Dear friends,
Most of us rarely stop to think about how important literacy is to the life of the church.
We grew up in a largely literate culture. We can open our Bibles, read a passage for ourselves, study it, take notes, prepare a lesson, or send someone a message about something we’ve learned. It’s easy to take all of that for granted.
But when we first moved into Mibu so many years ago, the Ma language wasn’t even written down.
That’s why literacy has always been such an important part of establishing a healthy, sustainable church in Mibu. Translating the Bible isn’t very useful if no one can read it! So alongside developing a written form of the Ma language and translating Scripture, we also had to teach people to read and write—and eventually train Mibu people to teach others.
Today there is a pretty good level of mother-tongue literacy in Mibu. But recently a new literacy challenge has emerged.
As the Mibu church has taken the gospel into surrounding areas, some of their outreaches have crossed language barriers. In a few of these places, they’re having to teach using Melanesian Pidgin, the national trade language. The problem is that literacy in Pidgin is very low in some of these areas.
That makes it difficult not only for people to read Scripture and teaching materials for themselves, but also for the church to train new teachers who can carry the work forward.
So the Mibu leaders have been asking: Are there literacy materials available in Pidgin? And could some of our teachers be trained to teach Pidgin literacy?
We’ve been communicating back and forth with the appropriate people, and it looks like there may be an opportunity in the spring of 2027 for a handful of Mibu teachers to travel out to the New Tribes Mission center for specialized training.
It’s still in the early stages, but we’re excited about the possibility. The goal wouldn’t simply be for these men to receive training themselves. They could then return to these outreach areas, establish Pidgin literacy programs, and train others to become literacy teachers as well.
Please pray with us for the logistics and finances needed to make this happen. There are still plenty of details to work through, but this could provide another important tool for the Mibu church as they continue taking responsibility for reaching and teaching others.
Meanwhile… back in Revelation
I continue plugging away at the Revelation lessons for the church in Mibu!
I had hoped to begin working through some of these lessons with the Mibu teachers last month, but other situations there required their full attention, so those meetings haven’t materialized yet. For now, I’m continuing to move forward on my own, knowing that we’ll eventually need to work through the lessons together—especially some of the more difficult portions—to make sure everything communicates clearly.
At the moment, I’ve just worked my way through the Lamb opening the first four seals.
The farther I get into Revelation, the more excited I am for the Mibu church to work through this book. Revelation can seem intimidating, but its message of Christ’s victory, God’s sovereignty, and the call for His people to faithfully endure is going to be such an encouragement to the church there.
I’m also thankful that I’ve been able to maintain a reasonable level of focus into the project lately. We’re at a stage of family life where kids, school, sports, cars, and everything else can very easily consume the day! So I’m grateful for the momentum.
Please continue praying that I’ll have the wisdom and focused time needed to finish these lessons, and that we’ll soon have opportunities to work through them with the Mibu teachers. Most importantly, pray that the Holy Spirit would use His Word through these lessons to strengthen His church.
A great weekend in Tempe
We also recently had the privilege of participating in the ministry fair at Arizona Community Church in Tempe. It turned out to be a great weekend with lots of conversations and lots of questions about Mibu Ministry! We’re always encouraged when we get opportunities to introduce new people to what God has been doing in Mibu and invite them to be part of it.
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| Check out this 5' banner our oldest daughter, Skyler helped create for the missions fair |
And that brings us again to you.
We’re incredibly grateful for those who faithfully pray for and financially support this ministry. We truly could not continue doing this work without you.
Our regular monthly support remains below the recommended level, so we are still looking for additional monthly financial partners. If you’ve been encouraged by what God is doing through the Mibu church and have considered joining us financially, we’d be grateful if you would prayerfully consider becoming a regular monthly partner. You can simply click the Donate Now button at the top of this email.
Whether you pray, give, encourage us, or have faithfully walked alongside this ministry for many years—thank you. It’s a privilege to watch God continue building His church in Mibu and beyond!
In Christ,
Geoff & Shannon
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