Teamwork and faith fuel Bible translation
by Sally Schreiner Youngquist

Gretchen Kingsley and two Argentine women compare Bible passages during the 50th anniversary celebration of the United Evangelical Church in Sáenz Peña. Photo: Linda Shelly/Mennonite Mission Network

Mennonite ministry among the indigenous people in the Argentine Chaco began in 1943.

In the 1950s, the focus shifted from planting Mennonite churches to accompanying the emerging indigenous church. Mennonite mission workers encouraged the indigenous church in its development of leaders, and its unique style of worship and organization. In 1960, Iglesia Evangelica Unida (United Evangelical Church) was founded by 28 indigenous congregations in the Chaco. Today’s international Mennonite team encourages believers to read the Bible in their own language and partners with the Argentine Bible Society in Bible translation and distribution. Currently teams of Toba translators continue work toward completing the Toba Old Testament and revising the Toba New Testament. Three Mission Network couples — Byrdalene and Willis Horst, Gretchen and Keith Kingsley, and Richard and Ruthann Friesen — form the team, together with four other families from Argentina and Germany.

For more information on Bible translation in Argentina, read Weaving theology.

Highlights

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Return to Beyond Ourselves—Winter 2007