September 2010: Songs to Transform Lives
Dear Reader,
Songs to Transform Lives
The 150 native Indian church planters within the “tent of meeting” burst into murmurs of joy as the songs were played over the PA system. The assembly was abuzz with excitement as Dr Alex Philip invited the two men forward who had composed the songs in their native Angika and Magahi languages. History was in the making. These were the first ever recordings of indigenous Christian music in their own language. Recorded and loaded onto the AudiBible the songs could now be used by the new churches for worship and in outreach to the thousands of villages within the state of Bihar.
Take a moment to imagine what your life would be like if you never heard the Bible or a worship song in your mother tongue. . . Imagine that not even one Bible was available in your language anywhere within your entire state. What would it be like not to have a single one of the gospels or even a psalm in your language? It is no wonder that these leaders were excited to be able to tell their communities that God speaks their language and they can hear it for themselves. Many of them related that mother-tongue music was one of the most effective ways to reach a village and begin a fledgling church.
Davar is collaborating with other partners to bring Gods Word to 45,000 villages in Bihar that do not have the Bible in their mother tongue. Teams of “mother-tongue” translators are working on six languages spoken by nearly 90 million people. They have translated 25 Biblical stories in each of the languages and have begun to work on the Gospel of Luke. Various groups such as Wycliff, The Seed Company, SIL, Faith Comes by Hearing and others have labored faithfully alongside the church planters and translators to develop this long term initiative to translate the entire NT into each of these languages. As the church planters toiled to demonstrate the Good News to their villages it was clear that their approach must be a wholistic one. Many in the villages are dying due to impure water and illnesses that can be prevented by basic training in primary health care and hygiene. There are many other felt needs in these communities where the average daily wage is around 75 cents. T4 Global and Davar Partners have therefore been invited to join the effort to bring “life training” to these precious people. The AudiBible is an ideal tool since content such as the Angika and Magahi songs can be recorded in the field and then loaded onto the device. The process is simple enough for the local teams to implement and inexpensive enough to be widely distributed.
Inexpensive as the players are they are still cost too much for these pastors who live on $50 [R400] per month. Will you join in the effort to bring God’s love to the people of Bihar? A gift of $25 [R200] will enable a church planter to reach at least 100 people and change their lives forever.
In Faith,
David
David Swarr, Dr.
President & CEO
Davar Partners International
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