Scripture Engagement in Botswana
For 3 days in October, I had the opportunity to visit the Hambukushu people in the north of Botswana and to hold a Scripture Engagement workshop. We met in a local village call Etsa 6 where pastors from several churches and many other church members joined us. We were about 30 in total, covering many ages and backgrounds, with both men and women.
Day 1 was the Scripture Dedication! The translation team had completed the book of Genesis, and booklets had been published and printed ready for distribution. It was a special time of sharing about the translation journey, the joy of receiving God’s Word, praying over the booklets, giving them out, and celebrating together. One moment that struck me was when a man, immediately after receiving the Genesis booklet, went to sit down and just started reading. Every spare moment, his nose was in the Scriptures.
One woman shared, “I didn’t know that I would have a booklet like this in my hands one day; but God’s work is great.” One of the pastors said, “I am so happy because I have long wanted this booklet. Now the book of Genesis has been published and it is here in our hands. What made me happy above all is that it is in our language, Thimbukushu.”
The rest of our time together was spent exploring questions like: How has the Bible impacted you? How has God gifted and blessed your community? What are the needs in your community? How can you use the way you celebrate, or mourn, or pass down history in relation to the Bible? We learned how to use images, how to lead a listening group, and how to use audio devices. Ultimately, we thought about how the Bible is relevant and so helpful for all of us, thinking about different and engaging ways to use it in worship and to share it with others.
One woman, who had been leading a lot of our singing, shared how God has blessed her with music. She was excited to explain how she shares this gift with her children, how she longs to sing at all times and plans to use this gift for God. Others talked of the need to share all they had learned with their churches, families, the poor, and those in the community who do not yet know God. Plans were being made to go door-to-door, to use pictures, to sing songs, and to reach all ages. One man felt called to the elderly, saying “I need to tell them that even if you are old, God still loves you and you still need to draw near to God in your old age.”
Before the workshop, those who attended said they had been afraid to speak their own language, and afraid to share the Bible in other languages because they didn’t understand all the words. By the end, though, they felt liberated to speak in Thimbukushu and to use it with God. One man summed it up by saying, “It’s like we’ve been in bondage, because in our churches we’re taught to use the Tswana language and other different languages; to not use our own language. But now, we have learnt that, even our own language, God hears it and God speaks it!”
By Helen van der Walt
