This month we want to highlight the “God’s Word Changes Everything” program of Lutheran Bible Translators, recipients of a $95,000 grant from Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) in the 2019–2021 biennium.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.Psalm 119:105

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.Romans 10:17

Does God only speak English? Obviously not, but an estimated 170 million people in the world today, speaking over 1,500 unique languages, have not been reached by the church with God’s Word in their own tongue. Many of these people think they must speak English to pray to God.

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!Psalm 119:103

Lutheran Bible Translators (LBT) is equipping and training pastors and church leaders from churches in Ethiopia, Tanzania and elsewhere to translate God’s Word into numerous local dialects. This will allow for the people to worship and praise the Lord in their own language. This $95,000 grant will fund the cost of training pastors and church leaders in translation principles during one year of their four-year seminary training track. The estimated cost per trainee is $9,500 a year.

So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.Psalm 63:4

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”John 14:6

Bible translation is absolutely foundational to the mission of the church. Martin Luther wrote, “I wish that this book alone, in all languages, would live in the hands, eyes, ears and hearts of all people.” ^# When people have God’s Word in their local dialect, it changes their lives in ways they couldn’t imagine. Praise the Lord!

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.Isaiah 52:7a

1. LW 48:356

Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) is the official women’s auxiliary of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Since 1942, the LWML has focused on affirming each woman’s relationship with Christ, encouraging and equipping women to live out their Christian lives in active mission ministries and by supporting global missions. For more information on each month’s mission focus, visit LWML.org. Saint John’s Mission Guild (LWML) meets the first Tuesday of each month at 10:30 AM in Room 301. All ladies of the congregation are invited to attend.