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History of WBT
Wycliffe Bible Translators was founded in 1942 by William
Cameron Townsend of the USA. A missionary to the Cakchiquel
Amerindians of Guatemala, Townsend had caught the vision for
translation when a Cakchiquel man challenged him: "If your
God is so great, why doesn't He speak in my
language?"
Townsend resolved that every man, woman and child should be able
to read God's Word in their own language. Borrowing the name
of the Reformation hero, John Wycliffe, who first translated the
Bible into English, Townsend founded "Camp Wycliffe" in
1934 as a linguistics training school. By 1942, "Camp
Wycliffe" had grown into two sister organisations, Wycliffe
Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, now
known as SIL International.
Today, SIL and Wycliffe Bible Translators work together to
translate Scripture, train field personnel in linguistics and
promote interest in translation. Over 400 translations have been
completed, and hundreds more are in the process. With God's
provision, Townsend's vision will be realised.
History of Missions and Caribbean People: Focus on Jamaica
Match This!
In 1843 newly-liberated slaves in the young Caribbean Church set an exhilarating pace in world missions. Dare we do less?
Think of it:
150 years ago, Caribbean missionaries were making a significant contribution to the evangelisation of West Africa. The concept of Caribbean people being involved in overseas missions is not new – it’s been done before!
Freedom
When slaves in Jamaica gained their freedom in 1838, many who had become Christians were concerned about taking the Gospel to their ancestral lands in West Africa. Among the first actually to make the journey were Joseph Merrick, co-pastor of Jericho Baptist Church (near Linstead), and Andrew Fuller, a skilled carpenter and a member of Spanish Town Baptist Church. In 1843 they landed on the island of Fernando Pó (modern-day Bioko), just off the Cameroon coast. Five months later they were joined by 41 new recruits from Jamaica.
Translating the Gospels
Merrick and Fuller eventually settled on the Cameroon mainland among the Isubu people. There, among other achievements, they built the first school in that land, translated Genesis and the Gospels of Matthew and John into the Isubu tongue, and went into the interior to begin the evangelisation of the Bakweri people.
In 1849 Merrick became ill and died. By this time harsh conditions and sickness caused many of his fellow workers to return to the Caribbean. However, over 35 years, more than 80,000 people along the Cameroon coast heard the Gospel through the efforts of these first Caribbean missionaries.
Moreover, an important precedent had been set for the Caribbean Church. The Baptist pioneers in Cameroon were followed in 1846 by Presbyterians going to Nigeria and Moravians to Ghana, and in 1851 by Anglicans going to Sierra Leone.
Forgotten tribes
Another key figure in Caribbean missions was George Liele who was born into slavery in the colony of Georgia, USA, in 1750. at the age of 23 he became a Christian and soon began a preaching ministry, planting a church in Georgia.
After he was granted his freedom, Liele moved to Jamaica, a step which was to have amazing implications for forgotten tribes on the west coast of Africa.
As Liele began his ministry among the slaves in Jamaica, he was heavily persecuted. However, within a short time 500 people became Christians. He was not supported by any missionary society but went on to plant churches throughout Jamaica.
The work of this former slave resulted in the founding of the Jamaican Baptist Missionary Society, which is responsible for helping to spread the Gospel in Haiti, Cuba, Central America and West Africa and for passing on the missions message to those who attend their churches.
(Reprinted with the kind permission of YWAM’s Eastern Caribbean Centre for World Missions, Thickett Plantation, St Philip, Barbados.)
Read more here and herefrom the Jamaica Gleaner.
Other Jamaicans Involved in Bible Translation and Cross-Cultural Missions
ALPHONSE, Ephraim Simeon - Minister of Religion and Playwright; Born Carenero, Bocas del Toro, Republic of Panama, circa 1896. Educated Bocas del Toro Spanish School 1903-1920; Calabar Theological College, Kingston, 1924-26; reduced Valiente Indian Language to writing; wrote first grammar and vocabulary in Hindustani, Spanish and English; also translated four Gospels in Valiente Tongue and became Translator of Scripture for the American Bible Society, 1928 and 1929; comoposed and compiled hymbook and cathechism; also wrote and staged the following plays in Jamaica, "Youth-time and Eternity" and "The Gospel Ship"; was the author of "Among Valientes" and "The Pageant of the 4th Force"; travelled to Costa Rica, France, and to England, 1938, where he gave missionary addresses on the Valiente Indians. [Source: Who's Who Jamaica 1941-1946]
FULLER, Joseph Jackson (1845-1888), Jamaican missionary to Cameroon
Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4
Jamaicans in Ghana
Other Jamaicans overseas
(Special thanks to Lloyd Cooke, Jamaica Co-ordinator of Ministries in Action, for supplying the links to the Jamaica Gleaner articles.)
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