The Invitation, August 12, 2021

Please pray this month for Bible translation. The End Bible Poverty Now initiative exists to see a Bible in every heart language made available to every individual on earth. More than 1,000 languages still do not have a single portion of the Bible in their mother tongue. YWAM is committed to help change that statistic. We recognize that the great majority of those who speak a Bible-less language are oral learners, and the Bible will be at its most impactful in audio format. YWAM is working on Oral Bible Translation (OBT) for these remaining languages. The goal is to have 30 carefully selected passages translated orally into 1,000 languages by the end of 2025. Please pray with us right now for these Bible translations and pray on the prayer day called The Invitation on August 12.

1. Pray for 72 YWAM locations to start Oral Bible Translation training. Through this training facilitators are taught to oversee the start of new languages for Oral Bible Translation. Pray for many students to come to these programs. Pray for the training of the trainers, which will begin with a big program in September in eight locations.
2. Pray for 33 OBT hubs. An OBT Hub is a YWAM location strategically located near a Bible-less people group. Hubs will be intentional in their efforts to reach the Bible-less people groups near their location.
3. Pray that the goal would be accomplished of 30 carefully selected passages translated orally into 1,000 languages by the end of 2025.
4. Pray for the new OBT school plant in Madang, Papua New Guinea this fall. YWAM Kona, Hawaii and YWAM Ships are jointly sending a team to plant an OBT school in Madang. Papua New Guinea has over 175 languages without the Bible, and is a strategic location to begin Oral Bible Translation training.

Suggestions for Group or Individual Prayer

Experience what it might be like to communicate the Bible orally. Read Luke 7:11-17 two times, or have two members of your group read the passage. Then pair up and each person tell the story to the other, without looking at the Bible text. If you don’t have a group, try to say the story out loud. The goal isn’t to memorize the words or to comment on the meaning but simply to convey all the elements of the story. You can take this exercise a step further by having a facilitator ask questions, first about the elements of the story (“What does Luke tell us about the boy and his mother?”), then analysis questions (“How do you think the crowd’s view of Jesus changed?”) and then application questions (“How do you respond to Jesus?”). During the next week, look for an opportunity to tell this story to someone else.

Take Action

1. Join End Bible Poverty Now Kona’s team in their monthly Zoom call this month as they pray for the Oral Bible Translation efforts. This will be on August 25 at 10 a.m. Hawaii time: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83015492807.
2. Continue to pray for the Bible-less by signing up for the End Bible Poverty Now monthly prayer newsletter at endbiblepovertynow.com/pray.

Join The Invitation

Learn more about this YWAM prayer day, called The Invitation, at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please let us know how you prayed at [email protected]. Please also tell us if you would like to recommend a prayer topic for The Invitation.