NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

The following are several of the classes that we had during this last fall semester. Together, they rounded out the majority of our preparation to begin church planting. We covered topics concerning daily living in a tribal location as well as a model of what a maturing indigenous church should look like.

CLA Practicum
CLA (Culture/Language Acquisition) is a process that we will go through at least twice: for the national culture and language and for the tribal culture and language. The structure of its name is very intentional. It is not culture and language, but culture/language because the learning of these things are so intertwined with each other. As for the order of the words, language is often thought of as being the more important of the two, but culture is at least as important. So, to diffuse that thought, culture is listed first in the name.

We had culture/language sessions with a Dobu helper. She was actually an instructor dressed up as a tribal person and we met outside her tribal house where there was smoke and unfamiliar smells. She spoke a real tribal language. There were 12 of these helpers that different groups met with to gather cultural and language information; together they shared a very intricate culture. We were introduced to several techniques for learning language with this helper and for gathering cultural information and organizing all this into software specifically designed for this. At the end we did a write-up on the specific topic that we had investigated.

Practical Skills
Practical skills sought to give us an overview of what skills we would need on the field. We were exposed to cooking from scratch, taking care of boats, taking care of and using chainsaws, the theory of building a house, and other various things that we will have to do for ourselves.

Missionary Technology III
Missionary Technology III gave us time to practice what we had learned in the previous Missionary Technology courses. We were given a chance to hook up solar panels, troubleshoot a photovoltaic system, and restore batteries by zapping their dendrites!

Literacy
The Literacy class gave us a look at how to teach the tribal people to read their own language. We were shown how to write literacy primers, then we practiced making one in Pidgin English and teaching through a literacy lesson.

Translation
This class introduced us to the process that we will be going through on the field to get the Bible into the tribal people’s language. We were given an opportunity to practice the translation techniques we learned by using one of today’s translations and re-writing the translation having a specific group in mind.

Developing Church
The Developing Church class sought to give us an idea of what our responsibilities and what the tribal people’s responsibilities will be during the development of the church. This time period spans from when we first get to the tribe until we have mature believers. We want to get the tribal people involved in their church as soon as possible.

Maturing Church
In this class, we were given a goal to keep in mind while we are evangelizing. Our goal is to plant a church and to enable them to grow into maturity. Eventually, we hope to be their partners, following their leadership as we go to the next tribe to see the Gospel spread to the ends of the earth.

Overall, we have had a wonderful experience here, going through these classes. Now we are in our last class, Linguistics. This is an advanced class for preparing to develop an alphabet for an unwritten language and for translation. We are extremely excited about being able to use these tools that we have learned in Paraguay.

In a class called Semantics and Translation, I caught a glimpse of one of the ministries that I would love to be involved with and am eagerly anticipating.

In this class we worked in small groups to go through the process of determining the intended meaning of every phrase in Mark 2:1-12 and came up with a point-by-point list of propositions covering every detail of the passage, using the NASB as the source text. As a group we decided to direct our translation toward third graders, so of course we had to decide how to deal with difficult words and concepts like paralytic, faith, blasphemy, and the rhetorical questions.

In order to ensure accuracy, another huge aspect of translation is to put the written translation through a number of checks including grammatical precision, theological accuracy, and cultural comprehension. Here I’ve posted our final translation of this passage for another check from you.

At the end I’ve included our reasons for translating some things the way we did, but no peeking! Send me your comments or at least write them down before you read our reasons. So read Mark 2:1-12 in your Bible, then read our translation, remember that our target audience is third graders, and send us any comments you have about it!

Mark 2:1-12

1: Several days after that, Jesus came back to the city of Capernaum. People heard that He was at home.

2: Many people came to the house where Jesus was. The house was so full of people that there was not even room to stand by the door! Jesus was teaching the Word of God to them.

3: Some people came to the house, trying to bring to Jesus a crippled man that could not walk. Four men were carrying him.

4: They could not get to Jesus because there were so many people in the way. So they went up onto the roof and made a hole. When the hole was finished, they lowered the man down on his sleeping mat to Jesus.

5: When Jesus saw that they believed that He could heal him, Jesus said to the man who could not walk, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

6: But some of the Jewish teachers were sitting there thinking,

7: “It is wrong for Jesus to say that. What He is saying is really evil because only God can forgive sins.”

8: Right away Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the Jewish teachers, “You should not be thinking that way.

9: There are a couple things that someone could have said to the crippled man. Anyone could have said, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ but it would have been hard to say, ‘Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat, and walk.’

10: “But now I will prove to you teachers that I, the Son of Man, have the power to forgive sins.” Then Jesus said to the crippled man,

11: “I am telling you, ‘Stand up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk.’”

12: And the man stood up! Right away he picked up his sleeping mat and walked out of the house! Everyone saw him, and they were all very amazed. They praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this before.”

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Below are our reasons for translating some of the things the way we did.  Send us your comments before you read them if you’d like.

Capernaum we translated as city of Capernaum because we wanted to make sure that our younger target audience understands what it is. City of does not add to the meaning, it simply clarifies it.

There are a few options for how to translate the word that Jesus was teaching them in verse 2. We felt that this was referring to more than just the words that Jesus was saying, but that it was referring to the Old Testament. However, using Old Testament or the law and prophets didn’t sound right, especially for this age group. The Word of God seems to clarify this without adding to the meaning.

I’m actually not sure why any modern translation chooses to use the term pallet for the object on which the man was carried, because of the images that it raises in my mind. We thought about a few different options and decided on sleeping mat because we thought that it was accurate and that it would be well understood by our audience.

As for the paralytic, at first we had translated it as the man that could not walk. I’m sure you could imagine that that quickly became a mouthful to say and was just really confusing in some instances. So we started brainstorming for something easier to say. We thought about how Jesus’ cousin was introduced in chapter 1 as John the Baptist, then later he was simply referred to as John. So we decided to call the paralytic the crippled man that could not walk the first time he was introduced and then just refer to him as the crippled man from then on.

Now we come to a couple terms that carry a little more theological implications than the ones already mentioned. The first being that we translated Jesus seeing their faith as When Jesus saw that the people believed that He could heal him in verse 5. First of all, we changed the noun faith to the verb believe. Then, we thought it might be confusing to a third grader what these people were believing, but we also thought that it was obvious to us from the context. At this point, they were not believing that Jesus would forgive the man of his sins. They were believing that He would heal the man, so we translated it accordingly for our third grade audience.

Another theological term here that would be hard to understand is blasphemy in verse 7, which we translated as really evil. Blasphemy would be difficult for third graders to understand. In this context, it seems to be talking about Jesus claiming to be God, but it also seems to carry the meaning of speaking evil, so we decided to keep it general. Blasphemy is also a very strong term, so we decided to go with really evil.

The final thing that I wanted to remark on was how we dealt with verses 8-10. We spent quite some time deliberating about these verses. For one thing, we realized that our audience would probably not understand rhetorical questions, so we removed them completely. But, so as not to just do a blanket removal and rewording, we were very diligent about determining the exact intended meaning behind each rhetorical question and translating it accordingly. Basically, a rhetorical question is one that’s intended meaning is not to elicit an answer; a rhetorical question is meant to either make a statement or an exhortation.

The term to say in verse 9 doesn’t seem that significant; however, looking it up in the Greek helped us determine that it really did only mean to say and does not contain any meaning referring to do or accomplish. We also found that it is always the definite past tense. Both of these facts helped us to conclude that Jesus was saying “It was easy to say ‘your sins are forgiven,’ but it would have been harder to say ‘stand up, pick up your mat, and walk.’” The second really is harder to say because it requires proof. Since Jesus is God, and both of these things are actually equally easy for Him to say and to accomplish, He is obviously speaking to them from a human standpoint. This is maintained by Him speaking in general terms: “Anyone could have said…but it would have been hard to say…”

So there you have our translation and our reasons for translating some things the way we did.  Please let us know what you think.

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The Paraguayan landscape is home to thousands of people who have never heard the Gospel and have never had the opportunity to read God’s Word.  Our vision is to reach the unreached in Paraguay with the Gospel and give them the Word of God in their own language.  You may be thinking of being a part of God’s work here, but have some questions about how to do that.  Please read these FAQs about financial support.  You can also open a PDF version of this article for printing by clicking here.

What is the suggested support level for Paraguay?

Why is your monthly financial need so high?

Does NTM require all its missionaries to raise full support?

Is my financial support tax-deductible?

Will all of my support go to you?

What is the best way to send my support to you?

What about accountability?

We have obviously never lived in Paraguay before, so we do not know what the living and ministry expenses are from personal experience; however, there are a lot of missionaries that have experienced living and serving in Paraguay. The suggested support level for a family of 6 as set forth by the field of Paraguay as of January 2010 is $5323/month. It is our ambitious goal to raise adequate support for us to continue our ministry in Paraguay as effectively as possible which began in March 2010. Here is a general breakdown of monthly expenses:

• Living Expenses: $708
• Team Expense: $50
• Insurance/Medical: $1158
• Transportation: $430
• Travel: $270
• Retirement: $300
• Tithe/Offering: $750
• Legal: $7
• Miscellaneous: $865
• Administration: $570
• Furlough: $600
• Taxes: $756
• Housing: $305
• Communication: $95
• Equipment/Office: $95
• Education of Kids: $540

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Each country has a specific suggested support level. Church planting in a tribal location in Paraguay is expensive. Paraguay is an underdeveloped country and many things are more expensive than in the US. There is a substantial start-up cost to set up a home in the tribe (building costs, solar & water filtration system, generator). The rise in fuel price has also increased the cost of flights and supply trips. Most tribes are accessible by roads, and we will be driving in and out of the tribe for supplies, so part of the start-up cost will be a vehicle. We need to pay for all the trips in and out of the tribe (including our monthly food supply runs).

Since NTM does not take a percentage of our support to cover general overhead and administrative costs, we need to pay for every cost we incur on the field (use of NTM’s vehicle, training material, photocopies, printing of lesson plans, printing of translated Scriptures, and others). The monthly support also includes education for our children as well as saving ahead for furloughs and retirement.

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No, NTM does not require all of its missionaries to be 100% supported before they can go or stay on the field. It is not uncommon for NTM missionaries to serve under-supported; however, this support level is based on actual experiences and needs and is highly recommended for efficiency in ministry.

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Yes! As members of New Tribes Mission, all gifts and support donated toward our ministry are tax deductible.

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Yes, all of the support from you will go into our personal missions account in NTM’s home office in Sanford, Florida. NTM does NOT take a percentage from its missionaries’ support to cover administrative overheads or its leaders. Everybody in NTM needs to raise their own support. The field of Paraguay has decided that each missionary will set aside 6.5% of their monthly voucher into a field fund. This field fund will be used for expenses incurred in the operation of the field such as maintenance of mission buildings.

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• Automatic Bank Transfer: If you would like to support our ministry regularly, the best way is to set up automatic fund transfer with your bank. It is the most efficient and cost-effective way for you to send support to us. There is no processing fee from the bank. You can change or stop it anytime by contacting NTM’s financial office (finance-office_hq@ntm.org or toll-free at 866-547-2460). You can also access our online supporter’s page on our website: www.ntm.org/bryson-white/give.

• Credit Card: Sending support online via credit cards is also an option. However, credit card companies charge NTM a 3% processing fee for all the payments and the fee will come out of our account.

• By Check: You can simply send a check directly to New Tribes Mission, 1000 E. First St., Sanford, FL 32771-1487 and send a note that states “For Acct. No. 201223″ or “For the ministry of Bryson and Mindy White.”

• By Phone: To give by phone using a credit card or debit card, call 866-547-2460.

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Our aim is to be completely transparent and open with you. If you have any questions or concerns about any area of our ministry or your gift, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Once again, New Tribes Mission was listed by MinistryWatch.com as one of the “30 Shining Light Ministries,” which means that it is one of the Christian ministries to which donors can give with confidence and trust. New Tribes Mission is also a member of CrossGlobal Link, and adheres to the organization’s standards.  You can find out more at crossgloballink.org.

More information regarding NTM’s financial practices and audit reports can be found online at www.ntm.org/give. You can also find NTM guidelines regarding finances in the “To the Finish” booklet.

On the Give page of our website, I have posted an up-to-date graph showing our support.  You can find it at www.ntm.org/bryson-white/give.  You can also contact us personally any other way to find out our current monthly support at the time.

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If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask us. Please pray about how you can be involved in reaching the unreached of Paraguay with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you do choose to join our ministry in this way, please inform us of your decision. No matter what, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us through our website or via e-mail.

Bryson and Mindy White

www.ntm.org/bryson_white

bryson_white@ntm.org

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I promised another article displaying a few of the things which we studied during our second semester at the MTC. Here are some things that we considered to be highlights of the semester.

Phonetics
Phonetics is where we begin in deciphering an unwritten language in order to develop an alphabet. Every sound that can be made with the mouth for communication purposes is assigned a particular symbol. As we hear the tribal people speak, we will write what we hear phonetically.

Phonemics
While we use phonetics merely to get the sounds of the language on paper, phonemics is the science of forming those sounds into an alphabet. Through the different stages of interpretation, analysis, and orthography we will determine which sounds are significant in their language and how they should be best be symbolized for the tribal people’s ease of learning to read and write.

Grammar
There are many different and unique ways in which every language orders words and phrases to facilitate communication. In Grammar we deciphered and looked at grammatical structures of several different languages. It helped us think outside the box of our English language and realize the creativity of God in his creation of the diverse languages around the world. This will help us in learning a new language as we are exposed to different cultures’ ways of putting sentences together.

Form and Meaning
In this class we looked at some very basic considerations for translating the Scriptures. We learned of the necessity to examine the language and culture into which we are translating in order to convey the original meaning of the Bible as closely as possible.

Romans 5-8 and Romans 12-14
These were two different classes that we had at the beginning of the semester and then near the end. We do not want to just go in and speak words at these tribal people—even though they may be spoken in the best tribal accent. We want to go in and live the Christian life among them and show them what it is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

International Health and Wellness
We learned about all the different kinds of diseases that are out there as well as how to protect ourselves against them in International Health and Wellness. We also practiced giving each other shots, taking blood pressure, and checking for ear infections.

Conflict Resolution
Unfortunately, the reality is that the majority reason for people leaving the field from mission work is relationships with coworkers. Conflict Resolution pointed us to the Bible when relationships need working through. Rather than giving up and walking away from a ministry because of a conflict, we are given tools and encouraged to work through our problems with other people. This topic is very significant when the one or two families that are one’s coworkers are the only English speaking people with which he converses, worships, and fellowships for months at a time.

Suffice it to say that there was much more that we studied and these listed were studied more in depth than mentioned. But at lease this gives you an idea of the preparations we are making to serve God in missions. Please pray as we continue our training next semester with Language Practicum, Literacy, CLA, and other classes. Also check back here around the New Year to read descriptions of these and other classes.

We will be here at the New Tribes Missionary Training Center for about two years. Some might be wondering just what we’re doing here and why we need to be here for so long. After all, aren’t there people who need to hear the Gospel right now? Absolutely! But it is not our goal to just reach one generation of tribal people; we want to plant a thriving, God-glorifying church so that the Gospel can be passed down from one generation to the next. In order to accomplish such a task, we need to acquire several tools. During our time here, we will highlight some of our classes and where they fit into the overall task of church planting. The following are some from our first semester.

Animism
Most tribal groups are considered to be animistic. The Animism class taught us how the animist or tribal person views the world and what beliefs may be behind their actions. As tribal church planters, we need to understand the animists’ worldview in order to predict barriers to the presentation of God’s Word, so that the gospel can be presented clearly.

Biblical Foundations
Biblical Foundations helped us understand the reasons for teaching the tribal people with a chronological approach to the Bible. The chronological approach is believed to be the best evangelism method for planting lasting churches.

Teamwork
In Teamwork, we learned about how to work through conflict with spouses as well as other team members. We worked many group projects to simulate working through conflicts on the field. We also were presented with the viewpoints of other cultures to expose us to some potential areas of conflict with multi-cultural teams.

Worldview
Worldview class helped us understand that our actions, our beliefs, and our entire culture come from what we believe in the very core of our being. What we believe about the nature of reality and our relationship to that reality will shape what we believe, what we value, and how we act. The author of one of our text books put it this way, “Worldview assumptions are taken for granted and hardly ever examined; they are fundamental givens with which people think, not what they think about.” When we can analyze our own worldview, we can begin to understand and analyze how others view the world in order to properly present the gospel.

New Testament Church Planting
New Testament Church Planting clarified what is involved in tribal church planting and how the different components relate to the complete work. We also discussed what a New Testament church might look like in different cultures.

Cross-cultural Communication
While language is often a large barrier to effectually communicating the Gospel, not recognizing and appreciating a different culture can be at least us much of an obstruction. In this class we discussed the process of becoming skilled at performing within another culture and how this will affect our cross-cultural ministry.

I hope this short list of descriptions helps you to understand why we need the training that we are receiving. I also hope that it can serve to inform you of how you can pray for us during these days and our future ministry. In a few months, we’ll post another article describing some of the things we have studied this semester.

There is more to cross-cultural church planting than language, culture, evangelism, and discipleship. Beyond the 21 hours of class time each week, I am also required to do 7.5 hours of work detail. This campus ministry serves to decrease maintenance and tuition costs for the training. There are several departments in which students work to help with maintaining and expanding the campus on the 350 acres owned by the MTC. This campus ministry also provides an extra opportunity for learning valuable skills for living on the mission field.

Last semester I was on the grounds crew. For the first few months I mowed lawns; with such a large campus, there was plenty of grass to cut. It took more than a week to cover the whole campus, and when we finished, we went back to the other end of the campus and started over. The Missouri “earth” seems to be more rocks than earth, so the last month or so of last semester was spent digging up rocks to make mowing easier during the next mowing season. Other than a couple other small odd jobs, that is what all I did last semester.

This semester I have been moved to be in the Tech Center. When people hear “tech” they usually think of computers and information technology. But the Tech Center here deals with anything that relates to the physical aspect of daily living on the mission field. This includes water filtration, waste management, and the capture and usage of electricity. This is a good opportunity for me to not only learn things that will be useful on the field, but also to be involved in the production of devices that will be shipped around the world to aid missionaries that are already on the field. In the picture above, I am soldering components for a DC fuse box. The first class that we’ve had this semester is Missionary Technology I. Part of my work detail so far has been to be a lab assistant for the class as seen to the left.  One very practical skill for working in a tribe–where there is no AC electricity available–is DC soldering.  Later in the semester I will probably be involved in selling some of the older electronic equipment that has been acquired here over the years. I am definitely looking forward to seeing whatever I can learn from this work program.

wi hæv tʰu formyulεⁱt ʔεn ʔælfǝbεt meⁱd ʔʌp ʔʌv ʔeⁱ spεšəli sεlεktεd grup ʔʌv lεdṛz đæt rεprizεn¢ ʔεvri saᵘnd đæt ʔɩz mεⁱd ʔιn đεr lεⁱŋguᵊǰ

Our goal is to plant a productive, self-sustaining church in an indigenous setting. A church that does not teach and does not have the Bible in its own language cannot sustain itself, thus the Word of God must be translated into the native language. Of course, they can’t read the Bible or teach from it if they can’t read at all. Many of the groups of people that NTM works with do not have a written language or an alphabet. So before we can write, translate, or teach them to read their language, we have to do what the above statement says. It is English, but it is written using the phonetic alphabet, “We have to formulate an alphabet made up of a specially selected group of letters that represents every sound that is made in their language.” The starting point for such an endeavor is the phonetic alphabet; it contains letters and rules for making most of the sounds that can possibly be made with the human mouth. Every letter in the phonetic alphabet makes a single unique sound.

A large portion of our church planting training here at the Missionary Training Center is dedicated to this kind of language training. The purpose of our language training here is actually not to learn any language, but rather to learn tools like phonetics so that we are prepared to learn an unwritten language, devise an adequate alphabet, and translate the Bible into that language using the alphabet. These are things that are crucial to our goal of planting a thriving indigenous church.

Look among the nations! Observe!
Be Astonished! Wonder!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if you were told.
Habakkuk 1:5

That is what we did last week. Representatives from 15 countries around the world came to participate in a Field Fair, and we looked among the nations. And what amazing things God is doing throughout the world!

But what enormous needs there are as well. From the field of Paraguay that has been open for over 60 years to the fresh four-year-old field of Mozambique. From the 18 distinct language groups of Cambodia to the more than 700 of Papua New Guinea.

This event gave us a glimpse into the ministry opportunities that will be available to us upon completing our training. Our hearts go out to so many of them. If only we could be a part of all of them. But we can’t. God is “doing something in [our] days.” And Mindy and I get to play a part. Please pray with us as we observe, are astonished, and wonder at the enormous needs and the amazing opportunities; and as we figure out where we can be best used.