The Christmas Story is on the way to the printers this morning. It will in the warehouse and ready to ship in a couple of weeks, but you can view the booklet online and order today.
As the title suggests, the booklet tells the story of the nativity in a simple and straightforward way for adult readers. It’s suitable for giving away at church events, carol services and the like, and we’ll be making matching posters and invites for downloading in the next few weeks.
Our Inspire range of Christmas resources is now available to view and download on the Christmas site. You’ll find all the usual downloads, featuring the graphics from our popular booklets such as Meet the Cast and A Little Story About Something Big. Click on the banner below to visit the Christmas site.
We’re also putting the finishing touches on our new booklet for adults, The Christmas Story. Watch this space for more details very soon!
Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu
Last year Interact magazine featured our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where SGM Lifewords has been partnering with Wycliffe to develop materials for schools. This month sees the first training sessions, with local teachers introduced to the Choose Life curriculum that has been so effective in Kenya.
Staff from the Lifewords office in Kenya are travelling to the DRC to run a series of two-day workshops, visiting several towns in the North and East of the country, including Bukavu, Uvira, and Bunia. The three week tour should see over two hundred teachers equipped to use Choose Life in their classrooms, bringing the Bible’s life words to thousands of children across the region.
It has taken several years to build up to this point, so it is exciting to actually see Choose Life hit the ground in DRC. But it hasn’t been an easy trip to plan. A referendum on a new constitution takes place today (August 4th) in Kenya, and with the history of recent political conflict, there is a risk of further instability. Please pray that the vote will be peaceful, both on the day and as results are announced, and that travel will not be disrupted. Shipping materials into the DRC is also difficult, so please pray that the booklets and training manuals will pass through customs without incident. Finally, please pray for the staff as they travel, for their health and safety, and strength on what will be quite an adventure.
Photo: Philkin
Sam Luscombe reports on the ongoing legacy of SGM Lifewords’ Power to Save programme, as the Cuvok people of Cameroon celebrate their first encounter with the Bible’s life words in their own language.
Eight years ago, I sat in the gloom of an African dusk, and listened as a Nigerian pastor shared his passion for God’s Word, his unswerving belief in its transformative power, and his heart for his people. Like millions of others around the world, Pastor Samuel was still waiting to receive the first words of scripture in his mother tongue.
It was an experience which touched me profoundly, and which has stayed with me ever since. So I’m always thrilled to hear about SGM Lifewords’ ongoing contribution to the task of making the Bible available to people like Pastor Samuel, who hunger and thirst to receive these life giving words in their own language. The SGM Lifewords global family is passionate about helping people to engage with and be transformed by the Bible’s life words: words for every human being on the planet, whatever language they speak. It’s this passion which has led to SGM Lifewords’ long partnership with Wycliffe/SIL. Joint initiatives, including Power to Save and Pioneer, have all been aimed at making God’s Word available in languages where access to the Bible is limited or nonexistent.
Both Power to Save and Pioneer provided translators with portions of Scripture which were easy to translate, in a format which could be quickly and economically reproduced. Simple sentence structures ensured their suitability as literacy aids. Illustrations were deliberately multicultural, and designed to be easy on the eye for those unfamiliar with printed visuals. SGM Lifewords has partnered with hundreds of Wycliffe translators around the world to typeset manuscripts, and to organise and fund printing.
As the needs of translation teams and the nature of Bible translation have evolved, SGM Lifewords’ role in these initiatives has changed. We’re no longer directly involved in the production of Power to Save and Pioneer materials. But we continue to make the manuscripts available, and translation teams can now adapt and print the booklets for themselves. Both Power to Save and Pioneer are still in use around the world – and it’s exciting to hear about the lasting legacy of these projects, and the difference “God’s Word in my language” can make.
The Cuvok people of northern Cameroon received God’s Word in their language for the first time this year as a result of that legacy. Ken Hollingsworth, a Wycliffe translator based in Cameroon, shares their story:
“The Cuvok have been part of the Wycliffe Bibleless People’s Prayer Project since at least 1987. Since that time, people around the world have been faithfully praying that God would raise up translators for the Cuvok people and give them his Word.
“A young man from a different language group in Cameroon had a burden for the Cuvok. He studied linguistics at Yaounde University and did a linguistic analysis of the Cuvok language, with the aim of preparing the way for Bible translation in the future. At about the same time, a Cuvok evangelist was taking part in a practical linguistics course for those interested in beginning a Bible translation project. With the support of the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy (CABTAL), they began to work together to establish an alphabet and writing system for the Cuvok language. Teachers were trained and literacy classes established. But still the wait for God’s Word in Cuvok continued.
“Eventually, a translation team was identified. According to the plan outlined with CABTAL, they were to start work on the gospel of Luke, rather than the shorter gospel of Mark. But the people were eagerly waiting for Scripture. How could we ensure that they received God’s Word in their language as soon as possible?
“The Power to Save materials provided the perfect solution. I suggested that the team focus on the Luke portions contained in Jesus Christ Saviour of the World. Our goal was to have the booklets ready in time for Christmas, so that the Cuvok could read the nativity story in their own language for the first time. Due to a delay by the printer, they only received it shortly afterwards, but it was received with great joy! Finally, God speaks Cuvok through Power to Save. At last, the Cuvok people can encounter the scriptures in their heart language.”
Stories like this one never cease to touch my heart. Imagine the impact of reading the Christmas story for the very first time in your own language! And what a privilege for us to be able to play even a small part in making that possible. Please give thanks with us for the ongoing impact of Power to Save and Pioneer. And pray that as the next chapter in this story continues to unfold, many more people will encounter the Bible’s life words in their own language for the first time.
Creative Director Steve Bassett writes from Rio de Janeiro where he and the Pavement Project team are filming with workers and children, documenting the impact of Pavement Project after a decade in-use …
I settle in, and spend a couple of days filming what we call GVs (General Views) of the city. Oh my word it is stunning. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is actually shrouded in tarpaulin and scaffolding as a result of the recent flooding here. In itself, that is a powerful visual metaphor – Christ there but unseen, looking over the city with outstretched arms yet hidden from view.
I get to film at the Candelaria Cathedral. This is an historic place and relevant to our subject because it was here, in 1993, that police shot eight street children dead (you can read about it here). There is a mosaic artwork on the pavement where they fell, red shapes set out in the manner of a police murder scene. Which is what is was. And I film these grotesque shapes and see the traffic sliding past, and I see someone sleeping on the cathedral steps perhaps oblivious to the significance of the place. The vulnerable trampled once again. I film my feet walking across the shapes and feel a shiver in the air. This is part of the reason we are here, to keep telling the stories that come up from the streets.
Coming back last night I walked down the beach to the hotel. As I looked over the bay to the moonlit hills I was aware again of what a privilege it is to be here: but not just because of the scenery. The hillside opposite glinted with hundreds of lights, the lights of the other side of Rio. The favelas sit uneasily around the city, each one teetering like a diamante tiara in the coiffured hair of Rio’s middle and upper classes. It is a privilege to be here because I get to meet people that spend their lives reaching out to the children of those hills, of the streets, of the vulnerable edges. These people are the real deal. They are not interested in anything except getting the job done, and making a difference. I like people like that. They inspire me and challenge and amaze me.
And the next morning I see an extreme example of this dedication. Monday dawns with a trip out of Rio to Lixao (lee-shoe), where we have a partnership with a church that runs a centre to offer food, hygiene, care and education to the children of the area. And Pavement Project is part of what they offer. What makes this project special is that the children and their families are born, live, work and in all probability die on the enormous and hideous rubbish dump that dominates the area. The stench is overpowering. The filth and grime is devastating – they say it gets into your skin, that you can’t get it off. I can easily believe that.
People here live in the most basic shanty shelters – cardboard, corrugated metal, bits of wood, paper, anything to form a kind of space for their families to shelter in. They work every single day on the dump, scavenging like the birds for anything that might be worth a few coins. They haul their find back to their homes and pile it up outside – and take the best INSIDE so it won’t be stolen. The result is an appalling mess of rubbish where people sleep, live, cook, eat. I saw one lady sweeping her ‘step’: she said, “We may be poor but we don’t have to live in the dirt”.
But the reality is an almighty struggle and it gets worse. This gaggle of human shelters is on a swamp, which they families share with the pigs. Scores of them. Huge, squealing, smelly pigs. Pigs that roam around the children, that go inside the dwellings when they can, that drop their mess anywhere and everywhere.
I film a grandmother sat on the side of the path with two enormous pigs, stroking them as if they were poodles. She and her daughter and grand daughter live and work their whole lives here, foraging through the waste and detritus no-one else wants.
I feel a million miles away from our base in Waterloo! But I am so encouraged that we are helping to make a significant difference here on the margins, and that’s the story I hope we will be able to tell through this film.
We’ll be making a DVD available from July, for use as part of our PP10 celebrations. Order your copy to show your church or small group, and sign the Tell Ten Pledge here to help spread the word about Pavement Project. Keep your eye on the PP10 section of the website for more downloads, and online materials / Steve’s footage from Brazil.
It’s always exciting for us to hear about the ways in which SGM Lifewords materials and programmes are impacting people around the world with the Bible’s life words. This week, join us in celebrating and giving thanks for some of these stories.
Last week SGM Lifewords hosted an artist in residence at the Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Racecourse, Esher. Beginning on Tuesday morning with a plain white stand, including walls, floor and furniture, artist Abi Spendlove had turned the space into a riot of colour by closing time on Friday.
Twelve words that sum up the story of the Bible were used as a starting point for the illustration. Visitors to the stand were invited to add their own words, and guide the evolving artwork. Some chose words that had personal meaning to them, others added theological truths or Biblical principles. The result was a vibrant visual conversation about the Bible and the story that it tells.
The live art event was part of TWELVE, a SGM Lifewords project that will explore the story of the Bible through the creative arts as part of the Biblefresh initiative. Over the next year, a series of artists will create an anthology of artworks on the theme of the story that the Bible tells. Downloadable resources will be available for reading the Bible in community, and the TWELVE journal will provide fresh thinking through articles and conversations about the Bible.
You can find out more at 12words.org, and view a gallery of images.
Since its launch ten years ago, Pavement Project’s unique Bible-based counselling process has helped to sow the seeds of hope, possibility and change in the lives of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable children. This week, join us in giving thanks for the faithfulness of Pavement Project workers around the world, and in praying for the tenth birthday celebrations planned for later in the year.
This year SGM Lifewords will be exhibiting at the national Christian Resources Exhibition at Sandown Racecourse from Tuesday 11th to Friday 14th May. We’re doing something a little different with our stand. We’ll be in the Loch Fyne area as part of the Biblefresh initiative, and as the whole area is about engaging with the Bible, we thought we would explore what that looks like through art.
We’ll be using our whole stand as a canvas, and handing it over to artist Abi Spendlove, who will be drawing a dynamic and colourful response to the story of the Bible. The illustration will evolve over the course of the four days, incorporating ideas and conversations with visitors to the stand. The result will be a unique work of art and a live demonstration of SGM Lifewords‘ aims to help people engage creatively with the Bible.
If you’re coming to CRE, you’ll find us at stand L9 in the Biblefresh area. If you’re not coming yet, click on over to CRE online to find out more and order tickets.
Watch this space for more details about the project in the coming days.
Thank you for your understanding and support as we’ve been moving office. We’re now up and running in our new home on Westminster Bridge Road.
We’re finding our way around and working out our new commutes. More importantly, orders are being processed as normal, and we look forward to serving you in the near future.
