What counting system was used in the gospels? Jesus said that he would be raised on the third day; if he was crucified on Friday, is 3 days later Monday not Sunday? Many ancient cultures used inclusive counting, so Jesus would have been crucified on Day 1. In modern-day counting, exclusive counting is often used, where the current day is Day 0, not 1. However, many traditions still adopt inclusive counting, such as the number of days in a wake/at a funeral for Chinese families.

The team at Wycliffe Singapore look back on 2021 and see how God has worked in their lives. Praise be to our good, good Father! Praise God for a smooth handover to the new Executive Director. Thank God for technology that allowed the work to continue despite Covid, that we have been blessed with Zoom, WA, shared drives, social media, etc. I’m thankful for God's provision for a good office to work in, for wonderful colleagues to work with, for being part of the admin team and a role to fill in which is part of my passion. I’m grateful that support for the R200 programme has been steady in spite of the pandemic, and that the projects are also able to keep moving forward somehow. I’m also grateful for the lovely folks in the Teochew Storying Team. Praise God that we have all found ways to work even though we have spent more time WFH than in the office. And that there is hope that we can return to working in the office in 2022. Praise God for his protection and keeping those in the field safe. Thanks for good health and for successfully losing some weight this year. In April, I discovered I had diabetes. But I’m grateful for this, because I was finally motivated to lose weight and work on my fitness. I’m now in better health than I’ve been for a long time. I’m grateful for being home at the right time—to go through the pandemic with family, colleagues and friends. Thank God for having a good and caring government that takes care of us (the people) during challenging times by providing practical help. Praise God for his provision that I was able to receive the needed financial support despite the situation in Singapore. Thank God for being part of a cell group in our home church—rebuilding relationships with the ministry leaders and congregation. Praise God for my husband’s new role in church as an Executive Ministry staff in the area of Mission and GYM (the Glowing Years Ministry for the seniors). For rebuilding relationships with the Pastoral team, Staff & Ministry Team leaders, Board leaders and the congregation. Last but not least, I’m thankful for God's mercy, goodness, grace and love to us all. What are you thankful to God for this past year? Share your thanksgiving in the comments below! From everyone at Wycliffe Singapore, a huge thank you for your continued prayers and support. Let's share God's Word with more people in their heart language in the year ahead. Blessed Christmas and a happy new year!

We kicked off the year with stage two of our Storying project, where oral Bible stories are crafted in colloquial Chinese dialects (Teochew, Hainanese and Hokkien). In this final stage, facilitators put into practice what they have learnt by working alongside native Chinese dialect speakers to craft the story of the woman who bled for 12 years (Luke 8). This included dissecting the Mandarin audio passage and representing the details through storyboarding, followed by a retelling of the passage in their dialect based on the storyboard. Luke 8:48 storyboard The absence of equivalent terms was a common issue across the dialect groups. In one instance, ‘power’ in Luke 8:46 was translated as ‘strength’. A Hokkien participant suggested that a description of the transference of strength better expresses Jesus’ act of healing, instead of a literal translation of the power leaving Jesus. This solution is more easily derived from the storyboard, as participants retell the passage by describing the images. One of our interns was facilitating the workshop. We sat down with her to hear about her Storying experience. What is your role in the Storying project? I have two roles: As part of the Storying team in Wycliffe, I help to coordinate participants from churches/dialect ministries in Singapore, and provide administrative and logistical support for their involvement in the initiative. Separately, I am myself participating in the workshops as a facilitator-in-training. What prompted you to take on this project? Once I was introduced to Storying by my Wycliffe colleagues, I was quite excited to be involved due to several reasons. First, I've wanted to reach out to my grandparents and other elderly folks for a long time. However, I've found it difficult to share the gospel in a way that is understandable and accessible to them with the traditional methods of Bible study or presenting the gospel as a series of propositions or arguments (the case for why one needs Christ). Second, in reading up on Storying, I found myself convicted of the need for the truths and words in the Bible to be conveyed to people in a way that makes sense to them. From my observation, it does seem that Christianity in Singapore is very much a religion for the educated, upper-middle class, but that shouldn't be the case. The message of the gospel is universal, and (to put in economic terms) there shouldn't be high barriers to entry. Third, on a related note, stories and narratives do speak into our hearts and minds. So much of the way we see the world is shaped by narratives (think about history and national narratives). The gospel itself comes to us as a grand narrative — the story of God's redemption plan. How do you decide on which story to translate? There are situations in which a single story is crafted and translated, perhaps for practice when language teams are still undergoing training. The choice of stories may be informed by length/complexity. In a proper project, the decision on which stories to select are based on two main considerations, though there are others, of course: Completeness—whether to cover the overall redemption narrative of the Bible, or to cover OT/NT. For completeness, a full set of stories usually covers key themes such as creation, rebellion/sin, Jesus' birth, Jesus' ministry, crucifixion and resurrection. Worldview—stories may be chosen to challenge the target community's existing worldviews/assumptions. Alternatively, some stories may form a bridge with the culture. What part of the process did you find most challenging and why? I found the most challenging part to be connection, not content. Learning the process of crafting and translating Bible stories is one thing. But how can I get people interested and committed to Storying? How can I help people see the value of having Bible stories told in a language and way that is understandable and accessible to most people, even those who are illiterate? The challenge is in forming connections with people already involved in dialect ministries or who work with dialect speakers, and to get them on board. As for the process itself, I guess the most challenging part is trying to overcome lack of knowledge and capability when it comes to thinking about the key terms and concepts that need to be worked out for the story. Often, some of these key terms are theologically significant and I worry about whether I have misunderstood or wrongly conveyed something. But it is alright to seek help, and I guess it's a process of learning to trust in God while doing due diligence to read up and prepare. What are some takeaways from being a facilitator-in-training? One takeaway would be exposure to oral Bible Storying itself. As mentioned, I do have a significant degree of personal investment and interest. Being involved in this initiative helps me to think of additional ways of evangelism and discipleship, and challenges my existing assumptions about how things have to be done. The why, of course, remains the same. Another takeaway is the opportunity of seeing different parts of the body of Christ work together. Unfortunately, through many years of church history, the church has often been marked by divisions. However, this initiative has let me see the joy of different churches and agencies, as well as believers from different countries and cultures, come together in partnership in gospel work. Through Storying, we hope that dialect speakers unable to speak or understand Mandarin well will have better access to Bible stories. Check out three videos with audio recordings in Teochew (recorded in 2022). You can get involved in one of our projects too! Find out how you can best serve in missions; you don’t have to be great at languages to join us.

by Silke Sauer ‘Reading through these stories for the first time, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,’ Ruby* says, her eyes lighting up at the memory. ‘I loved languages, and now I read on the website of an organisation named SIL** about unwritten languages. I didn’t even know that such languages existed, nor that people were needed to develop writing systems. This sounded exciting; this is what I wanted to do.’ Ruby follows up on her words. She attends several events to learn more about linguistics. She raises funds to be able to go overseas. And only a few years later she leaves for Indonesia, a country with hundreds of unwritten languages. Her goal: helping to develop some of them by researching their linguistic situation. When she sets out, it is for life. That’s what she joined the organisation for; that’s what she raised support for. But only two years later her life is turned upside down. Her sister is diagnosed with brain cancer and Ruby decides to return to the States. She wants to be close to her sister on the long road of decline. But how can she do linguistic research from her native Colorado? Ruby’s hopes for her future seem to be dashed, the assignment of her dreams gone. Yet she knows that she wants to remain part of that work. She wants to impact people through the word of God in the languages they know best. But how to do this? Perhaps by serving in an administrative role? After all, she had worked several years as an office manager before joining SIL. And how to finance such a role? Life in the States is so much more expensive than in Indonesia! ‘Working from home in administration is just as important as working overseas in a language project’ Her church, however, rallies behind her. They understand that working from home in administration is just as important and worthy of their support as working overseas in a language project. So, when Ruby is offered work as an administrative assistant for projects in the Mediterranean region, she is ready to commit herself to something new. It doesn’t take long until her supervisor spots her skilful handling of the spreadsheets which she uses for event planning. He sees her potential for managing finances, a gift that Ruby herself is as yet unaware of. When she is asked to give some of her time to do finances for projects involving Roma communities in Europe, she is willing to give it a try. And, much to her surprise and in spite of a steep learning curve, she likes it from the start! ‘I do well with details, and looking at all the cells of a budget report doesn’t intimidate me,’ she says with a laugh. ‘A budget report doesn’t intimidate me!’ Ruby quickly learns how to balance accounts and to plan budgets. After a while she does so well that she gives up her administrative assistant role to work full-time in finance, vastly increasing the number of projects she is responsible for. She tracks spending, reimburses expenditures and collates information for funders. She is involved with the payment of mother-tongue translators and helps to prepare their work contracts. As part of the leadership team, she gives input into strategic planning. She communicates with both project staff and funders. Sometimes she even goes to visit some of the countries where projects are located. ‘Even though I am normally not physically close to the project work,’ Ruby says, ‘I know what’s going on, because I get to read all the reports. I often interact with team leaders directly, hear how their work is going and how funding can help to do more work on the ground.’ She particularly enjoys helping people to see how finance is connected to achieving their goals. Ruby loves the quick turnaround of seeing results from her finance role and how that impacts the other team members. ‘I have a very strong sense of being part of the work,’ says Ruby. ‘Doing finance wasn’t the reason why I joined the organisation, but it turned out to be a good fit for me. I find my work deeply rewarding.’ *Name changed for security reasons **SIL is Wycliffe’s primary partner organisation Reproduced with permission from https://www.wycliffe.org.uk/stories/a-deeply-rewarding-role/

In November 2020, Wycliffe Singapore, with trainers from another Wycliffe entity, held an online workshop to train storying facilitators in Singapore. This was the first time the training was held totally online (since COVID-19 restrictions prevented it from being held in person). The training was part of an initiative to train and equip people with the skills to craft oral Bible stories in colloquial Chinese dialects. Through this, Wycliffe Singapore hopes to improve access to Bible stories to dialect speakers, even if they cannot read or understand the Bible in Mandarin well. This workshop had participants who were Hainanese and Teochew speakers. During this first stage of training, potential facilitators were guided through three processes. First, they were asked to reflect – to listen to a Bible passage and consider the lessons learnt about God and the different characters in the story. Then they were asked to internalise the story – to think about the themes of the passage, create a storyboard, and discuss the cultural background, key concepts and key terms of the passage. Finally, they practised actually telling the story and recording it. Initially, the thought of having to tell a full story from memory seemed overwhelming. Our oldest participant (76), in particular, was afraid that she would not be able to remember all the details of the story. However, to our pleasant surprise, the processes of reflection and internalisation helped the passages come alive to us, and the storyboarding process helped us visualise and remember the details of the Bible story. This experience showed us how important it was to be personally engaged with the stories in the Bible in order to retell them well. While discussing the key concepts, key terms and types of details to include in our storytelling, we learnt how important it was to understand our target audience. In order to decide what to include in a clear and natural retelling, we had to ask ourselves: What prior knowledge of the Bible, key terms and historical context would our target audience have? Which details were important for our target audience’s understanding of the story, and which details were less critical? These experiences in the storying training reminded me of how Jesus often used parables, or short stories, in his ministry as a means of conveying important truths in a manner that spoke into the hearts and minds of his listeners. While the use of parables meant that truth was concealed to those who rejected his message, to those who would listen, the stories challenged their existing worldviews and assumptions. In the second stage of training to be held in January 2021, the trainers will guide the facilitators as they work with groups of native speakers of the Chinese dialects to craft oral Bible stories. In the longer term, Wycliffe Singapore is planning to continue with monthly story crafting workshops so that the facilitators and crafters can continue practising their new skills. In the process, the stories crafted in Chinese dialects can be shared with those who need it. May we continue to seek God’s leading and wisdom in crafting stories that not only convey important biblical principles, but also speak to the hearts and minds of dialect speakers in Singapore.

Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen. — 2 Peter 3:18 (NLT) The Solomon Islands is a chain of six main volcanic, mountainous and heavily forested islands. It’s located northeast of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. Travel across the Solomon Islands and you’ll encounter Mount Popomanaseu, Tenaru Falls and Honiara — the largest town and main port for the Islands. The country also features multiple museums, memorials and artifacts frozen in time in Guadalcanal, including two World War II shipwrecks close to the shore at Mbonege Beach. Even though English is the official language of the Solomon Islands, it’s the first language of less than 2% of the population. Most residents speak one of 74 indigenous languages — including Tikopia. The majority of Tikopians are monolingual, so they’re unable to engage with published Scripture in other languages on the Islands. At least 1,200 people live on Tikopia, an isolated, volcanic island of Polynesian culture. Tikopians have also settled in colonies on other islands in the Solomons. Praise God that the 4 gospels have been published, and the rest of the New Testament is being checked. An initial Tikopia Bible translation project led by an SIL* team and one committed Tikopian was put on hold in 1990 because of a lack of resources. But now, a review team is working to complete the New Testament in Tikopia. Despite some challenges, the team is making good progress on the translation. Praise God that the four Gospels were recently published! The SIL project consultant was able to meet with the team right before the country closed its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has mailed additional project notes to reviewers on the island from Australia. The review team now has all of the remaining New Testament books in hard copy form to review, and they’re volunteering their time two full days a week to ensure the translation is clear and accurate. Prayer points: Wisdom for the review team as they process all of the comments and corrections recommended by the consultant. Open and eager hearts among the Tikopians for God’s Word in their language. The Solomon Islands remain free of COVID-19 cases. *a primary strategic partner Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe US

How much did Abraham pay Ephron the Hittite for the cave for his wife’s tomb, even though it was offered as a gift? Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah for 400 shekels of silver. Initially, Ephron appeared to offer it as a gift to Abraham. However, according to Middle Eastern custom, that was just a polite way of opening the negotiations – both parties understood that the offer was not to be taken at face value! So later in the conversation, when Ephron casually mentioned the value of the land, Abraham paid that amount to buy the cave.

by Katherine O’Donnell Just over twenty years ago I went to Kenya to live in a rural village. I stayed with an American family involved in Bible translation, in order to help homeschool their children. I was 18 years old when I went to Kenya. At that time we did not have a laptop or mobile phone in my parents’ home, though we did have a desktop computer and I had an email account and, of course, we had a landline. In Kenya, I was to find that landlines barely existed, and my primary form of communication was to be letters that took many days to get back to England. I seem to recall there was the possibility of writing an email, saving it on a disk, and then sending that to someone in town if there was a more urgent communication, but I don’t think we resorted to that very often. Later my host family got mobile phones; I remember that one had a pink cover and the other a blue, so that we could tell them apart! I don’t remember when they got them, whether it was the year I homeschooled or a couple of years later when I returned for a visit. Either way, it seemed like huge progress – they had mobile phones there before I even had one in England! We are now using WhatsApp, Facebook and Scripture apps to encourage engagement with God’s word Now I live and work in Tanzania, or at least, I usually do. Due to the global health crisis I have been relocated to my passport country and am once again living in my parents’ home. Who would have imagined twenty years ago that today I would be meeting with my Tanzanian colleagues via Zoom, seeing their faces and hearing their voices with barely a second of delay, each of them using a laptop in their home and their smart phone as mobile hotspots, while I sit at my parents’ home with my laptop connected to their wireless broadband. Or who would have imagined that while enjoying a meal with friends at our favourite café in Mbeya (where I usually live), I could take a photo and send it to my family WhatsApp group and get an instant smiley face from my parents! Technology has transformed not only communication, but also the way we work. As a Scripture Engagement worker in a Bible translation project working with over ten languages, we are now using WhatsApp, Facebook and Scripture apps to encourage engagement with God’s word in local languages. We share Jesus Film video clips, memes, talking books and pictures via social media platforms, connecting with members of language communities both near and far. Digital media and mobile phone technology really have opened up a whole new way to facilitate engagement with God’s word, including in countries like Kenya and Tanzania. Technology has come on in leaps and bounds, but many still cannot access it But that’s far from being the whole picture. What about when my colleague went to a village to do a workshop, and the only way to get network coverage for his mobile phone was to climb a tree? Or when I went somewhere to teach and the only way to charge my phone was to leave it at a small shop with a solar panel that offered a phone-charging service for a small fee? Then there’s the mission partners currently working with a language group that we have started translation work in – the only time we can have good communication is when they leave their home in the village, with its very poor mobile network, and head to a town several hours away by boat. Or there’s the person who hears the audio Scriptures in their language, and excitedly you offer to send the audio files to their phone via bluetooth, only to find that their phone has such small memory capacity that they only have space for one chapter of Mark’s Gospel. And there’s the new smart phones you buy for your colleagues to facilitate digital Scripture engagement possibilities and better communication, but within twelve months their batteries have almost died because of the poor quality of available technology. And, of course, there are many who still don’t have a phone at all. My job can involve virtual video meetings one week and teaching in a rural Bible college with no electricity or mobile phone network another Technology may have come on in leaps and bounds, but there remain many who cannot access it. It’s exciting to be able to share written, audio and visual Scripture via social media, but we can’t depend on these methods. In rural villages and even in urban environments in Tanzania (and many other African countries), printed Scripture, solar powered audio devices and face-to-face encounters are still at the heart of helping people engage with God’s word in their languages. We live in an age of huge disparity between those who have and those who don’t. My job can involve virtual video meetings one week and teaching in a rural Bible college with no electricity or mobile phone network another. We thank God for any and every opportunity to help people connect with him and pray for wisdom as we engage with communities at every level, through every possible means. May God continue to open doors for his word to go out, whether through Facebook or a phone call, through WhatsApp or a face-to-face meeting. Technology may be ever advancing, but it is far from reaching every corner. Many challenges remain in distributing God’s word and helping people engage with it. Please pray with us. Katherine works in Tanzania in Scripture Engagement, helping people to access God’s word, and then to read it, listen to it, understand it, apply it to their own lives and be changed by it. Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe Bible Translators UK

Cameroon. Photo: Rodney Ballard, Wycliffe Global Alliance Translator Lee Bramlett was confident that God had left His mark on the Hdi culture somewhere, but though he searched, he could not find it. Where was the footprint of God in the history or daily life of these Cameroonian people? What clue had He planted to let the Hdi know who He is and how He wants to relate to them? Then one night in a dream, God prompted Lee to look again at the Hdi word for love. Lee and his wife, Tammi, had learned that verbs in Hdi consistently end in one of three vowels. For almost every verb, they could find forms ending in i, a, and u. But when it came to the word for love, they could only find i and a. Why no u? Lee asked the translation committee, including the most influential leaders in the community, “Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?” “Yes,” they said. That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone. “Could you ‘dva’ your wife?” Lee asked. “Yes,” they said. That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well. “Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?” Lee asked. Everyone laughed. “Of course not!” they said. “If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.” Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?” There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded. "God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love." “Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.” One simple vowel, and the meaning was changed from “I love you based on what you do and who you are,” to “I love you based on who I am. I love you because of Me and not because of you.” God had encoded the story of His unconditional love right into their language. For centuries, the little word was there—unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable. When the word was finally spoken, it called into question their entire belief system. If God was like that, and not a mean and scary spirit, did they need the spirits of the ancestors to intercede for them? Did they need sorcery to relate to the spirits? Many decided the answer was no, and the number of Christ‑followers quickly grew from a few hundred to several thousand. The New Testament in Hdi is ready to be printed now, and twenty-nine thousand speakers will soon be able to feel the impact of passages like Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, ‘dvu’ your wives, just as Christ ‘dvu’-d the church.…” I invite you to pray for them as they absorb and seek to model the amazing, unconditional love they have received. As God’s Word is translated around the world, people are gaining access to this great love story about how God ‘dvu’-d us enough to sacrifice his unique Son for us, so that our relationship with Him can be ordered and oriented correctly. The cross changes everything! Someday, the last word of the last bit of Scripture for the last community will be done, and everyone will be able to understand the story of God’s unconditional love. Reproduced with permission from https://www.wycliffe.org/blog/featured/god-so-dvud-the-world

The importation of cultural practices from outside has made Christianity a foreign religion in many lands, and alienated Christians from their own peoples and cultures. It is this foreignness and not the offense of the Gospel that has often kept people from following Christ. We must be careful not to confuse the two. - Paul G. Hiebert Confucius Growing up as a Christian in a largely non-Christian family, my grandfather constantly reminded me that it was okay for me to accept a different religion, but that it was not acceptable to 走火入魔 (Chinese idiom which means to be obsessed and go overboard), and have my mind corrupted by western ideas. He saw, and still sees, Christianity as a foreign religion with a foreign God. This view is not uncommon amongst many Chinese in Singapore, especially those of the older generation. Many view Christian beliefs and practices as antithetical to Chinese cultural practices. “How can I follow a foreign god?” my grandmother once asked me, “What will happen to our ancestors if no one offers incense?” For many, religious and cultural practices are seen as one and the same. With the influence of Confucianism, many Chinese families emphasise filial piety and the importance of respecting and honouring one’s parents and elders as a key virtue. Such respect does not simply mean taking care of one’s parents while they are still living; it extends to practices such as burning incense and joss sticks to the dead so as to provide for them in the afterlife. For some Christians in non-Christian families, the failure to adhere to such practices is seen not only as a rejection of traditional cultural practices, but also disrespect to one’s elders. In the book Seeing Jesus from the East, the authors, Ravi Zacharias and Abdu Murray, look at the person of Jesus through Eastern cultural lenses. They point out that Jesus was a Jewish man who lived in an Eastern world, though the story of His gospel is universal. The universal message of the gospel is a reminder that the good news speaks into all cultures and worldviews. Christianity is not simply a foreign religion that seeks to colonise local cultures and practices; rather, the gospel speaks universally and is contextualised in practice to be culturally relevant, yet without compromising the truths of the message. For local Christians in Singapore, there are many situations in which traditional customs continue to be practised, including but not limited to: Celebratory events, such as Chinese New Year, in which some families do not sweep their homes on the first day of the new year so as not to sweep out the good luck; Funeral rites and practices and related activities, such as burning incense, joss sticks and joss papers; Purchase of new homes and the practice of rolling in a pineapple to welcome good fortune; and Seventh month hungry ghost festival, during which people avoid staying out late for fear of meeting the souls of the dead. Which customs and practices can be carried on by believers? Should such customs be rejected altogether, or modified? Is there any real harm with continuing with some seemingly innocuous practices? How should Christians respond if there is intense family pressure to continue with certain practices that appear antithetical to our faith? There is no simple answer to these questions. In finding answers to these questions, it is important that we consider not only the visible actions of such cultural practices and customs, but also the underlying beliefs and worldviews driving such actions, and examine them in light of Scripture. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Christians can come to honour God within our varied cultures, recognising that God is glorified in the multitude of tongues and languages and peoples and cultures. The author attended a virtual Culture Meets Scripture workshop. It was organised and conducted by Jo Shetler, a Scripture Engagement consultant, and Amy West, a senior Scripture Engagement consultant, both with SIL International. The workshop was spread over seven weekly sessions (total of about 20 hours). Also read: Joanne Shetler’s account of her years translating the New Testament for the Balangao people: And the Word Came with Power, Wycliffe Bible Translators, 1992. Paul G. Hiebert, “Critical Contextualisation”, In Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XII, No. 3, July, 1984. Contextualisation: Culture in the Light of Scripture, https://www.wycliffe.sg/blog/contextualisation-culture-light-scripture Images from Wikimedia Commons