Based on a recent update by the Bellamys, serving with The Alliance in southern Congo
Editor’s Note: More than 4 billion people in the world are oral learners, including the Vili in the Republic of the Congo. In the following adapted report, an Alliance worker describes efforts to translate and record Bible stories for this people group with no previous access to God’s Word.
Earlier this year, Alliance Pastors Pierre and Willy and I (Jay Bellamy) visited the Vili villages of Youbi and Koutou, about 30 miles from our city, Pointe-Noire, in southern Congo.
In each village we shared a portion of the Creation story recorded on my wife Beverly’s phone in Munukutuba, the trade language for a majority of tribes in southern Congo. Afterward, both village chiefs invited us to return.
“I heard things in that story that I never knew,” Youbi’s village chief said. “We want you to come back and tell us the story in Vili” (his people group’s heart language).
Koutou’s chief exclaimed, “A village that receives God’s message will be blessed! If it’s in our language, all of us will understand; if you come back, we will provide you a place to stay.”
Translation Challenges
By midsummer Beverly and a colleague had prepared three stories in Munukutuba but kept running into difficulties recording them in Vili. Unfortunately, our few Vili speakers have had a number of health problems.
Youbi and Koutou villagers kept calling us to ask for Bible stories in their language, so we decided to return. Since Pierre is a native speaker, he would play the recorded Bible stories in Munukutuba on site and translate them into Vili.
Dreams Have Authority
The night before we arrived in Youbi, one of the villagers, Charles, had a vivid dream. He saw three men—one non-African—arrive from Pointe-Noire to deliver a special message.
Westerners often dismiss dreams as private or of personal interest only. In Africa, however, dreams are believed to be authoritative sources of information for a family, even a whole community.
At dawn, Charles went to tell the Youbi village chief about his dream. Disappointed to find he was gone for the day, Charles told the chief’s wife, who questioned its validity. Discouraged, Charles set off to hunt for his family’s food for that day.
You Were Right
When he returned to the village mid-morning, Charles noticed a pick-up truck parked in front of the chief’s house. A group of villagers had gathered in the tin-roofed hangar across the road. As he approached, the chief’s wife murmured to him, “You were right.”
Sure enough, three visitors, including the non-African (me), had arrived with a small electronic device with a recording of the Creation account in Munukutuba. Pastor Pierre was playing the message and translating it into Vili.
Charles found the story quite intriguing. This middle-aged man had finally heard in his own language how God had made the world and everything in it.
I Dreamed You’d Come Today
At the end of the story, Pastor Willy asked if anyone would like to respond. Charles stood up and said, “I dreamed you’d come here today. I believe God sent you, and I would like to help you take this story to other Vili villages.”
Pierre, Willy, and I prayed with Charles and another man, Richard, promising to stay in touch with them about the Vili “storying” efforts. Richard has since traveled to Pointe-Noire to learn the Bible stories from Pastor Willy. In return, Richard is teaching Willy the Vili language.
We now have a basic recording of the Creation story in Vili, which we’re hoping to test this month. And we praise the Lord for the growing excitement we’re seeing for sharing God’s Story in Congo.
Pray
“Please pray for ongoing success in our recording and sharing of these stories,” requests the author. “Pray also for wisdom as we train our Story Bearers’ team to tell these biblical accounts, using the MegaVoice players we’ve purchased. Now more people in southern Congo who have no access to God’s Word can hear it in their own language.”
Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding on behalf of our teams in Africa and worldwide, who need Holy Spirit–inspired wisdom and creativity in communicating God’s love to those who don’t know Him.
Learn More
Read “Tell Me a Story” for more about orality and storying. “Story Time in Koutiala” describes how storytelling is an effective evangelism tool in Africa.
Check out the Peoples page on the Alliance Web site for information about how you can help fulfill the Great Commission (see Matthew 28:18–20) by praying for unreached people groups.