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Why did God say that Zerubbabel would be like his signet ring? Haggai 2:23b: “‘I will make you (Zerubbabel) like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Zerubbabel led the first group of Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. He was the grandson of Jehoiachin (the king of Judah at the time of the exile) and therefore a descendant of David. Years before, Jeremiah had pictured Jehoiachin’s exile to Babylon as God pulling off his signet ring (Jeremiah 22:24). Haggai now prophecies that this action would be reversed in Zerubbabel’s life, and he would be like God’s signet ring – a symbol of God’s authority and covenant with his people. As God’s signet ring, Zerubbabel also foreshadows the coming of the Messiah. In ancient times, the way to mark a document as genuine was with a seal – usually a stone or gem engraved with a design unique to the owner, which was then pressed into a blob of soft clay or wax on the document to leave a clear impression. When the seal was incorporated in a ring, it was called a signet ring. The owner was then able to wear this symbol of his identity and authority conveniently on his hand.

by Dayna The annual Camp Wycliffe in Thailand, interrupted by the pandemic, is finally back! Camp Wycliffe is intended to let participants experience living cross-culturally and be exposed to missions. This year, I got a chance to join the other 20 or so people who attended, with participants from Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Canada and the US. For the first two days of the camp, we attended training sessions as well as listened to speakers involved in various aspects of Wycliffe’s ministries, such as language learning, phonetics, literacy, cross-cultural issues, Bible translation, oral Bible storytelling, etc. This year’s camp included some new activities, where we visited Wycliffe Thailand’s new office building and the Chiang Mai Theological Seminary, and had prayer walks in a temple as we observed and learnt about Thai Buddhism. We also got the opportunity to visit Payap University , an international college based in Chiang Mai, where we were introduced to their Linguistic courses. The second half of the camp was the village portion where we were split into groups of 3-4 and stayed with hosts in the individual village huts. The travel up to the village was a bumpy one, but as we headed up into the mountains to get to the village, we were in awe of the scenery all around us. On our first night in the village, we had a time of worship and a short sermon by Ps. Tharawat (Director of Wycliffe Thailand) in the village church. As we led the worship and prayed for the church, we got to see how passionate the villagers were through their singing and response to the sermon. Many of them had to walk long distances, and it was nighttime, yet most of them turned up to attend the service! This year, the village project was to help build a shared toilet and a flight of stairs that went up the hill towards the church. We spent the whole of the next day helping the experienced locals by passing buckets of sand, stones and cement around, as they put their construction skills to use. On the final night, we had a campfire where we shared our thoughts and short testimonies of our experiences in the camp. It was touching to hear some of the stories of other campers who shared how they had been called to the mission field and how this camp helped them learn more about what it meant to be a missionary. Some also shared that while they wished to learn more about missions, they also had many other commitments back home that held them back. They shared that Camp Wycliffe had widened their perspective and helped them reconsider the factors holding them back (family matters, personal fears, school/work-related issues etc.) On the way back to the city, we visited the Eastern Lawa team where we got to listen to Greg and Rosie share about the Eastern Lawa people and their stories. We also had lunch together, which gave us a chance to talk to the people involved in the project and get to know one another better. Final thoughts I believe that most of us would have some worries or doubts when it comes to considering missions. If you can personally relate to some of those mentioned above, I’d strongly encourage you to sign up for the next Camp Wycliffe! I definitely learnt a lot from the Camp Wycliffe speakers and experiences. It has widened my perspective on cross-cultural living, and what missions is all about. While the camp was a short one, it did leave a lasting impression on me, and it is something I will never forget!

Stories from the Field, 5 September 2023 Speaker: Sharon Third Culture Kid: a person who has spent a significant of his/her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. Most of us know a TCK, or you or your child may be one! This is someone who has lived overseas because his/her parents were there for ministry, work or studies. Often, they are highly adaptable and resilient, relate easily across cultures, and have lots of interesting stories to tell. On the other hand, they may experience culture shock on returning to their passport country, have difficulties adjusting to school, seem unable to settle down, and may experience anxiety or depression. This may even persist into adulthood, when they may struggle with issues of identity and belonging which can impact their mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. How can we help TCKs grow up to be mature, God-fearing adults who have learned how to process the positives and negatives of their unique upbringing, are able to embrace the fact that their life is a unique blend of cultures and places, and appreciate their TCK characteristics and experience? Adverse Childhood Experiences Research has identified 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) which, when experienced in childhood, can affect a child’s brain development and impact their biological, emotional, social and cognitive functioning. These ACEs are: ​ Abuse and Neglect (as perceived by the child) Household dysfunction (in the home or family) Physical abuse Sexual abuse Emotional abuse Physical neglect Emotional neglect Mental illness, depression or attempted suicide Incarcerated relative Parent treated violently Substance abuse Parents’ separation or divorce A TCK lifestyle, unfortunately, puts a child at a higher risk of experiencing ACEs compared with the general population. This is because the family may live in less safe environments, have less social, financial or emotional support, and the parents themselves may experience culture stress and heavy workloads. Positive Childhood Experiences However, it isn’t all “doom and gloom”! Research has also shown that ACEs are not deterministic of health and wellbeing in adulthood. There are protective factors, known as Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs), that can be introduced in a TCK’s life which will reduce the negative effects of ACEs. As the main adults who support and care for TCKs, parents must be intentional in providing these PCEs, and engaging others to help. These PCEs are: Feeling that emotions can be shared, heard, and validated in the home. Believing that the family stands together and prioritises one another during difficult times. Feeling safe and protected in the home. Having family or community traditions to look forward to. Feeling supported by a peer group. Feeling a sense of belonging in high school. Having two non-parent adults who take a genuine interest in the child. Feeling a sense of belonging in a larger multigenerational group. Sharon concluded by sharing stories of how she and her husband (before knowing about PCEs!) worked such experiences into their family life during the years they lived overseas. The family returned to Singapore when their daughters were in their teens, and helped them transition to Singapore schools. They now live and work in Singapore. Prayer items Pray for greater awareness of TCK issues in Singapore, especially in families, churches and schools. Pray for families living overseas or preparing to go overseas, that they will be aware of the difficulties their children face, and be pro-active in helping them cope. Pray for TCKs who are struggling with re-entry to get help. For more information about the research into ACEs and PCEs, especially in relation to TCKs: Tanya Crossman & Lauren Wells, (2022). Caution and Hope White Paper: The Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Globally Mobile Third Culture Kids. Tanya Crossman, Elizabeth V. Smith & Lauren Wells (2022). TCKs at Risk White Paper: Risk Factors and Risk Mitigation for Globally Mobile Families. About the speaker: Sharon, herself an adult TCK, lived overseas with her husband and two daughters for more than 10 years. She volunteers at Wycliffe Singapore, mainly writing reports and articles.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, recently unveiled artificial intelligence (AI) models which can translate more than 4,000 languages. These Massively Multilingual Speech (MMS) models are behind speech-to-text versions which are able to identify over 4,000 spoken languages, and text-to-speech versions which can generate speech from over 1,100 languages. In order for these models to learn these languages, large amounts of training data were needed. From these texts, the models could learn the languages by identifying patterns and relationships between words in a sentence and, eventually, translating the languages and outputting text or speech. Chat GPT and other popular AI applications can identify around 100 languages. To find sufficient training data in many more languages for its MMS models, Meta turned to Bible texts and audio recordings as the Bible has been translated into many languages. (As at September 2022, Wycliffe’s statistics show that the New Testament has been translated into over 1,600 languages.) Meta compiled New Testament readings in over 1,100 languages, providing an average of 32 hours of data per language. Other texts included recordings of Bible stories, evangelistic messages and songs. Altogether, over 500,000 hours of voice data of over 1,400 unique languages was used to train the self-supervised models. This was approximately five times as many languages than had ever been attempted before. The many Bible translations used as training data are the result of decades of work of missionaries and scholars of the past and, more recently, members of Bible translation organisations such as Wycliffe Global Alliance , SIL International and United Bible Societies . Partner organisations such as Faith Comes By Hearing and YouVersion then distribute audio recordings and the original texts free on their websites. Meta’s use of translated Bible texts highlights an oft-overlooked benefit of the work of Bible translation: not only is God’s Word made available to many people groups in their heart language, but languages that are in danger of disappearing are also preserved. Hopefully, coupling AI with the translated texts will enable technology to “speak” in the preferred language of these people, thus helping to keep their languages alive.

by Jim Killam, Wycliffe Global Alliance The artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022. Andrew Lang, senior professor of mathematics at Oral Roberts University, called it “a Sputnik moment” for AI, because it has launched the equivalent of an arms race among big tech companies and open-source communities of developers. (ChatGPT and now GPT-4 were released by OpenAI , which states its mission as “to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” GPT stands for “generative pretrained transformer”—a term still foreign to most non-tech people.) Whereas a search engine like Google is good at finding things, a GPT can actually create original content based on the information it finds. GPTs work with giant databases of information and can generate words, images, code and more in response to prompts entered by the user. They learn to predict the probability of given words or sequences, and thus keep improving the more they are used. While big tech’s primary agenda with AI is profit, governments may have other purposes. For instance, Lang said, China’s government has told developers there that any Chinese AI system must be built with a bias toward socialism. Whatever the motivation, AI systems all have biases based on the data fed into them. Christians cannot afford to stay out of these conversations, Lang told the audience. “The church has missed opportunities to speak and lead in various subjects. There’s a danger here that we may do the same thing with AI. … Tech companies will not produce something that will be unbiased and favourable to a Christian worldview. ... If there are going to be thought leaders on morality and ethics in AI, I think it should be us.” No language left behind? Only 33 of the world’s languages are “thriving” today in terms of data support, said SIL’s Whitenack. That means any translation help from AI is still limited to those most commonly spoken languages (think: ChatGPT, Google translate or Amazon Alexa). And, currently it is far more difficult and expensive to develop or use AI tools for languages that do not use English or Latin script. Then he showed the current ProgressBible statistic of 1,544 remaining languages with no Scripture and needing Bible translation to start. “There’s a real sense that these remaining languages are being further and further marginalised because their languages are not represented in modern AI systems,” Whitenack told the audience. “All of you are stepping into that challenge and saying, languages shouldn’t be further marginalised by AI and NLP ( natural language processing ) systems. We should be able to innovate with AI and NLP for Bible translation. We should be able to help people engage with Scripture online, regardless of what language they speak. Past what academia and big tech is doing, you are the ones who are innovating in this space.” Radical generosity Several of the week’s speakers mentioned the need for wider access to already-published resources. “A lot of innovation used to take place within individual organisations or companies,” Wycliffe USA President John Chesnut told the group in his opening welcome. “I think God is busting down those walls. ... Your primary identity is not the logo that you walk under. It’s the fact that you are children of God ... and he has invited you to work together.” Mark Finzel of Biblica wondered whether new possibilities could be opened if already-translated Scriptures and resources were released under open, Creative Commons licensing. “I could challenge anyone in this room,” he said. “If you have licensed materials, copyrighted materials, just ask the Lord, see what doors the Lord would open if you did that. ... God’s Word was freely given to us, and we want to freely release it as he did to us.” Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe Global Alliance

by Wycliffe Global Alliance Links: Large infographic Small infographic Q&A: 2023 Global Scripture Access Total languages in the world: 7,394 Number of known users: 7.42 billion* *The global population is estimated to be 8.05 billion . However, language user statistics tend to lag behind actual population statistics due to challenges in gathering and updating information. According to the most recently available information in SIL’s Ethnologue , 7.42 billion people use the world’s 7,394 known languages. For statistical agreement, percentages used here are based on the Ethnologue population number. Thus, global population percentages are given as “up to…” rather than an exact number. Languages and people with Scripture 3,658 languages with some Scripture - 7.23 billion people (up to 97.4% of all people) 736 languages with a complete Bible - 5.96 billion people (up to 80% of all people) 1,658 languages with a complete New Testament (and possibly Old Testament portions) - 824 million people (up to 11.1% of all people) 1,264 languages with some translated Bible portions - 449 million people (up to 6.1% of all people) Scripture access status 1,268 languages need translation (or preparatory work) to begin - 99.8 million people (up to 1.3% of all people) 1,320 languages have work in progress - 82.1 million people (up to 1.1% of all people) 1,148 languages either use Scripture in another language, or are not vital enough to plan translation work** - 9.6 million people (about 0.1% of all people) **In most cases, the people use another language which already has at least some Scripture. Sometimes, their first language is disappearing from use altogether. The reality is often more complex. Bible translation in progress Bible translation is currently happening in 3,283 languages in 167 countries. This work impacts 1.15 billion people, or about 15.5% of all language users, who have (or will soon have) new access to at least some portions of Scripture in their first language. This number does not include people who already have a full Bible but are updating their existing translations. Need Bible translation to start 99.8 million people, speaking 1,268 languages, still need translation work to begin: Africa - 382 languages, 11.2 million people Americas - 91 languages, 0.61 million people Asia - 435 languages, 86.1 million people Europe - 37 languages, 1.5 million people Pacific - 323 languages, 0.37 million people Wycliffe Global Alliance involvement snapshot, 2023 Alliance organisations are working in at least 2,608 languages. Alliance organisations are involved in work in at least 141 countries. Wycliffe Global Alliance historical snapshot Over their history, Alliance organisations have been involved in the translation of New Testaments or Bibles in at least 1,865 languages. Over their history, Alliance organisations have been involved in translating Scripture portions in an additional 996 languages. Statistics are rarely as simple as the numbers imply Even though we strive to provide an accurate snapshot, Scripture access statistics are complex. For example, determining translation need is not as simple as determining which languages do or do not have Scripture. Most of the languages with “some Scripture” need more, and even full Bibles often undergo revisions. Also, comparisons with previous annual statistics are challenging and sometimes not useful, as data definitions and collection methods improve. A better way of measuring Bible translation progress Statistics provide one lens through which to measure progress in worldwide Bible translation. The real stories are found in changed lives and communities as people encounter God through his Word, and as the worldwide church moves toward greater unity in Christ. Alliance organisations continue to explore other important indicators of progress such as: How are language communities experiencing life-changing impact from Scripture? Are churches increasingly taking leadership in the work of Bible translation? Are churches, communities, and organisations partnering more effectively to carry out the work of translation together? To read more, see: A missiology of progress: Assessing advancement in the Bible translation movement by Dr. Kirk Franklin. Wycliffe Global Alliance presentations of global Scripture access statistics are compiled annually from data provided through ProgressBible by Alliance organisations, SIL International, United Bible Societies and many other partners. Data is current as of 1 September 2023, and is based on the most recently available information about first language users in SIL’s Ethnologue . Further stories about people and projects are available at wycliffe.net and from your nearest Alliance organisation . 2022 Global Scripture Access Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe Global Alliance

Why did Zephaniah prophesy destruction on the nations surrounding Israel? Zephaniah 1:2: “’I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord.” After calling on Judah to repent for her sins or face judgement, Zephaniah goes on to prophesy judgement on the surrounding nations. These were traditional enemies of Israel and Judah, steeped in idolatry, and represented all the nations of the world that did not worship God. To the West, the Philistines worshipped Baal and Asherah, long a temptation to idolatry for the Israelites. To the East, Moab and Ammon had not always been enemies of Israel, being descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. However, the relationship had deteriorated. They worshipped various Canaanite deities. To the South, Cush (also known as Nubia or Ethiopia) was a wealthy and powerful nation. They were closely related to Egypt and worshipped the Egyptian gods. To the North, Assyria was a dominant power of the Ancient Near East. They worshipped Ashur, as well as other deities. About a century before Zephaniah’s prophecy, Assyria had taken a large number of Israelites into exile.

Stories from the Field, 1 August 2023 Speakers: Dr Abeneazer & Dr Jessica Ethiopia – a country with a population of over 123 million people and 129 people groups, each with its own language and traditions. The majority religion is Ethiopian Orthodoxy, with 29% of the people groups in the country still unreached. The main trade language in Ethiopia is Amharic, but the government is supportive of multilingual education – ethnic languages are used in the early years of schooling, transitioning to Amharic later. Tertiary education is in English. This year, 2023, SIL Ethiopia celebrated its 50th anniversary, and also achieved the milestone of having a Bible translation (BT) project begun for every people group that needs it! Altogether, SIL Ethiopia is working with 34 languages, at various stages of engagement. With so much to do in the country, organisations working there have formed a Collaborative Partnership for BT. Seven organisations, including SIL Ethiopia, divide up the work to avoid duplication and share resources. Many of the unreached people groups have low levels of education and literacy, and some languages do not have a writing system! So Oral Bible Translation and Oral Bible Storying techniques are used. Oral methods are more culturally appropriate for such groups as storytelling is a familiar part of their culture. Besides BT, there is also a felt need for more work to encourage Scripture Use and provide Trauma Healing in the people groups. The greatest need now is for more consultants, advisors and literacy workers. Currently, there are only three Ethiopian consultants who work alongside several expatriate consultants. Local Christian denominations are now getting more involved in BT, which is a great item of praise. Prayer items: Praise that a Bible translation project has begun in every people group that needs it. Pray for more human and financial resources for Bible translation and Scripture Use in Ethiopia. Pray that the gospel will bear much fruit among Ethiopia’s unreached people groups. About the speakers: Both speakers teach at the Evangelical Theological College in Addis Ababa and are adjunct professors at Columbia International University (USA). Dr Abeneazer specialises in New Testament and Missiology, and is also Director of the Capacity Building Department at SIL Ethiopia. Dr Jessica specialises in Intercultural Studies, and is the author of Loving the Stranger: Welcoming Immigrants in the Name of Jesus and the Loving the Stranger Blog. They live in Ethiopia with their two children.

Raising Up a Generation of Healthy Third Culture Kids: A Practical Guide to Preventive Care , by Lauren Wells, 2020. (246 pgs) This is a practical, easy-to-read guide to preventive care for Third-Culture Kids (TCKs) and anyone who cares for them. Definition: A TCK is a person who spends a significant part of his or her developmental years in a culture other than their parents' culture. TCKs are often envied for their exciting multicultural lives and experiences. This cross-cultural exposure makes them adaptable, resilient and empathetic. However, they also experience considerable stress, loss, grief and identity issues from repeated transitions. Lauren Wells advocates intentionally providing preventive care to TCKs, and shares practical advice and strategies for parents to help their TCKs grow up emotionally healthy. For each topic in her book, Wells makes suggestions for parents under these headings: Conversations – guides and ideas for talking with TCKs Awareness – of the challenges of the TCK life Relationship – between TCKs and their parents Example – how parents can model how to handle transitions This book is available from: Amazon (print, Kindle)

Why were the people of Israel and Judah exiled? 2 Kings 17:6: “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria.” Habakkuk 1:6: “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.” God used both Assyria and Babylon as agents of judgement against Israel and Judah respectively because of their idolatry and rebellion. These events took place over extended periods of time, with several forced deportations (exiles), culminating in the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 BCE (Israel; 2 Kings 17) and the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE (Judah; 2 Kings 24). God eventually fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy that Judah would return to Jerusalem after 70 years, although not all chose to return (Jeremiah 25; Ezra 1). Forced deportations were a common practice in the Ancient Near East. Groups of people possessing valuable skills and knowledge were moved from subjugated lands to the conquerors’ homelands in order to bring economic and cultural benefits to the conquerors. The deportees were usually moved as families or larger groups, promised a better future, and expected to integrate with the conquering population. At the same time, by removing large groups of skilled people from the conquered lands, the risk of rebellion there would be reduced.