October update

Last month we launched the fifth wycliffe.net site language--Chinese! Tom and a small team of Chinese-speaking colleagues in Asia, plus our able web editor and translation coordinators, Craig and Anne Combs, made this long-prayed-for dream a reality. We are grateful to God for providing this capable team and are trusting He will be glorified as the Chinese Church worldwide now has greater access to stories, prayer info and other information about the needs and progress of Bible translation and related ministry.

Petronas Towers, Malaysia

As for me (Susan), I've decided I need another word besides "meetings" to describe this major component of my work and life. When people ask what I’ve been doing and I mention meetings in Malaysia, Kenya, Ghana, Canada or Germany (that’s the past three months) there’s usually more interest in the country than the meetings. People seem to have an aversion to meetings and often say, "better you than me!"
I wish I could better express just what these meetings comprise! It is difficult to do justice to experiences that allow me to worship with and delve into the Word with colleagues from all over the world. Together we seek God's direction, pray for discernment, confess our failings, recount God's blessings, and track this journey He has allowed us to be a part of. We listen to Him and to each other, marveling at His goodness and mercy, relying on Him, hoping in Him, and rejoicing in Him as yet another people group has access to and is applying His Word in their language and as the Church worldwide participates in His mission of redemption and restoration. And we look for ways we can participate!

Communication Forum - Kenya

Communication Forum - Kenya

In September I was privileged to attend the first-ever communication forum for 10 of the African Wycliffe organizations. I learned so much during this time of fellowship with colleagues from Sudan, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon and numerous other countries and they left inspired to share what God is doing in their midst.

Celebration, Accra, Ghana

Following the Kenya forum, I traveled to Accra, Ghana where we had an amazing couple of days in a multicultural missiological consultation on the topic of "community." Together we explored the deep joy and significance of recognizing community as beginning before Creation with the Trinity, then established by God as the means for His people to enjoy Him and each other. We spent time considering how we should think and act differently knowing that community is ordained by God and that interdependence and unity are not optional. We are continuing this discussion and reflection throughout Wycliffe and with other partner organizations. It brings a much deeper and richer perspective to partnership.
During the rest of the week in Ghana we joined our colleagues in celebrating the 50th anniversary of GILLBT, the Ghanaian Wycliffe organization. GILLBT is integrally engaged with Ghanaian churches and the University of Ghana. See more at http://www.gillbt.org/

Canada Communication meetings

Banff, Canada

October also included global communication meetings near Calgary, Canada. It is always a joy to get together with colleagues I’ve counted as friends for many years and to also have new faces, energy and creativity in the mix as well. We all appreciate how privileged we are to participate with God in His mission and to be able to communicate what He is doing around the world. Then it was home for a few days and on to Germany! (more on that next month)
Enroute to Germany, I was able to pay a short visit to our daughter Kate in NY. She is doing well. You can check out the progress on their church/school building (and hear her voice on the video) at http://www.indiegogo.com/AHomeForHopeAcademy and at http://www.bhof.org/
And you can see what our son, Josh is up to on http://www.evergreencomputerservices.com/
He is trying to build up his web design, graphic design and video clientele so Heather doesn’t have to have an additional outside job. We appreciate your continued prayer for Josh, Heather, and Wynnie and for Kate and her boyfriend, Jordan. They are all trying to build up businesses and/or make major decisions about ministry and livelihoods. Well, everyone but Wynnie. She's pretty busy just being a one-year-old.
Thank you so much for your encouragement, support and prayers! We are so grateful for the community that keeps us going. And do let us know how we can be praying for you!

July - August Update

July has come and gone. How did that happen? Seems like most people we know took vacation time away this month. The change for us was being home for the month!

Though Tom is home a lot more than I am, this was the first month this year we've both been home all month. Ok, almost all month. I did have a four- day trip to Orlando for meetings, but that hardly counts. Any flight under 10 hours seems local these days. Though to make up for the relative ease of the trip, I did have a cancelled flight, an extra night in Orlando...and almost ten hours total in security lines and waiting at airport gates. But at least Orlando is a friendly and cheerful airport, full of families on holiday in amusement park t-shirts and hats and carrying stuffed animals so large that you'd think they'd require their own airline tickets.

The highlights of this month were visits from Kate and her boyfriend, Jordan, and then also several of Kate's girlfriends.  Jordan headed back to NY after time here to get acquainted with Kate's family culture, meet her grandparents for the first time, and meet a few family friends.  Kate and the girls were here for a few more days then headed West on a road trip. It was tempting to hop in the car with them, but Tom and I disciplined ourselves and stayed home. We've had some good, much needed focused time of work this month. That's one of the beauties of working from home instead of an office...you can just keep working. But wait, that's also one of the dangers!   Fortunately, we usually get hungry or feel the need for a walk sooner or later. 

To see some of the junction of Susan’s team and Tom’s work, check out these videos (whose thumbnails you see here) at

http://www.wycliffe.net/stories/tabid/67/Default.aspx?media=m_vd&library=T

Tom has a myriad of web projects... along with fixing things that break from time to time when something changes around the various systems from which we pull data.

He is also making progress on our kitchen!  The counter is in and the backsplash is going up.  Slowly but surely we are moving ahead.

I'm working on numerous projects including preparation for the following upcoming meetings:

August — Leadership Development Roundtable 2, Malaysia. Leaders from numerous mission organizations to are meeting to share ideas, grow together and collaborate as we seek to discern God's desires and plans for leadership development and the encouragement of new leaders in our organizations.

September — Communication workshop, Nairobi, Kenya. Meeting with Wycliffe communication leaders from all across Africa.
Missiological Consultation and celebration of GILLBT's (the Ghanian Wycliffe organization) 50th anniversary, Accra, Ghana.

October — Global Communication meetings, Calgary, Canada.
Global Leadership Team meetings, Germany. 
Wycliffe Europe Area Communication meetings, Germany.

November — Wycliffe Global Alliance Board meetings.

Please be in prayer as my colleagues and I prepare for and travel to these meetings. But first and foremost, please pray that we would be attentive to God's direction and leading as we seek to discern how He would have the Wycliffe Global Alliance and its many organizations participate in His mission. And keep Tom in your prayers as he continues at home in the often intense work of maintaining and improving wycliffe.net and as he also stays connected with our parents.

Some of you occasionally ask about our finances so we thought we'd share a bit. God has been so good to provide for our needs day-to-day over all these years. And He does this through His people. Many of you have been supporting our ministry with Wycliffe from the very beginning...more than 25 years now. Thank you!  

May - June Update

 

May 2-13 Tom and Susan in Thailand for Wycliffe's Global Gathering and a meeting of communication and prayer leadership.

May 25-28 Tom and Susan in Colorado to visit Josh, Heather and Wynnie.

June 12-19 Susan in Finland for Wycliffe Global Leadership Team meeting and Wycliffe Finland's 40th anniversary celebration.

Other June highlights- our 32nd anniversary, Don and Vivian Van Wynen's 13th anniversary (Tom's dad and stepmom) and Jerry Roach's 80th birthday (Susan's dad).

The Wycliffe Global Gathering in Thailand was an amazing experience as we saw and heard what God can do and is doing through the worldwide Church as they take on the challenge of Bible translation. More than 200 leaders from more than 100 Wycliffe participating organizations met for a week of sharing, celebrating and learning together.

Our keynote speaker was Dr. Christopher J.H. Wright, noted Christian leader and author. I've enjoyed reading his book, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative, this past year. As an Old Testament scholar, he brings mission to life as much more than just a few proof texts for the Gospels. You can read summaries of his presentations and watch the videos at www.wycliffe.net/resources/missiology/globalperspectives/tabid/97/Default.aspx


What's next? July is probably the only month this year that we will both be home all month! We hope to have plenty of time to focus on work, but are also looking forward to guests and house projects. Those two things may not seem like the best combination, but as our house is always in some stage of remodeling, it is pretty much inevitable that any guests have to accept their accommodations as a work in progress.

Kate and her boyfriend, Jordan, arrive on the 5th. On the 10th, Jordan returns to New York and three of Kate's girlfriends arrive for a few days before the foursome head out for a road trip west. Then Tom and I get back to work!

Tom makes continual improvements and additions to wycliffe.net- enhancing language maps, connecting another list of online Scripture translations, and also a list of language survey reports. My current projects include orientation materials for the Alliance, preparing for a leadership development meeting in Malaysia in August, input to wycliffe.net, strategic planning updates, and the new missiology blog, Missio Vitae. This new resource provides "bite-size" readings, reflections and questions related to the Mission of God and how we, His Church worldwide, can participate. The blog launched this month in seven languages! Check it out or get a feed of the weekly installments at missio.wycliffe.net.

We hope your July brings many blessings, good relationships and times of refreshment as you, too, continue your journey with the Lord. We appreciate you and often reflect on the blessings you bring to our journey! We are grateful for your prayers, friendship and support. We keep you in our thoughts and prayers wherever our journey takes us!

Hi, Susan here. I'm just finishing up a week in New York. I was attending the Forum of Bible Agencies, International meetings. This year the meetings were in Manhattan, hosted by the American Bible Society. The meeting agenda included "field trips" to visit and explore various aspects of urban culture, life, and ministry. But I don't think any of the field trips can match the experiences I have when visiting our daughter, Kate, in the Bronx! Fortunately I did have time to enjoy a few days with her before and after the Forum meetings.

Kate teaching ESL

Urban life and ministry is relevant to all of us these days. For Kate it is about ministering as part of a local body of believers and reaching out to the immigrant population in her very diverse Bronx neighborhood. For the Bible agencies that met in Manhattan, the interest in urban ministry comes from the recognition that more than half of the world's population now lives in cities. And for those of us serving with minority language communities, this urban population growth means many of the users of those minority languages are as likely to be found in hi-rise apartments as in remote villages. It also means these language "communities" are connecting through social networks that spread across the globe as well as back to their geographic homeland.

Urbanization and globalization also have an impact on languages themselves and on the people who use these languages. As people move and new generations are born in cities across the globe, will they keep their language? Will they want to preserve their culture? What mediums of communication will they use? Who will introduce them to Jesus? These kinds of questions lead to new thinking concerning where ministry needs to happen, how the Gospel should be made available, and how the Church can and must respond to the needs of the cities and their peoples.

While I've been in New York, Tom spent several days in Michigan attending the Audio Scriptures Ministries Board meetings (ASM). ASM is one of several key organizations producing audio recordings of translated Scripture. Audio and video continue to grow as strategic mediums. Recordings once produced on cassettes are now as often found on microchips and listened to on mobile phones. Tom and I have seen the reality and potential of this as we've traveled. One of our favorite memories while staying in Kenya a few years ago was being scolded by the local vegetable lady. Like generations before her, she carried heavy loads of fruits and vegetables on her head every day from market to outlying neighborhoods. But her expectation was that we would call her mobile phone to place our order. We didn't have a mobile phone while in Kenya, so couldn't comply. She shook her head at us as I handed her my hopelessly old-fashioned handwritten grocery list.

Globalization, urbanization, technology--all important considerations, not just in business but also in mission. But at the heart of all our observations and reflections, it always goes back to God's heart for people and our desire to see God glorified as people come to know and worship Him. Discerning the times and knowing what to do comes not from keeping up on the latest trends, but from keeping close to Him and trying to see the world as He sees it.

For Prayer

The new kitchen sink!

Thank God--

• For good relationship building at Tom's meetings in Michigan and mine in NY
• For the time I was able to spend with Kate while in NY
• That Tom finally found time to get our kitchen sink in!

Pray for--

Granddaughter,Wynnie, 7 months

• The Church worldwide and particularly the urban churches as they seek to reach people with the Good News.
• Our colleagues worldwide who are working in the ministry of Bible translation.
• Our comings and goings and relationships as we serve with the Wycliffe Global Alliance.
• Our Wycliffe Global Alliance meetings in Asia in May.

“The truth of the resurrection is of supreme and eternal importance. It is the hinge upon which the story of the world pivots."
Tim Keller, King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus


We are all witnesses to and participants in the story of the world as it pivots on the hinge of that great Good News. What an amazing privilege and opportunity!

We want to start sharing more of what we see and hear and are a part of, so will attempt to do better at a brief, monthly update.

Susan—I spent two weeks in Manila in March. It was a great time of meeting with the Asia and Pacific Area communication team. This diverse team from Korea, Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. (plus interns and volunteers from many other countries!) is collecting and telling the stories of what God is doing through His people and His Word all across their region. Check out one of their videos at: www.wycliffe.net/stories/tabid/67/DEfault.aspx?id=2606

Now after several weeks of being able to work from home, I'm getting ready to go to the annual meetings of the Forum of Bible Agencies, International in New York City. The extra perk there is that I also get to see our daughter, Kate! Then two days after returning from NYC, Tom and I head for Asia for meetings with all the Wycliffe Global Alliance leaders from around the world. So lots to prepare for!

Tom—I've been working almost non-stop on all the upgrades to www.wycliffe.net, the Wycliffe Global Alliance website. Recent upgrades have included a "print this" option so you can now instantly print articles you might want to keep or share. And speaking of sharing, the website now also has a robust "share this" feature that allows you to share almost anything you see on the site friends through Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can also now download photos from the website--a handy feature if you are looking for good photos for a missions conference, prayer meeting or Sunday school class. And you can also now get feeds of content (prayer requests, stories, etc.) from wycliffe.net right to your own website (a good way to keep current missions content on your church website!).

I've also been working on Portal, which will be a new intranet site for communication personnel and others in the Wycliffe Global Alliance. This new site will meet the longtime need of communication teams to have a place keep key resources, training materials and connect through forums, etc.

For Prayer

New Experiences! Eowyn with onion, yum!

Thank God for—

• His provision for each one of us through the death and resurrection of His Son.
• His provision for us through the gifts and prayers and friendship of His people.
• His ongoing care of our parents: Tom's dad, Don, and stepmother, Vivian, and Susan's parents, Jerry and Marlene Roach.
• His ongoing provision for our children: Kate, and Josh and Heather and our granddaughter, Eowyn.

Tom at Easter Pageant in Keene, Texas

Pray for—

• The Church worldwide as they grow in vision and participate in God's mission to redeem and restore His world.
• Our colleagues worldwide who are working in the ministry of Bible translation.
• Our comings and goings and relationships as we serve with the Wycliffe Global Alliance.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."
The coming of the Messiah, the Saviour. There is no better news. And what makes it such joyful news today is that it still for all people.

Every now and then I still see articles that refer to Christianity as a “Western religion.” I feel sorry for these authors, who are so often concerned about colonialism and paternalism, because their own views represent just what they oppose. While we wouldn’t deny that the West has influenced many Christian practices, followers of Christ around the world would be the first to tell you that the Good News is for all peoples. It began with prophecies that spread across the ancient world. It was fulfilled in a baby born in Bethlehem. It spread across the globe—Africa, Asia, and eventually across Europe and into the New World. And then the Good News looped back again. And today it spreads in every direction…from the whole world to the whole world.

Our Global Leadership prays for African colleagues in Ghana

Tom and I traveled this year to El Salvador, and I also spent time in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Ghana, Austria, and Slovakia. It was a full year of rich opportunities to witness God at work and to see how the Good News continues to spread.

In El Salvador we met with communication colleagues from around the world and met Deaf colleagues working on Bible translation for the Deaf communities of that country (additional research is still needed, but there may be as many as 400 sign languages worldwide used by a total of 20-33 million people as their first language. As many as 50 Deaf language translation programs are in progress).

In the Philippines I participated in a round table meeting of about a half dozen mission organizations as we, together, considered what leadership development needs to look like in our global contexts.  In Malaysia, our Global Leadership met to discuss all sorts of things! In Singapore I had the opportunity to spend a few days with a good friend who works in a minority language community of mainland Asia.  In Thailand I met with leadership of Wycliffe and SIL to work on planning for our major quadrennial international meetings next year.

Central Europe Meetings, Wycliffe Slovakia Director
starts our day in Scripture

It was my first visit to several countries this year, including Turkey. There in Istanbul I had the privilege of being part of meetings concerning translation principles and best practices. In Ghana (another first visit), our Wycliffe Global Leadership had the opportunity to conduct our meetings in a setting where we could also learn more about GILLBT, the Ghanaian Wycliffe organization. Our GILLBT colleagues were great hosts and introduced us to local pastors, university professors and community leaders in the capital city of Accra. And then, it was good to again meet with communication colleagues in Austria. Several of us then had the privilege of attending a meeting of the Central European (and Russian) Wycliffe organizations.

So you can see why I long for a bigger and corrected vision for the authors who talk about Christianity being “western”!  God and His Kingdom are sooo much bigger!

2012, Lord willing, looks as energizing and full as 2011. We appreciate your prayers for this ministry God has allowed us to be a part of.  Thank you for all you do as a part of this team effort.

As we look back on 2011, though, our report would not be complete without expressing our joy at the arrival of Eowyn Noelle Van Wynen! Our beautiful granddaughter (Wynnie for short) was born to our son Josh and daughter-in-law Heather this past August. Colorado now seems too far from Texas, but we are doing our best to make sure we see Wynnie and her parents whenever possible. Our daughter, Kate, is in New York, which is, fortunately, a great place for the occasional layover when traveling to Europe or Africa!  We appreciate your continued prayers for all our family. Our parents are all here near us in Texas. We are privileged to spend time with them as well and Tom is able to be of some help with his Dad.

So we cherish our families, are privileged in our ministry and hold tight to the Good News the angel proclaimed…a Saviour is born!  This is Good News for all people…for us, for you, for the Church worldwide and for the millions who still need to hear.

at home in Waxahachie, TX

xmas05_0422Tom-Susan
Originally uploaded by vanwynens.

here we are in front of our 'new' 1920 Colonial Revival house in Waxahachie, TX. Y'all come by and visit us.