God’s Kingdom Work
Paul Mouw

“Ask God, ‘What shall I do next?’” That was the challenge from a speaker in Los Angeles that was being heard by students in a Saturday evening simulcast at Judson University. Twenty minutes later I was talking to a colleague who was retiring in September. “Tom, what are you going to do when you retire?” I asked. His reply: “I’m just asking God, ‘What shall I do next?” Ahh, good answer.

I had taught Media Studies at Judson University for 24 years—courses in writing, public relations, communication theory, digital publishing, and a range of other studies at this small Christian college about 25 miles west of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The challenge came nine years ago as I was considering whether I was going to continue teaching part time. I had given up tenure, but was still teaching three courses a semester—and I found it was difficult for me to do anything part time.

Then, on that next Monday morning came the miracle call. Ed Elliott is a friend who had started a Christian not-for-profit with a mission to grow Christian publishing and book distribution in Africa. “Paul, I need to talk with you.”

“When do you want to talk?” I asked.

“Now,” was his reply. Thirty minutes later he was in my office, explaining what Oasis needed, and how I could help the African editorial team put together the Africa Study Bible. I immediately knew three things: 1. They needed my help. 2. My experiences in publishing and product development at Tyndale House, David C. Cook, and Judson had prepared me with skills for what was needed. 3. And, God can answer prayers quickly -- although 36 hours is a very tight time frame for such a big answer!

So, I didn’t retire “from;” I retired “to.” The project was to develop a Life Application Bible but with an African context. The best-selling study Bible is still the Life Application Bible in different versions, but like most publishing it is written from a Western viewpoint with illustrations from the United States, England, and other Western countries. The committee that met in Accra, Ghana, had outlined the elements that would illuminate the truth of Scripture with a unique, African perspective.

For example, if a father or mother instructs a child, they might first tell a proverb — story-telling is a main feature in wisdom instruction. So, we ended up with more than 600 application notes featuring stories and proverbs, plus more than 1,200 other application notes carefully crafted to reflect African perspectives. Life in parts of Africa can be like, or sometimes different, than life in Bible times, so we highlighted 300 African Touchpoints.

Early Christian doctrine was formed by African giants such as Augustine and Athanasius, and we quoted them frequently. What are these important beliefs and how do they impact Christian living in Africa?  We have 81 Learn Notes on subjects such as “Repentance” and the “Trinity.” Fifty-nine contextual articles examine subjects such as “Miracles” and “Marriage”—and yes, that article follows the book of Hosea stating that “a marriage is between a man and a woman.” And the list could go on and on—but I won’t. Note that of significance to a great many post-colonial Africans is a presentation of the history of Christianity in Africa, including a narrative timeline of God’s Kingdom Work in Africa. So that Christianity isn’t portrayed as just “the white man’s religion.”

How did this all come about? The answer is very simple: time after time the Lord sent us the right people and gave us the right ideas. This Kingdom work, “the Scriptures through African Eyes,” is the Lord’s gift to the fastest growing church in the world—and also to many of us in the West.

Here are a few examples: The committee tasked the editorial team with finding diversity in many ways. We had seven editors plus the chief editor, a man with unique gifts and an unusual heritage touching both West Africa and East Africa. The committee wanted diversity in countries represented: in ethnicity, in organizations and denominations, and languages. While the Africa Study Bible was first to be in English—65 percent of Africans who have more than a fourth-grade education will speak English as at least a second or a third language, another 30% learn and speak French. We ended up with a third of our authors being from French-speaking countries and five percent from Portuguese-speaking countries such as Angola. Another target was to recruit women contributors—very significant for Africa, so 20% women assisted in the process. We also have a great mix of denominations and organizations, with a broad spectrum of Christian practice from Pentecostal to liturgical.

How could we find these people; organize their contributions throughout the entire Bible project, and craft them into a unified cohesive whole? We needed someone on the ground near the editors who could coordinate the work of the contributors and editors. Early on, when I visited Africa International University, one of the editors said that she thought the project was dead—that she hadn’t seen anything in more than a year. That was the day that I met a missionary whose daughter was just finishing her work at Macalester University with a double major in English and sociology— who wanted to be working in Christian publishing. Hannah Rasmussen was a gift from God, as she went back to Nairobi and lived on the campus of AIU and communicated so well with both contributors and the editorial team.

Another gift was Bruce Barton, who had been responsible for the initial Life Application Bible. Beside shepherding the typesetting, Bruce donated more than 300 hours of his time to make sure that the application notes were truly application-worthy—as well as giving me great advice on how to manage the project.

A third gift was Laura Livingston, a returned missionary from Côte d’Ivoire who gave us both perspective and francophone ability.

How about building an app for the Bible? Early on I called a developer from the West Coast who had the reputation for having a great Bible app. When I asked him if he could develop an app for our sample Gospel of John, he replied positively that he would do it—and not just for the sample but for the entire Bible. I asked him how much it would cost, since I needed to raise the money. He replied, “I will do it for free.” Astonished, I asked the dumb question, “Why?” His reply was that for the past month his team had been asking the Lord for a project that they didn’t know about but that would have great impact. Ming said, “You are an answer to prayer.” My grateful response was, “So are you!”

Jeremy Johnson was in charge of purchasing millions of Bibles for the Gideons, but was feeling that he should move on. He moved on to us, and did an absolutely great job of getting the Africa Study Bible ready to print and then get it printed in India.

Greg Burgess has worked in francophone literature for some years and came along side to get the notes translated and typeset into French, so now “our forgotten brothers and sisters” have a study Bible in French. (While I used Google Translate to communicate and pay the French-speaking authors, Greg told me that if the message was important, please send it to him first!)

My friend Sean Harrison was a genius at putting together concordances, having worked on study Bibles at Tyndale. He selected great illustrations and maps from the Tyndale archive and also saved us weeks of time helping digitize the work into a 122-page topical index and concordance.

The list of answers to prayer goes on and on. We did end up with more than 350 contributors from 50 of the 54 countries. It seemed like just when we needed some material for a particular chapter or book, a contributor would send in the lacking material.

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury reading the ASB after I presented him with a copy

After the launch of the Bible, I was able to present copies to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the largest denomination in Nigeria. It was also wonderful to distribute ASB copies to every African delegate at the Lausanne Global Workplace Conference in Manila. And then, Covid came along.

Now I still participate as a volunteer in Zoom meetings every Monday morning with the staff of Oasis—a group that stretches from Johannesburg to Montana. My focus has switched to helping pastors and students, especially those in rural or slum areas who can’t afford the full purchase price of the Bible. Also, while the church is growing so fast, many of these pastors do not have either the Biblical resources or the training to prepare their sermons and teach accurately. So, I now lead an Ambassador group that is raising money to supplement the cost for these pastors and theology students and equip them.

And, since I am running out of space, I won’t tell you more except to say that time after time the Lord is still working in helping with the distribution of this resource: every Anglican bishop in Africa has received an Africa Study Bible; a container of Bibles just went to refugee-filled South Sudan for training pastors; schools in Kenya and Nigeria have approved both our plain-text Bibles and Africa Study Bibles for use in classrooms, and…

Mouws

Now, my wife, Barbara, and I have moved to Newtown Square to be near family after 48 years of living in the western suburbs of Chicago. We are so thankful to God for the ministry and fellowship at Springton Lake Presbyterian Church. We have also appreciated your investment in Pamoza, and through your contributions the teachers and leaders there in the Zowe area in Malawi have the Africa Study Bible. Thank you all!

For more about the Africa Study Bible and its impact, go to: https://oasisinternationalpublishing.com/africa-study-bible/

And https://godswordforafrica.com/impact/

 

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