World Watch

NAMIBIA — The Gospel of Mark, recorded on audio cassette, is being heard by the Dhimba people of Namibia and Angola thanks to solar power technology. The tape players are powered by a combination of handcrank and solar panels, allowing them to be used in the most remote villages. In 2000, missionaries Hal and Joyce Toenjes started this project with 20 cassette players. Due to the success of the project, an additional 20 players are needed. The Good News flip charts, which colourfully depict Bible stories, accompanied by the audio Scriptures, will help the Dhimba people as they grow in faith. (Lutheran Bible Translators’ Messenger) (WR 369/WW1 - 7/8.02)

GERMANY — The world’s biggest online library, GetAbstract, has condensed the Bible to five pages (in German). The library specialises in abridged versions of essential books for commerce and management. An interconfessional committee developed the concept for the short version of the ‘Book of Books’, which normally has more than a thousand pages. According to the authors, the core message is “God, who made man and, from Abraham onwards, seeks communion with man, culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The idea for the project goes back to a newspaper interview in which GetAbstract manager Thomas Bergen was asked if the Bible could be reduced to five pages. He gave a positive answer and the Swiss television preacher René Meier challenged him to prove it. The Internet address of GetAbstract is www.getabstract.com (WR 369/WW2 - 7/8.02)

USA — A Vietnamese refugee who took part in a daring escape during the communist takeover of South Vietnam is helping send God’s Word back to his countrymen. Tam Pham, who spent years translating the New Testament into contemporary Vietnamese, has just seen his work published by the World Bible Translation Center (WBTC) in Fort Worth, Texas. He and his family fled South Vietnam as the North Vietnamese took over in 1975. They managed to fly out of the country on a borrowed plane, evading attempts to shoot them down. Landing in Singapore, they later settled in the United States. There Pham led many other Vietnamese refugees to Christ but believed that an alternative to the commonly-used Vietnamese Bible was needed. He began his own translation, working on it night and day as his family business allowed. At one point the Phams sold their family home to finance a printing. Then he was hired as the WBTC’s Vietnamese editor where work has begun on the Old Testament translation. (Charisma News Service) (WR 369/WW3 - 7/8.02)