Cameroon

A great Scripture engagement opportunity lies before us. People are publicly reading the Scriptures every Sunday using lectionaries in the national language. Especially for minority languages without a full Bible, how can we make these important readings available in the mother tongue? The presenters set out to produce mother tongue lectionaries, a collection of planned Scripture readings that exposes listeners (and readers) to much of the Bible through a three-year series. This study comes from the presenters’ experience creating Kwanja Lectionaries in Cameroon and explores some church-related, logistic and technical dimensions of producing vernacular lectionaries, providing the local community with powerful vernacular Scripture for each worship service throughout the whole church year. Producing a lectionary may take less time than a whole Bible, but it nevertheless presents unique challenges. How might teams produce appropriate lectionaries for Protestant and Catholic congregations? How can teams translate and check discontiguous verses with tools designed for whole books? How can the result maintain high translation standards, accommodate differing versifications, unambiguously serve multiple calendar years, and also be used by church leaders who are not native speakers? The authors’ goals are to expose translators to opportunities and benefits of translating lectionaries, introducing Paratext Bible Modules as a unique way to manage translation, verification, and self-publication of discontiguous Scripture. They show how to navigate the process, equipping translators to produce lectionaries for local churches. What an opportunity to encourage the churches with Scripture that speaks to the heart, including many Old Testament selections and Psalms!