Pentecostal Pastoral Leadership and Global Missions — Unit 8: Mission among the Unreached, Bible Translation and Mother-Tongue Theology

Key Verse

"Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." (Acts 2:11, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain what is meant by an "unreached people group" and why Pentecostals give priority to such peoples.

2. Show from Scripture, especially Acts 2, why the gospel belongs in every people's own language.

3. Describe the work of Bible translation and name examples from history.

4. Explain "mother-tongue theology" and the benefits and dangers of teaching, praying and worshiping in the heart language.

5. Describe how a local Pentecostal church can send and support people to an unreached group, with attention to language, culture and the Spirit's leading.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for students who belong to it. We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that the Holy Spirit empowers the church to take the gospel to all peoples. We state fairly the questions and objections that others raise, and we answer from Scripture. Many of the examples come from Africa and Latin America, where most Pentecostals live.

The Unfinished Task

Jesus said, "you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The Great Commission calls us to make disciples of "all the nations" (Matthew 28:19). The word translated "nations" in Matthew is ethne, which means peoples, with their own languages and customs. The vision in Revelation 7:9 is of a great multitude "of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues" standing before the throne. God's purpose is therefore not only that every country hear the gospel, but that every people hear it in a way they can understand.

Paul describes his own ambition: "And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation" (Romans 15:20). Paul did not do all the work in the places where he had been; he pressed on to places where no church existed. Pentecostals have always been moved by this pattern. Our history is full of men and women who went to far places in the power of the Spirit. Earlier units told how Pentecostal missions began (Unit 2), and what a mission theology looks like (Unit 1). This unit asks a more focused question: who has still not heard, and how do we reach them well?

What Is an Unreached People Group?

Missions thinkers such as Donald McGavran and Ralph Winter drew attention in the twentieth century to the fact that the world is made of many peoples, not only many countries. A country may have a large church while a minority people inside its borders has almost none. The term "people group" tries to name such a community, usually one with a shared language, history and identity, and a "people group" is called unreached when it does not yet have a community of believers strong enough to bring the gospel to the rest of its own people without help from outside. The exact definition is debated, and the numbers change as researchers collect new information, so we avoid quoting statistics here.

Some careful students raise fair objections.

Objection 1: The term is too neat. People groups are not fixed. Cities mix peoples, and many young people use a national language and no longer follow the customs of their grandparents. Researchers disagree on where to draw the lines.

Our answer. We agree that the term is a tool and not a doctrine. It helps us to ask the right question: Is there anyone among this people who can speak to them of Christ in their own way? The Bible's language of "nations" and "tongues" shows that the question is a biblical one, even if our maps are imperfect.

Objection 2: We should first finish the work near us. Pastors may say that there are many unsaved people in our own town, and that sending workers to far peoples is a distraction.

Our answer. Acts 1:8 puts Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the end of the earth together. A church that gives nothing to the far places soon grows narrow, while a church that sends workers is often renewed at home. In Acts 13:1-3 the church at Antioch was a growing, local church, and still the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." They fasted and prayed, and they sent them. God asked a working church to give up two of its best leaders. Our answer is both and not either.

Objection 3: Missions is colonial. Some critics say that missions has served foreign powers and damaged local cultures.

Our answer. Mission history includes mistakes, and honest Pentecostals acknowledge them. But it is also true that the gospel has often given dignity to the people who receive it, and that the Bible has been a friend to small languages. Today most Pentecostals are in Africa, Latin America and Asia, and many of the missionaries are from those same regions. The old picture of missions as something done only by Westerners to everyone else no longer matches the facts.

The Spirit and the Languages of the Nations

Pentecost itself is a lesson about language. When the Spirit fell in Acts 2, the disciples spoke in other tongues, and visitors from many lands heard "in our own tongues the wonderful works of God" (our key verse). Luke names many places: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Egypt, Rome, Crete and Arabia. It was not necessary for them to learn the language of the apostles first. God came to them in the languages they knew.

Pentecostals have discussed the meaning of this event for a long time. We hold that the tongues of Acts 2 were real languages understood by the hearers, and that the event shows God's love for every people. Some interpreters say that Pentecost reverses the scattering of languages at Babel (Genesis 11), and many Pentecostals find that picture helpful. Others warn that Luke does not state this, and we should use the comparison carefully. What Luke does state is that the gospel is heard in the hearers' own languages. This is the foundation of mother-tongue mission.

We must also correct a mistake from our own past. Some early Pentecostal missionaries believed that the Spirit would give them the language of the people they were going to, so that study would not be needed. This idea, sometimes called "missionary tongues," is discussed in Unit 2. It did not hold up in experience, and Pentecostal missions today expect missionaries to learn languages with patience, with prayer and with the best methods available. Our gift of tongues in prayer and worship is real, but it does not replace language learning. A missionary who can pray in the Spirit still needs to learn how to say "God loves you" to a village mother in her own speech.

Bible Translation

If every people should hear the gospel in its own language, then Scripture must be translated. The work is slow and costly. It needs language study, writing systems where none exist, careful drafting, testing with native speakers and checking against the original languages.

A few examples show how translation has worked.

• William Cameron Townsend was a missionary to Guatemala who worked among the Kaqchikel people. He saw how little his Spanish helped people who spoke only their own language, and he went on to help found the groups that became Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International.

• Samuel Ajayi Crowther was a Yoruba man who was freed from a slave ship in his youth. He became a mission worker and later the first African bishop of the Anglican Church. He took a leading part in translating Scripture into Yoruba and other languages of West Africa. His story shows that African believers were translators and leaders, and not only readers.

• In many parts of Latin America, Bible societies and mission groups have worked to provide Scripture for indigenous peoples who speak languages such as Quechua, Nahuatl and Maya languages, often beside the Spanish Bible that the larger church uses.

The historian Lamin Sanneh, who was born in the Gambia, argued that the translation of Scripture into mother tongues has been a central reason for the growth of Christianity in Africa and elsewhere. When a people reads God's Word in its own language, it learns that its language is worthy to carry God's revelation, and it no longer depends on outsiders to explain what God has said. Pentecostals, who love the Word and the Spirit together, can say a hearty amen to this.

Translation also brings problems that a pastor should understand. A word in a local language for "God," "spirit," "sin" or "holy" may already carry meanings from the traditional religion. Translators must choose carefully and test their choices with the local church. They must also be honest: a poor translation can mislead. And where a translation does not yet exist, missionaries and local believers need ways to share Scripture in the meantime, through reading from a translated portion, memorizing passages, telling Bible stories and recording audio. Many peoples learn best by story and song, and the Pentecostal habit of testimony and oral teaching fits such cultures well (see Course 4, Unit 5).

Mother-Tongue Theology

Mother-tongue theology means that the people of a language think about God, pray to Him, sing to Him and teach about Him in their heart language, using their own proverbs, stories and ways of speaking. It does not mean inventing a new gospel. It means that the one gospel becomes at home in each people.

Why does this matter?

Prayer and worship. Prayer in the heart language is deeper than prayer in a language learned at school. A Ghanaian grandmother prays most naturally in her own language, whether Twi, Ewe, Ga or another. A Quechua farmer in the Andes feels the same. Pentecostal worship, with its spontaneous prayer, testimony and song, is well suited to the heart language.

Understanding. Preaching in a language the people only half know can leave them unchanged. When Paul wrote about speaking in the assembly, he said that he would rather speak five words with his understanding, that he might teach others, than ten thousand words in a tongue (1 Corinthians 14:19). The same principle applies to a sermon in a foreign language.

Leadership. Believers lead better when they can read and teach in their own tongue. Local pastors who can explain Scripture in their own language protect their churches from error better than outsiders can.

Dignity. A people who hear that God speaks their language learn that God does not despise them. In many places minority languages have been looked down on in schools and in government. The gospel reverses this.

The Bible also sets limits. Paul spoke of becoming "all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). At Athens he began with what the Athenians knew, and quoted their poets, but he still called them to repent (Acts 17:22-31). That is the pattern: we use a people's language and ideas as a way to Christ, but Christ judges every culture, including ours. Critics sometimes warn that mother-tongue theology can blend the gospel with older beliefs, called syncretism. The danger is real. The answer is not to refuse local language, but to teach the Word thoroughly in it. Pentecostal churches that meet the spirit world of a people honestly must also teach that Jesus is Lord over every power (see Course 3, Unit 7).

Some governments and educators prefer to use one national language in schools, partly for unity and for opportunity. We do not oppose this. A believer may well learn the national language for work and study. But the church has a different task. It speaks to the heart, and the heart language is where the Spirit's work is understood best. Wise churches use both.

African Examples with Care

Africa is a continent with many hundreds of languages, and generalizing from one country is dangerous. Three points can safely be made.

First, Africans have led the spread of Christianity in Africa. Earlier units described prophets and independent churches (Course 1, Unit 7). The Church of Pentecost in Ghana is one example of a large Pentecostal church that grew from the work of an Irish missionary, James McKeown, who came to the Gold Coast in the 1930s. It is now led by Ghanaians, and it sends workers to other countries. Pentecost University in Ghana belongs to this church. We name this as an example, not as a complete history.

Second, African Pentecostals are now sending missionaries to other nations, including to Europe and North America. Scholars such as J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu have written about African Pentecostal churches in other lands. Some call this "reverse mission," because the direction has changed, though others question the term, since mission goes from everywhere to everywhere.

Third, language matters in Africa as everywhere. A student should learn how his own country's languages are used in worship and where Scripture is still missing.

Pastoral Application

Your church in a lowland town has about eighty members. Up in the hills, two hours away on foot, is a village whose people speak a different language from yours. Most of the men speak your language a little for trade. There is no church there. A young woman in your church, Marta, says that she has felt the Spirit call her to that village.

A wise pastor does not simply send her away with a blessing. First, he prays with his elders, as Antioch did. Second, he tests the call with Scripture and with the counsel of the church. Third, the church agrees on how to support her, so that she is not alone or dependent on a single donor (see Unit 5 on finances). Fourth, he asks her to begin with language and listening: living with a family, learning words with patience, and learning how the villagers speak of God and spirits. Fifth, they find out whether any portion of Scripture exists in the village language. If not, they begin with stories, songs and memorized passages, and invite a trained translation team to help with a written text. Sixth, they plan for local leaders, because the aim is a village church led by its own people, as Unit 3 on indigenous principles taught. Finally, the church keeps praying for her and sends news of the work to the whole congregation.

Summary

The Great Commission calls us to disciple all peoples, and some peoples are still unreached, meaning they lack a church strong enough to reach their own people. The term "people group" is a useful tool, though imperfect. Pentecost shows God's love for every language, since the visitors in Jerusalem heard the wonderful works of God in their own tongues. Early talk of "missionary tongues" did not remove the need to learn languages. Bible translation, as in the work of Townsend among the Kaqchikel and Crowther in Yoruba, shows how the gospel takes root. Mother-tongue theology means praying, worshiping and teaching in the heart language. It brings depth, understanding, leadership and dignity, and it must be guarded against syncretism by sound teaching. African Pentecostals, such as the Church of Pentecost in Ghana, now send missionaries. A local church can take part by praying, testing the call, supporting workers, learning languages, using Scripture and training local leaders.

Further Reading

• J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity (2013).

• Ogbu U. Kalu, African Pentecostalism (2008).

• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2nd ed., 2014).

• Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism (2007).

• Grant Wacker, Heaven Below (2001), for the early Pentecostal missionary hope.

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