Testimony
I was born in North Africa, the firstborn of cross-cultural workers who served for thirty years. I attended local Arabic-speaking schools throughout my childhood, starting with pre-school right through until I was eighteen years of age.
This language learning experience means that I can now pass for a local on the telephone. But it wasn’t only Arabic I was immersed in. Each Sunday, we would attend an expat, French-speaking church, while at home we spoke English. So I grew up speaking Arabic, French and English.
The goal is to make an audio recording in the local dialect which will make God’s Word more accessible for those who struggle to read classical Arabic.
Everyone else in my class at school was Muslim, although not everyone followed the customs, nor classed themselves as religious. I was never attracted to Islam.
Until I was a teenager, I saw God as a bit of a killjoy, always wanting us to be good, but never wanting us to have fun. This all changed when I attended a conference with several other Christian families. The teaching had a significant impact on me and I stood at the front with many others in either dedicating or rededicating our lives to Christ.
Following graduation at a UK university, I spent a few years in my passport country, working in the IT sector. However, the thought remained at the back of my mind of whether I should return someday to North Africa, to work with Arabs and use my Arabic. After all, I knew the culture and the ministry context. But I was content in my job, involved in a Christian youth club and getting alongside young people. I reasoned that I could put it off until I had more experience and pushed the idea of relocating further down the timeline.
But God had other ideas. My church pastor spoke on the parable of the talents from Matthew 25. He talked about ‘maximising the return on the Lord’s assets’ and that it requires risk. It struck me that the harvest field in North Africa is big, but the workers are few. Surely the sooner I go, the better. Three months later, I was in North Africa!
My parents, who had met in North Africa, were very pleased. My mother is actually a second-generation worker, her parents having served in Europe – so it actually makes me a third-generation cross-cultural worker!
I’m currently involved in a project to translate the New Testament into the local dialect – I have a varied role that uses a range of skills including my specialist IT training which I learnt while living in the UK. The goal is to make an audio recording in the local dialect which will make God’s Word more accessible for those who struggle to read classical Arabic. The final step will be recording and then getting it into the hands of people who can make good use of it.
Pray that the local network of national believers who are developing it with us will help us maximise the potential of this ministry resource. I would love to see it produce a return for the Master’s investment.
*Name has been changed and library image used.
