Central African Republic

Please pray for Elizabeth as she continues to build relationships with others working in CAR, and for all of this to build God’s kingdom in CAR. The discussions have continued regarding what our future ministry in CAR might look like and how we can continue to support Bible translation ministries in CAR through ACATBA and other partners with the same aims. Please do continue to pray about this process, for unity, peace of mind and a clear sense of God’s guidance.

With eight new Bible translation projects recently started, the Central African Republic’s Bible translation organisation, ACATBA, is working towards reopening another one! The Yaka language project halted several years ago but is now being urgently requested by local churches. They believe access to the whole Bible in their language is essential for the spiritual growth of their congregations and outreach in their community. Thank God for this exciting development, and pray for good relationships among the stakeholders, for the right people to work on the project, and for provision of all the resources they need.

Thank God for the progress being made by the five teams nearing completion of their New Testaments, and for the hours that our translation consultant team have been able to spend working with them around the team meetings. Please pray for the teams who just need to finish up to have the wisdom and strength for the home straight, and for those just starting the final stages to remember what’s been presented to them this week. Pray for good relationships in teams and between translation teams and consultants working remotely.

Eight new translation projects are starting in the Central African Republic! In the first months of 2023, local community mobilizers and potential translators were selected to serve each language group. Pray for the mobilizers as they visit churches in their home areas - many in unstable parts of the country - to raise awareness and involve local pastors and leaders in the projects from the start. Pray also for the new translators as they begin their training, and eventually start to translate the Scriptures into their own languages.

Thank God for so many open doors for Bible translation in the local languages of the Central African Republic! The Banda-Linda New Testament went to print at the end of 2022, and now the Bhogoto team are typesetting their New Testament and Psalms. Two more projects are not far behind. Pray for persistence and precision for the translators in each language, and the consultants who support them mainly via the internet. Pray that these will all be top quality products that will be accessible to many in written or oral format, bringing about transformation and renewal across the country.

With anything up to another 50 languages still wanting Bible translations in the Central African Republic, thank God that the Banda-Linda language team are now typesetting their New Testament, ready for printing. Please pray that no detail will be overlooked so that the final version will be perfect! Pray for the two further languages just coming up to this stage.

The clearest message coming through since the release of the New Testament in three languages in the Central African Republic earlier this year is, “We want to read this, but we can’t!”. Because of the insecurity in CAR for the last decade and more, an appropriate level of literacy training hasn’t been possible. Please pray for security, funding and personnel for literacy training, and increased take-up of recorded versions, so that people can access God’s word in their languages.