Passing The Flame

There is great news over at the Wycliffe Bible Translators blog, today:

Many people in Ghana are celebrating: today is the dedication of the Chumburung Bible! Among those gathered to celebrate are Keir and Gillian Hansford, who have worked with the project for many years.

The full story is fascinating, but from our point of view it misses out a couple of important facts. Throughout their many years of service in Wycliffe, Keir and Gillian have been mission partners with their home church, Above Bar Church in Southampton. Which, as you may know, is also our home church.

Back in 1984, the Hansfords spoke at a Church youth group, where Sue and I were sitting in the front row. We must have seemed very interested in their talk as they soon started giving us all sorts of Wycliffe recruiting literature and suggested that we should attend a weekend meeting that explained more about Bible translation work. Somewhat reluctantly (on my part at least), we spent a weekend at the Wycliffe Centre and the rest, as they say, is history.

In addition to their work on the Chumburung Bible, Keir and Gillian have also helped train a new generation of Bible Translators at the European Training Programme.

The Hansfords now live in Southampton, but the legacy they have left in the Chumburung Bible and in the translators and linguists who are following in their shoes will live on for a long, long time.

If you would like to follow in Keir and Gillian’s footsteps, why not do what we did and take an orientation course at the Wycliffe Centre?