Applying these key Biblical principles

World trends

Changes around the world, such as ease of international travel, increased access to telecommunications and higher educational levels in many nations, have opened the door to doing missions in new ways.

Growth of the world church

The growth in maturity of churches around the world, accompanied by better facilities for theological and even linguistic training, has expanded the opportunities for partnership in ministry in ways only prayed for until recently. The Western church is no longer limited to sharing financial gifts and sending missionaries, but is increasingly able to share its riches of experience and knowledge. This means that not only can we work hand in hand with churches in these nations, but that Christians from these countries are now regularly trained as the primary workers in many ministries, including translation.

God, the Church and the Bible

Regardless of what is going on globally, God loves every person from every people group. The Church continues to own the responsibility for taking his Good News to all peoples. This can only be effectively done using the Bible, as it is foundational to all aspects of evangelism, church planting and discipleship.

Scripture in the mother tongue

We focus on mother tongue Scriptures because, while we praise God that he can and does save some people by the use of a trade language, ministry in the mother tongue is more easily understood. It also demonstrates that God is not a foreign God and that he loves everyone as and where they are. No culture or language is closer to God than any other. Therefore as a ministry we will continue to assist the Church (be that the local church, church groupings, or evangelistic and mission organisations) in the area of making mother tongue Scriptures available.

Access to God’s message of love

Different strategies are required to make the scriptures available in different contexts. For example, to reach oral cultures ways are being found to provide Bible truth in non-print media, such as audio recordings and the use of carefully selected Bible stories to communicate key biblical concepts. In other areas use of radio and video are also important.  But whatever strategy is followed, it is crucial to keep our dependence on God and our desire to see him glorified at the centre of all we do.

Showing Jesus’ love

Just as Jesus healed the sick as well as teaching the truth, both the physical and spiritual needs of a people group need to be considered. As we work with any group we will become aware of the material needs of that group. A major challenge for many groups in having access to health, agricultural and political information is the high rate of illiteracy among these groups (secular educationalists have found that primary education in the mother tongue is the best preparation for later education in a national language). Other needs include a lack of fresh water, the threat of HIV/AIDS, etc.

Knowing a need often leads to meeting a need

As we seek to work in partnership with churches in the UK, we will be sharing these needs. People and churches will respond as the Spirit calls them to become involved. While this traditionally was largely limited to people being sent by their churches as missionaries, today there is the opportunity to support nationals working overseas and even link with a work among a specific people group. We expect the Lord will continue to lead us into new ways of working with the church, but all the time continuing to focus on our goal of giving everyone who needs it access to the Bible in their own language.