires and suggest strategies for meeting them.
When a Language Dies – the story of a grandma who was the last speaker of her language – explained, “A language is an artistic system to express all of the meanings deemed valuable enough to articulate verbally. A collaborative effort to explain the world. A tug of war between new words striving to find acceptance and old ones reluctant to be forgotten.”
Pray for those who’ve lost a language they loved, to find identity as God’s children. For those losing one to understand its value and to have wisdom to respond. Pray God’s message would be clear, regardless: “The heavens declare the glory of God… Day after day they pour forth speech… they have no words… Yet their voice goes out into all the earth” (excerpts from Ps 19:1-4).
After telling the second half of the 2011 survey, we noted, “Though there is translation work going on nearby, Mur Pano people haven’t been able to partake in a significant way. If you were one of the residents of the village, how would you think about the possibility of Scripture in your language? Would you judge it worth the effort? Will speakers of Mala and Mur Pano be among the “persons from every tribe and language” singing “You are worthy!” to God? (Rev 5:9).”
Pray for the 70 language groups we’ve researched in the past decade! Consider playing a part in researching and advocating for other speakers of minority languages by partnering with us!
As in the canoe described in Furlough & Partnership – Canoeing Sideways, we aren’t steering on furlough… YOU are. God uses you, his Body, to care for cross-cultural workers, send them to their place of service, and support them while there. Without the Church providing transport, overseas workers get dumped in that muddy river.
Furlough is a faith-growing exercise for cross-cultural workers. We do what we can, then wait trustingly – balancing the while – for the Church to say, “Yes, we want to make that happen!” (If you’re ready, get in touch, go to Partner, or ask us for suggestions about work that aligns with your interests.)
In Is It Dangerous? we asked, “Why do we do it?” Here’s one way to look at it:
Would you go to an event if your invitation was written in a language you don’t know well? “If this is really for me, why isn’t it in my language? I’m not entirely sure what this is about.” God invites people from every nation and tongue to his table. Translating the invitation – the Bible – makes it clear and cogent.
By last count, there were close to 2000 language groups in Oceania, Asia, and Africa about which not enough is known to categorize translation need with confidence.
Solution: RESEARCH! Understanding what type of translation is beneficial and where is the first step towards meeting the needs of these people who are, in some ways, “the least of these” (Mt 25:40, 45).
Research guides translation experts to where they are needed, and often provides strategic information about how to work with a particular people group. Those translation experts do the heavy lifting, often investing 10-30 years working alongside local people to complete a New Testament.
The outcome is wonderful: another people group with God’s Word clear and attractive. “God speaks my language!”
I’m a strong proponent of long-term relational engagement across cultures, walking with God and pursuing him together, using all the languages we speak. Your part in this is pretty special, and critical. Without you, most cross-cultural Bible translation work – and the research that guides translation – just doesn’t happen. You provide the financial, prayer, and relational support needed for translation and research experts to do their jobs in those thousands of languages which remain Scripture-less.
In What Just Happened? – multicultural teamwork, we stated that our organization in PNG includes staff from 15+ nations and tens of language/culture groups from around PNG. One of my goals as Chief Communications Officer role is to facilitate communication that builds relationships and team and enables collaboration within our organization and with partners. Pray for our staff as they navigate the complexities of multicultural teamwork and build relationships.
Languages and Mountains spoke of how we’ve served in a variety of roles as we see needs we can meet. What skills could you contribute? In PNG, a wide range of professions are needed!
We’re all ordinary (if anything created in God’s image is). All followers of Jesus have received the same call. Read how Tikvah responds in Obedience-Based Faith. How are you responding?
In Multi-part Harmony, we described how “[The Wheel of Vitality’s] primary purpose is to assess intergenerational language transmission, [enabling us to] make estimations about [the language’s] future. Since Bible translation is often a multi-decade endeavor, it makes sense to have some confidence that the language will be spoken when the translation is completed!”
While we were there, it felt like we, the translation team, and the local folks were singing a multipart harmony joyfully and beautifully. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Ps 133:1) But our tale in Milne Bay has a twist ending: the translation team moved to a different role a few years after this trip, so translation has slowed since. Pray that all the “singers” needed for effective harmony can be recruited.
A Walk on the Survey Trail: And then I arise [from the river], feet finding purchase among the stones, lungs breathing deep, life’s ebb and flow renewing. It’s time for another village with a different language, time to connect with a new set of beings made in God’s image. The Living Word seeks to be incarnate through Scripture in their language. He is already present in Spirit, but his message is not yet clearly and fully expressed in their tongue.
We’ve met many people in Papua New Guinea who would benefit from having the Bible in their language, enabling them to better know and follow God. There are many other groups whose need is unclear. Answer God’s call to make disciples! Pray! Give! Go!
The nose of our fiberglass dinghy dove sickeningly towards the face of the next wave. I was sure it would spear into the wave and we’d be submerged. I’d heard of boats doing this. On another trip, our boat pilot had once been late to meet us because he’d rescued people lost at sea in this manner.
Somehow the bow rose up the wave, pointing skyward. Then again we plunged down, and I was sure we’d spear into the wave and be submerged. Did someone leave this song of doom on repeat?
Our posts, newsletters, and presentations often speak of unmet need for two reasons: 1) we desire your partnership in meeting the need, and 2) we’ve met those in need, and unmet need rankles. But it’s important to celebrate too, to recognize God’s activity. So here’s a positive tale.
In 2015 we had an intern join the survey team for a few months. He and I went to Milne Bay Province where a translation team had asked for research into the dialect situation in the language group they worked with. This project had significant local support:
The question the survey team was asked to answer: “Will this translated material serve the dialect to the west?” The survey team decided that, rather than just doing the research and giving the new translation team an answer, we would train them to answer such questions on their own.
Hence the dinghy ride of doom. As such experiences often do, it felt like an eternity of plunging to the ocean’s depths – particularly when someone’s seat broke from the repeated pounding – but we rounded the point and the rest of the scene reasserted itself: the tropical sun, ocean breeze, and white-sand beaches. Even the water suddenly looked warmer as the waves relaxed.
In the following days we used our Wheel of Vitality and Dialect Mapping tools repeatedly. At first we facilitated them with the translation team observing, then gradually they took over. By the end of the trip, we were confident they could continue to investigate these questions on their own.
Before departing overland – an even bumpier experience than the dinghy ride, though sweeter by virtue of the watermelons being transported – our intern had his highlight experience: sharing a message at a local church. He subsequently became a youth pastor far from the ocean. Ha!
A bit more about the Wheel of Vitality, which we’ve alluded to in Survey Trail and Languages and Mountains (or see the technical write-up from soon after we invented the tool):
It’s primary purpose is to assess intergenerational language transmission in multilingual communities. By learning about how the languages available to the community are currently used and what factors are influencing language choice, we can identity the EGIDS level of the language and make estimations about its future. Since Bible translation is often a multi-decade endeavor, it makes sense to have some confidence that the language will be spoken when the translation is completed!
What factors do you think influence language vitality in this community? Write and let us know!
While we were there, it felt like we, the translation team, and the local folks were singing a multipart harmony joyfully and beautifully. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Ps 133:1) But our tale in Milne Bay has a twist ending: the translation team moved to a different role a few years after this trip, so translation has slowed since. Pray that all the “singers” needed for effective harmony can be recruited, and that “the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Ps 133:3).
Anyone bothered by the redundancy of ‘multi-part harmony?’ To have harmony, more than one singer is needed. The temptation can be to try to go it alone, but God made us for teamwork!
[Prayer requests at bottom (and a hilarious video).]
This young lady is one of my favorite people. She’s an ordinary girl, neither graced with superpowers nor recipient of extra-Biblical callings. Though sometimes grumpy about trying new things, she is obedient, just as we are seeking to be to our Father.
This 2014 trip began with a footbridge crossing – the vehicle bridge had collapsed – and included cramming vehicle-accident victims into our van for transport to the hospital. Sweaty nights on a tropical coast, ocean breeze blocked by trees. Being with local kids she didn’t share a language with. Patiently waiting through long meetings as the team discussed their research. Baths in a bucket.
What did she do in response to these challenges and discomfort? She danced in the rain.
We’re all ordinary (if anything created in God’s image is). All followers of Jesus have received the same call.
How are you responding?
Not everyone can go* – at least not to ‘the ends of the earth’ – but believers can enable disciple-making there by praying and giving. How are you saying “Yes, Lord” today? If not today, when?
*Or can they?
Prayer
Thank you for praying for the survey team’s trip to Gulf Province last month. They reported success despite significant challenges:
These certainly highlight the challenges of multicultural teamwork and the dangers of language research!
Please continue to pray for:
“Is it dangerous?” We get this question sometimes when we share about conducting language research in remote villages in PNG. Yes, there is some danger and a high degree of uncertainty.
Why do we do it? Here’s one way to look at it:
Would you go to an event if your invitation was written in a language you don’t know well? “If this is really for me, why isn’t it in my language? I’m not entirely sure what this is about.” God invites people from every nation and tongue to his table. Translating the invitation – the Bible – makes it clear and cogent.
God created humankind and seeks to live in everlasting fellowship with it. Sin – rebellion against God and his design for us – separates us from God. Some facts enable us to understand God’s invitation: that we are sinners and condemned, that Jesus as the sacrificial lamb opened a Way to God, that we have but to believe in the Savior and follow our Lord. Those facts must be communicated; complex communication happens best with words. Hence the Scriptures.
Let’s examine that problem further: “people without any Scripture in the languages that communicate best.”
Today, “Bibleless peoples” are on a continuum, which includes:
For those with zero access to Scripture (1), the need for translation is clear. For those with some access (2), what is needed or desired can be less clear, but translation can often be beneficial.
Here’s a curveball for you: in Oceania, Asia, and Africa, there are hundreds of people groups whose level of Scripture access is insufficiently understood. In PNG, our team’s research in 70 language groups since 2010 has:
By last count, there were close to 2000 language groups in Oceania, Asia, and Africa about which not enough is known to categorize translation need with confidence.
Solution: RESEARCH! Understanding what type of translation is beneficial and where is the first step towards meeting the needs of these people who are, in some ways, “the least of these” (Mt 25:40, 45).
Research guides translation experts to where they are needed, and often provides strategic information about how to work with a particular people group. Those translation experts do the heavy lifting, often investing 10-30 years working alongside local people to complete a New Testament.
The outcome is wonderful: another people group with God’s Word clear and attractive; “God speaks my language.”
It would be nice to end this post there. The reality, as shown by our Scripture Use Research and Ministry project (2014-17), is that many communities who have Scripture in their language do not use it as much as we hope. Why? Well… that’s another post. What it means: that communities benefit when someone – whether people from our organization or someone else – comes alongside them beyond the completion of vernacular Scriptures. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a strong proponent of long-term relational engagement across cultures, walking with God and pursuing him together, using all the languages we speak.
Your part in this is pretty special, and critical. Without you, most cross-cultural Bible translation work – and the research that guides translation – just doesn’t happen. With such an involved task, a tent-making approach generally isn’t viable. You provide the financial, prayer, and relational support needed for translation and research experts to do their jobs in those thousands of languages which remain Scripture-less.
Well, that’s one way to look at the ‘why.’ Additional pieces would include personal indebtedness to God’s redemptive work and the power of his Word in our lives. It’s a big endeavor, complex in its motivations. It’s part of God’s Kingdom work.
“Is it dangerous?” A counterquestion: “What’s worth risking in service to our Lord?” And a testimony: our experiences in remote PNG villages has generally been very positive. Hospitality is widely practiced.
