Making Sense of The Sign!
A church on the hillside above Morogoro, Tanzania, looking forward to completion of the Lughuru Bible
I recently had the privilege of doing some Bible teaching on an Oak Hall trip to one of the most unreached countries in the world, Japan! We spent time in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and the Mount Fuji area. It was fascinating to visit a new culture, and very different to sub-Saharan Africa where Christianity is widely accepted.
Sadly, in Japan there are few believers. Japan’s indigenous religion is Shintoism, although the vast majority of the population takes part in both Shinto and Buddhist activities. Whilst there is a full Japanese Bible, only 0.5% of the population is considered to be evangelical Christians.
Out of a population of 122.5 million, that’s only 612,500 people!!
Imagine my surprise then when I stopped to chat to an elderly Japanese man whilst on a forest walk – only to be told by him that he was a believer! I had given him a Japanese Bible tract, and as I shared a bit about my faith, he nervously whispered to me that he was in fact a Christian! He might not have needed the tract, but I hope it puts him in contact with some of the other 612,499 Japanese Christians in the country!
On an early morning walk to view Mount Fuji, I came across a large signpost. Whilst I knew it was giving useful directions and pointers, it meant absolutely nothing to me, because I couldn’t read Japanese! If I had actually needed direction, and only had that sign in front of me, I would not have known which way to turn. It got me thinking….and of course, you know where this is going! We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that these “holy Scriptures are able to make a person wise for salvation through faith in Christ.” It is therefore the most important book in the world! It gives us direction and guidance, it is useful for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training,” it tells us where we need to go to in order be saved – the foot of the cross.
But what if you are unable to read those directions? What if you’re desperate to learn about “The Way” but you can’t make sense of the directions because they’re not written in your heart language? That, my friends, is the situation for over 1.5 billion people in the world today. Over 2500 languages still don’t have one word of the Bible written down – and so those people are not in a position to make sense of the signpost that is able to point them towards Christ. That’s what TWFTW is all about. We’re seeking to help make The Signpost readable in all languages. We’re certainly making great strides, and we give thanks to God for that – but we still need your help, and we certainly need your prayers as we seek to point people in the right direction.