A Historic Day for the Tampuan Church and the Kingdom of God
On December 10, 2023, 700 tribal Christians, mostly Tampuan, came together to celebrate the official launch of the Tampuan New Testament and Tampuan Old Testament Portions. God and his Word were honored and celebrated! I remember saying to God in 1994 that if he would save just a few Tampuan families through the gospel work here, our heaven would be two heavens! Now the number of Tampuan believers is reaching a thousand.
The all-day festivities began with a victory procession through the Tampuan village. At the head of the procession were the two main local translators holding copies of the sacred texts, Mr. Way Tieng and my dearest tribal Pastor-Brother, Mr. Kvas Diang. Next to them, Miss Kvas Yett (who calls Kim “Mom”) led the singers and folk dancers. Yett is the “hymnist-laureate” of the Tampuan churches, responsible for nearly all the 100 plus songs in the Tampuan Hymnal. She wrote the processional hymn for this occasion.
Mrs. Tanuja Carson (in the second row) came from Australia to represent her husband, Mr. Andrew Carson, the lead translator, who was not able to attend. Next to Tanuja is Mr. Jon Smedley of New Tribes Mission who has received the mantle to lead the team in the translation of the rest of the Old Testament. Behind them are scores of Tampuan believers singing and rejoicing—and bringing up the rear, a wet-eyed, deliriously happy missionary. (Click this link to hear the hymn and watch the procession.)
The gong choir was made up of Christian musicians who joined the celebration from various tribes. Gongs are the most important instrument in this culture, played much like a bell choir, with the smaller gongs being struck at just the right time to create the tune, while the larger gongs create the lush rhythm. Pastor Naay, a Krung Christian who is the church’s master musician in our province, led the procession on a stringed instrument. You could almost imagine King David right there among them, “dancing before the LORD with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:4).
Because I did the linguistic work and developed the Tampuan alphabet, many people even to this day think I also translated the Bible. But the true story is that, just in time, Andrew and Tanuja Carson came from Australia to do that arduous, twenty-year task, freeing Kim and me to continue our work training pastors and their wives in all six tribal groups. Below you can read the remarks I made honoring Andrew and Tanuja, and all Bible translators.
This event was likely the largest convocation of Christians in the history of this province, but if all the believers from all the language groups could have attended, the number would have been closer to 4,000. God has done so much more than all of us could have ever asked for or imagined! And this is just the beginning. To him be glory, praise, honor, majesty, and dominion, now and forever more. Amen!
Every Bible Has Been Translated at the Cost of Someone’s Life
Tampuan Bible Dedication, December 10, 2023
J.D. Crowley
I’m holding in my hand the Tampuan Bible, but I’m also holding the lives of two people. You see, every Bible in the world has been translated at a cost, and the cost is at least one human life— usually two or three or more human lives.
Five hundred years ago, William Tyndale and Thomas Matthew were burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. The cost of this English Bible was the life of those two men.
Just 7 years ago, four Bible translators were killed when Muslim militants invaded their office and shot them to death. But that didn’t stop the translation project! Soon their Bible will be printed. What will be the cost of that Bible? At least four lives.
You might ask, do all Bible translation projects require the death of a translator? No. But all require the life of a translator.
Exactly one hundred years ago, in 1923, Arthur and Esther Hammond left their families and the comforts of their country to come to Cambodia. They spent more than 30 years of their lives so that we could have a Bible in Khmer. What was the cost of this Khmer Bible? Two lives, and the lives of others as well.
What about this Tampuan Bible? What was the cost of its translation? The cost was two human lives, and more. Andrew and Tanuja Carson spent, gave, offered their lives as living sacrifices to God, so that you could have a Tampuan Bible, just as the Apostle Paul commanded all of us in Romans 12:1, “I urge you therefore, brothers, because of the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God....”
God gave Andrew and Tanuja Carson unusually sharp minds. Andrew once told me that if he had not come to Ratanakiri, he would have likely practiced law in Australia. Lawyers in Australia receive very high salaries, easily $10,000 a month. In thirty years, that would add up to three and a half million dollars! But that money meant nothing to Andrew and Tanuja Carson. They joyfully gave that up so that Tampuan Christians could have a Bible in their language.
Is this kind of sacrifice for the sake of others an unusual thing in Christianity? Not at all. It’s normal. The Bible says all Christians should live this way, following the example of Jesus Christ, who gave up his life for us, to save us from sin, death, and hell. Three days later he rose again!
A Bible dedication ceremony is a time to glorify God for his Word—and that is our highest goal today. However, another goal is for you and me to look at the lives of these two, and others, who gave themselves as a sacrifice to God so that those without a Bible could have a Bible. We Tampuans must all ask ourselves this question: Are we willing to give up ease, family, homes, and safety in order to give ourselves as a sacrifice to God so that others can hear the gospel in their own language and read the Bible in their own language?
More than a thousand languages already have God’s word, but there are still a thousand more that don’t. I hope that God will call some of you to spend your life to provide a Bible for a people group that does not yet have one.