Executive Director Stephen Coertze's Opening Remarks, Global Gathering 2024

31 October 2024

Presented by Dr Stephen Coertze

Welcome to each one of you and thank you for your participation in Global Gathering 2024.

(Mentioned several answers to prayer, including a Filipino brother got his travel visa as he neared the door of the plane. A group of Indonesian friends had not received their visas, either. They decided in faith to go to Jakarta anyway for the trip to South Africa … and they received their visas soon after arriving in Jakarta)

 I want to acknowledge all our representatives from over 100 Alliance organisations. 

And to those who cannot be with us. (mentioned Bangladesh flood)

God has uniquely gifted each Alliance organisation to provide leadership, influence and service to Bible translation movements across the globe. We honour the selfless and unique contribution each of you, together with your staff, members, boards, constituents and your partners, are making to the ministry of Bible translation. 

We also welcome our special invited guests, partners and friends, to this gathering. We look forward to interacting with you over the days to come. 

I want to highlight two of our guests. (Mentioned Darryl Kernick, who served as director for the previous two Global Gatherings; and his predecessor Kirk Franklin. Kirk is regarded as the pioneer of what has become the Wycliffe Global Alliance)

And a special welcome to those of you participating virtually from wherever you are in the world. You are an important part of this gathering as well.

I am grateful to have my wife Lezelle, our daughter Natasha with us this morning. Unfortunately Natasha’s husband Chris, and also our son Ivan, cannot be with us as they are working this morning. Thank you for making it possible and for your support for me to serve in this most awesome organisation.

Our theme for this gathering is Growing together. During these next five days, we will have the opportunity to worship, listen, explore, interact and learn from one another. May I encourage us to listen well.

As we start, it is important that we lay down a marker as to what has shaped our reality over the last four years. 

In 2020, the whole world came to a standstill. Its foundations were shaken by the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we remember colleagues, family members and also friends who lost their lives or were otherwise deeply impacted by the pandemic. On the heels of the pandemic, we witnessed the scourge of war, such as seen in Russia-Ukraine; Sudan; Israel-Gaza and the growing, wider conflict in the Middle East. As we are celebrating together, we have colleagues in our midst who are in deep pain. Let us remember them also at this time. We have further experienced upheavals of various kinds in many parts of the world. These include new geopolitical alliances; weak or collapsing economies; droughts, abnormal flooding and landslides; global dispersion of communities; and a number of other realities that constantly impact daily life, people and ministries. Keep in mind that this continent, where we have opportunity to celebrate today, over the past four years there have been approximately eight coups. It is a continent in dire need of God to do something.

In the midst of these realities, God continues to equip, encourage, and give us direction. In most cases, the Bible translation movement has flourished, not only in spite of, but also because of such situations. So many new translation programs have started. In the not-too-far distance, we will see Scripture translation taking place in almost every language that needs it. That is something to celebrate. Celebration of completed translations continues. More organisations have become involved in Bible translation—often with bold, new initiatives. There is greater realisation of the valuable contribution that local communities are making towards Bible translation. The polycentric nature of the Bible translation landscape has continued to expand. More local initiative in Bible translation ministries. On multiple fronts, new innovations are being explored in areas such as translation training, equipping of mother tongue translators, and consultancy. Organisations generously assist one another where needs arise.

Meetings and events are conducted in different, yet more constructive ways. We are bridging geographical constraints with virtual platforms – and this provides opportunity for an unprecedented number of individuals to participate and connect with one another. This Global Gathering is one example – with an uncounted number of people participating thanks to technological advances. Technologies such as artificial intelligence are developing at a ferocious pace, offering new opportunities and new challenges for Bible translation. For many individuals and churches, their understanding of God’s mission has expanded, and new ways of participating in that mission have become possible. Bible translation movements across the world continue to flourish in spite of the season we are living in.

There is so much to take in, and from so many directions. It can all feel overwhelming at times. And yet, this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world does not define us. God, who led and brought us to this point, is the same God who will continue to be with us as we navigate what lies ahead of us. 

The glaring question, then, before us is what the future landscape of the ministry of Bible translation will look like, and how we should respond to it. We obviously don’t know precisely, as the future is always uncertain. However,  we are not stranded without a guiding compass. With Christ as our foundation, we will continue to discern where God is working and journey with him in his mission. Our foundational statements, such as our Mission, Vision, Purpose, Doctrinal and Value Statements, also provide direction and help us navigate. These foundational statements are indicators of how we responded to God’s mission in the past, and they provide a foundation and light for our ongoing journey. 

With the mission of God and our foundational statements as anchor points, we can already see some of the contours of our future journey. I would like to highlight two areas of importance and then provide a few priorities that we will continue to engage in.

The first area of importance is, of course, Bible translation.

Unashamedly, that is the core of our business. And we will continue to keep the core of our business the core of our business. Our Alliance vision statement mentions our desire to see individuals, communities and nations transformed through God’s love and Word expressed in their languages and cultures. I wish to highlight two important concepts coming out of our vision statement. 

First, our vision statement highlights the translation of Scripture as focus. 

It expresses our desire to see a translation of God’s Word in every language that needs it. We are close to seeing this becoming a reality. A number of factors have made the rapid acceleration in new translation starts possible. These include different approaches to Bible translation processes, including multi-modality approaches such as Oral Bible translation, and the rightful focus on translation in sign languages. They include more organisations and agencies involved in Bible translation like we have never seen before. They include structural changes — some of those have led to acceleration in Bible translation. Wycliffe Bible Translators International morphing into Wycliffe Global Alliance, to name but one. They include growing partnerships and new ways of collaborating among organisations. And all of this comes amid the growing, polycentric landscape of Bible translation; and the expanding role of the church in Bible translation space.

Second, an important concept in our vision statement highlights the purpose, or the ‘why’, of Scripture translation. The success of Bible translation does not lie in translation starts. Nor does it lie in the completion of translations. Those are important. But the success of Bible translation lies in transformed lives. Transformation starts when people are reconciled to God through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Flowing out of this, we desire to see individuals, communities and nations transformed in their everyday lives. This transformation will vary in different contexts, but we desire all creation to live under the lordship of, and grow into maturity in our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we are involved in Bible translation.

Bible translation has the best chance of leading to holistic transformation when it takes place in collaboration with other transformative ministries, such as church planting, evangelism, mercy services and advocacy. Our challenge is to figure out how we as agents of Bible translation agencies can collaborate with such ministries to see Bible translation integrated into people’s daily lives.

The second area of importance relates to the church in Bible translation.

For transformation to take place, the church needs to fulfil its rightful place in Bible translation.

The church is central to the ministry of Bible translation — not just as the providers of funding, people and prayer, but as the users of Scripture. The Bible is the book of the church. It is vital to the church for evangelism, discipleship, liturgy, worship, daily faith, and a source of hope. Churches are becoming more and more directly involved in Bible translation. Over my short four years in my term in this office, I have had opportunities to met with churches in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific.

(mentioned CONPLEI in Brazil, one of our organisations, has 120 churches associated with them. In May of this year, with a small budget they collected themselves, they had a Bible translation symposium with over 5,000 attending.)

We need to listen and understand how churches are growing in their vision to directly participate in Bible translation, and how to respond to it. We must collaborate well within, and with, the church as we move forward together in Bible translation. This is the reality of our future.

Here is one example of one of our Alliance organisations doing just that. As Wycliffe Ethiopia listened to the evangelical church in their country, they heard about its plan to follow a holistic approach to church planting for all communities residing on the borders of Ethiopia. The church’s desire was to see holistic transformation in all these border communities. And we as the Alliance desire the same. So, in response to the church’s invitation, Wycliffe Ethiopia is helping to integrate Bible translation as part of the church’s transformation strategy for the Horn of Africa. And if we look at current history, I don’t think we need to say more than that to understand the significance.

As an entire Alliance, we will listen to and dialogue more with church leaders as they develop their vision for Bible translation. 

So what are some of the priorities before us?

I trust that some of us here this morning will become part of our conversation in the next several days.

As the near future could see Bible translation started in every language that needs it, a number of current priorities will remain relevant. I will only mention a few.

The completion of translations and revisions remain before us. The church will growingly play a central role in these. Together, we will continue to advocate and work toward the completion of translations in both Testaments - the whole Word for all people.

 As an Alliance, we will continue to find adequate ways to equip translators. For instance, we are thrilled with our partnership with YWAM in the development of a curriculum that is showing positive results in training mother tongue translators. And this is starting to spread across the globe at a tremendous pace.

 We will continue to explore and implement more adequate ways of developing translation consultants and consultant communities that can ensure the quality of translations. This will include addressing the complexity of consultancy for sign languages, as this is a complex area that needs attention. 

We will encourage the development and careful use of artificial intelligence in Bible translation, acknowledging and addressing our missiological priorities and concerns around the decision-making power of communities and their participation in such translations.

Lastly, the valuable and increasing contributions that local communities are making toward Bible translation, and the escalating direct participation of churches in Bible translation, should be celebrated! God is growing his church! This reality, combined with the rapid increase of translation starts as well as the increasing restrictions on expat workers, calls for us as organisations to rethink our business and our mission models. We’ve got to give attention to those to remain relevant. This is especially crucial for our historic sending organisations. Together we will continue to discern how organisations can each envision their valued contribution to the Bible translation movement as God has uniquely gifted them. Again I want to say, God has gifted each of our organisations so you can bring your best to Bible translation.

In conclusion ...

As we engage in what lies before us, we will approach our journey with humility. Too often our sinful human nature, even in ministry, can be described with the world’s metaphors of  throne, crown and sceptre. In other words, power. As we are transformed through God’s Word, may we be known instead through the metaphors of the cross: the crown of thorns, the broken vessel, and the seed that dies in the ground. When that is our posture, new life will continue to spring up in remembrance of the empty tomb. We will become a healing balm for the nations. We will be true messengers of reconciliation in this troubled world. And we will celebrate God’s transformation that he only can bring, within communities.

Over the next few days as we explore together, dream together, navigate our journey together, and grow together, I believe we will hear from God and from one another as we continue to shape our shared vision. We pray that our time together will help each of us to explore our own responses to what lies before us, and grapple with how to implement those responses. So let us discern together before our God. May we depart from here next week with a revived vision burning in our hearts for lives to be transformed through God’s love and Word expressed in their languages and cultures.

May God bless our time together. Thank you.