Sylvain learned to read the New Testament in Kabiye, then he started to evangelise.

‘I went house to house and invited people to receive second-hand clothes and food that had been donated from churches in the city,’ Sylvain says. Locals could pick up the items at the end of the Sunday morning church service, where they would hear songs and Bible passages in Kabiye.

The local farmers who came were touched when they heard the parable of the sower for the first time, and hearing it in Kabiye, they said, ‘This is in our language, too!’ Hearing it in Kabiye made all the difference, as they could finally understand what the story was all about.

‘When Kabiye people hear the Bible in French, they say, “He is not my God. He is a foreigner,”’ Sylvain says. ‘But when they hear the New Testament being read in Kabiye, they say, “Ah, Jesus is Kabiye!”’

Sylvain’s church began to grow.

You’re providing the Old Testament too

‘Today there are 130 people attending, including 60 to 80 children,’ Sylvain tells me. The Kabiye people are mostly animist, so new believers have gone through many changes. ‘They used to drink alcohol a lot and if they had problems they would go to witch doctors. Now they don’t drink as much, and when they have problems, we meet to pray.’

Sylvain tells us that many of the words and ideas in the Old Testament are difficult for him to translate into Kabiye when he preaches. Some words, like ‘snow’, don’t even exist in Kabiye.

‘I know this New Testament translation has been the reason the church has grown,’ Sylvian says. ‘Now we need the whole Bible in Kabiye.’

This is exactly what supporters of Bible Society have made possible. The complete Kabiye Bible, including the newly translated Old Testament, funded by people twinning their Bibles, will soon be published.

After an evening of worship and Bible distribution, Sylvain tells us the Bible verse that inspires him most in his work: 2 Timothy 4.7-8 (NIV). ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.’

Bible twinning

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