Can you believe we have reached 2020? When I think of the 20’s, my mind goes to the The Roaring 20’s of the last century, the “flappers” and the Great Crash of ’29. Let’s hope we don’t repeat that!
Only God knows what this new decade holds for us — but what a comfort it is to know that we are in His hands and that He will accomplish His perfect purposes!
As we watch 2019 recede in the rear view mirror, let us share with you some of the great things God has done this year of which you may not have been aware.
- Through the ministry of Ethnos360 and our Global Partners, at least five new people groups heard the first telling of the entire story of redemption, from creation to Christ, in 2019.
This amazing story takes years to prepare in the tribal tongue (including learning their language and developing a system for writing it) and it takes months to present, but that investment of time is worthwhile because it leaves the people with a full picture of God’s plan of salvation and an opportunity to believe and be reconciled to our Creator.
- Members of our global fellowship have completed the translation of the New Testament plus portions of the Old Testament into six tribal languages in the past 18 months!
Five more New Testaments are close to completion. Some lack the translation of a couple of books or in some cases a final check (imagine checking your whole Bible for typos!) or merely the preparations for printing. Each translation is the culmination of a challenging process that can take 20 years or more!
- We thank the Lord that the situation in Bolivia has stabilized and expatriate workers have been cleared to return to continue their ministries among the ethnic minorities in remote locations. It could easily have gone the way of Colombia’s eastern neighbor.
Eida and I are blessed to have a part in this great effort to share the Good News with unreached people groups about Christ and the Way He has opened up for us to be reconciled with our Creator.
Our particular assignment is to help equip Latin American believers who have responded to the Great Commission by making valuable resource materials available to them in Spanish. For example, our team is translating Dr. Ellis Deibler’s A Translation for Translators into Spanish. This is being made available via the Paratext program, used by Bible translators all over the world. So far, our team has completed the Spanish translation of the books of Genesis, 2 Corinthians, Matthew and John.
We thank the Lord for each of you on our support team who pray for us and give so that we can do this work in the service of Christ’s Kingdom. May God bless you and your families and supply your needs according to His riches in glory in this next year.
Hope you enjoyed the photo up top, taken after Kaylene’s dance recital (Art and Marlene’s daughter). We’ll share a few more pictures of our kids and grands just for fun.
With love,
Steve & Eida Irwin
Ethnos360 Spanish Language Resources
steve_irwin@ntm.org
408-515-1721
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