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In the villages of the Muang people in Southeast Asia, houses are built on stilts and neighbors greet each other by shouting from the bottom of the stairs.

 

So when Kirk began translating Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” – into the Muang language, a woman told him, “If I heard someone knocking on my door, I’d think it was a thief trying to see if anyone was home so he could rob the place.”

 

Kirk and his wife, Suzie, are Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel who serve in Southeast Asia, facilitating the first translations of the Bible into the Muang and other native languages. They face cultural challenges, such as the one from Revelation – the verse was eventually translated in Muang as “Behold, I stand at the heart’s door and call out.”

 

But there are even greater translation challenges – the language of one hilltribe people in Southeast Asia, exists only as verbal language. Kirk and Suzie first had to develop a written language before they could begin translating the Bible.

 

“People think about Bible translation as an endeavor you do by yourself or with one other person,” Suzie said. “But it’s really all about people and being involved with the people, and so we really prayed and God opened the doors for us to live right among the people in a family compound.”

 

Kirk and Suzie have lived among the hilltribe people, a persecuted minority in Southeast Asia, and helped create not only an alphabet but also literacy materials. They have worked with villagers to translate legends, oral history and stories of daily life. And they’ve trained villagers to teach the language, so that the work will continue even after Kirk and Suzie have left. 

 

“When we first started working among this group of people, we only knew a few individuals in one country,” Kirk said. “Since then, several thousands have been discovered in neighboring countries, including a group of Christians who have been praying for the past 30 years for a translation in their language. We’re amazed by their dedication and their persistence in prayer all those years. Now, we see their enthusiasm that they’re getting the word and that they’re a part of it.”

 

Kirk and Suzie spent several years as English teachers in Southeast Asia and during that time recognized the need for translations of the Bible in hundreds of languages. They were commissioned by the Fellowship in 1995.

 

“One of the things that drew us to CBF in the beginning was a commitment to partnering with local Christians, indigenous Christians and national believers in these various areas,” Kirk said. “There is a tendency as North Americans to unintentionally dominate these types of relationships. We’ve seen from the beginning that CBF has been very committed to working on the same level as the people and seeing how and what they bring to the table.” 

 

Kirk, Suzie and a team of local translators recently completed the book of Mark. Several other books are in the final stages.

 

“It’s been great, as we’ve been visiting churches in the U.S., to hold up the gospel of Mark and tell our friends and supporters that they were a part of this process through their prayer and through their giving to the Offering for Global Missions,” Kirk said. “These partners, our CBF supporting churches, are very much a part of the answer to 30 years of prayer for the scripture in this language.”