Most people assume that the national men and women who serve on Bible translation teams are Christians. While that’s a natural assumption, it is not accurate. A significant number of Pioneer Bible Translators missionaries are penetrating areas of the world’s least-reached people groups where there are few if any Christians. The Church simply does not yet exist in many of these places. In places where it does, the believers tend to have their hands full doing other Kingdom work that makes them unavailable to engage in Bible translation. Additionally, Bible translation is best done by people with giftings and skills for this work. Not all believers — regardless of where they live and the language they speak — have these skills.

So, what happens in these situations?

Remember with me that God predates the missionaries’ arrival. He was there first, loving the people more than the missionaries ever could. He also put into place the men and women whom He’s chosen to work with them. In short, God’s got this.

Let’s look at the situation my husband Chocho and I have in our work with the Kawah people. For nearly 25 years, Amara has worked side-by-side with Chocho translating Holy Scripture. Amara is not yet a believer; he still follows the teachings of another holy book. Yet we have no doubt that God sent him our way.

We have no doubt that God sent Amara to translate His Word into Kawah.

Shortly after we arrived in our West African host country, we met a German linguist at the university in the capital. He was documenting the country’s minority languages, and he had trained Amara as his Kawah assistant. With his giftings and the German linguist’s training, Amara was linguistically savvy — a rare, rare treasure indeed.

Three years later, when we were ready to begin the Kawas translation, we ran into Amara again, this time literally in the middle of an open field in the bush. Statistically, this should not have happened. But Yahweh orchestrated it.

In addition to his linguistic abilities, Amara came to us able to read the French Bible, which is a useful resource in our host country. However, he was unfamiliar with its contents. He did not know the meaning of biblical terms like “sanctification” and “justification.” He also — understandably — didn’t know any of our Christian jargon. Furthermore, he defined many of the words in our shared vocabulary, such as “forgiveness,” much differently than we did.

Amara asked difficult questions that challenged our presuppositions of God and His Word.

It’s a hard but beautiful gift to have someone questioning all of your presuppositions. Amara gave us that gift. His questions gave us so many insights into his differing religious viewpoint. He made us ask ourselves difficult questions about our own understanding of God and His Word. We had to think hard and pray tons. We didn’t only pray about our translation problems. We also prayed for him — for the Amara we respected and who respected us. Is our working relationship perfect? No. Humans are involved. But God has given us beautiful moments along the way when Amara has glimpsed more clearly God’s love and his own need for a Savior.

Twenty years after he began his work as a Bible translator, Amara still clings to his original faith. But he could pass a Bible survey course, just missing a few kings and prophets between David and Acts. He quotes many passages he’s worked through and can answer any questions accurately. Just ask him to tell you the Joseph story from Genesis or what Joshua did. Amara also prays in Jesus’ name and asks for prayers. For many years it seemed to us that he pragmatically practiced his religion’s five pillars only when it was convenient. Now it is clear that he takes God seriously. He loves Jesus because he sees that our Lord is compassionate. But he doesn’t yet accept Him as God’s Son; that’s still taking it a little bit too far for him.

Undoubtedly, God’s Spirit is moving in Amara’s life. He’s continuing to wrestle with differences between what the Bible says, how Christians live, and how his own religion dictates social pressure and doctrines. His story isn’t over yet. We are still praying. Our partners are praying. Amara himself is praying. May he come to complete faith in the only One who saves. May others join him.

Please pray with us for the many translators, literacy teachers, and other local workers scattered throughout the world — loved and valued teammates who do not yet follow Jesus. Thank God for gifting Pioneer Bible Translators with their faithful work. Pray for the safety of their families as Satan often targets them because of their continual exposure to God’s Word. Intercede for their salvation.

It’s a privilege and honor to walk our faith journeys alongside Amara. God put us together for a reason: to bring salvation to him and humility to us. May His name be praised!