Malaysia in May

A teacher asked a student to answer a few questions.
He first asked, “What do you call a person that speaks two languages?” The student replied, “Bilingual.”
Nodding, the teacher asked, “And what do you call a person that speaks three languages?” The student replied, “Trilingual.”
Again nodding approval, the teacher asked, “And what do you you call a person that speaks only one language?”
The student replied, “An American.”

It is true that speaking multiple languages fluently is rare in our American culture. However for two weeks in April, I was able to participate in a conference in Penang, Malaysia that explored the implications of multilingualism and missions. It is normative in many parts of the world that people are able to communicate fluently in two or three or four or even more languages. In the past we have assumed that every person had a “mother tongue” (the language typically taught by the mother or both parents) and that this was a person’s “heart language.” Bible translation has most often assumed that to effectively allow God’s Word to engage a person, it must be translated and understood in this language of a person’s heart. This premise was not called into question in these discussions, but we did hear a compelling question being raised, whether a person that is so fluent in more than one language can in reality have more than one heart language; more than one language in which they can profoundly experience God’s Word and worship and pray. In our work with progress.Bible, we have carefully been exploring this same question: If members of a church or language community speak more than one language very well, and choose to read Scripture and worship and pray in a different language than their mother tongue, does this meet their needs for access to God’s Word?

This is a profound question, as on the surface it touches on one of the most fundamental assumptions of Bible translation–the existence of a single heart language and the need to translate God’s Word into each language so that all the world can know God and hear His Word in the deepest way possible. It is important to confirm that the spirit of this conference did not question the critical importance of heart language and its ability to channel the living Word of Scripture into a person’s life to bring about faith and transformation. Yet I observed conversations where fully trusting God’s power and always desiring to honor the Great Commission, there was enough faith to carefully ask some new questions: How does language effect a person’s identity–both culturally and as a disciple of Jesus?  It is possible that using a strong second or third language, a person can hear and experience the full power of the gospel? Can a person have more than one heart language? The purpose of this conference was not to answer these deep questions. There was however a spirit that was willing to trust God’s power enough to humbly ask these questions and invite God’s Spirit to shape our future assumptions.

I was invited to participate in this conference to give a presentation about our work on progress.Bible. This name reflects our efforts to create a collaborative foundation that invites many mission organizations to share information about what they do, Scripture that has been completed, and needs that must still be met. We now have more than 250 Christian organizations sharing such information, and we are able to return the combined knowledge back to these partners. However our goal is more than sharing information. It is using this foundation to help Christian partners plan and work together, and to pursue increasing unity as we participate in God’s mission. So I took this opportunity to tell this story, to celebrate our progress, and to hold out this vision for the future.

As with many such events, some of the greatest benefits did not happen in the meeting rooms and during the conference schedule, but rather in the discussions and planning that took place during evenings and meals. I was able to meet with dozens of SIL staff and other partners as we discussed future plans and how our team (serving at the global level) could more effectively support their work and help meet the needs experienced at the local level, all over the world. These conversations will help shape our work over the next year.