Andre's Story

Andre Ndagba wanted to become a pastor and serve his church, and the idea of Bible translation didn’t seem to factor into those plans.

After teaching Sunday school and serving as church secretary, Andre was told the church had no money to send him to school or support him full-time. “What I wanted to do was to go study theology and come back as a pastor in the church,” Andre said.

As one of the three areas of the world with the greatest remaining need for Bible translation projects, Andre’s native Congo in east Africa faces numerous spiritual difficulties. “People in our area could not integrate the Bible very well,” Andre explained. Without the Bible in Andre’s village of Gbae-gbae, Christians have no way of understanding the true meaning of God’s Word.

As Andre continued serving in his church, a translation survey team began a literacy program in his area. “I was still working as a teacher, but I had already spoken to my church about what I wanted to do—mainly to serve the Lord in one way or the other,” he said.

After working with the survey team, Andre began teaching literacy to people in his village, promoting a better understanding of the Bible. Witnessing his strength in teaching and his commitment to the Lord and his church, the survey team offered Andre the opportunity to study Bible translation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and bring that knowledge back to his home village.

“Sometimes there’s no logic between the Bible that people read and their behavior. There’s no link. So we need this [translation program] in order to help them understand the real message…,” Andre said.

Thanks in part to a scholarship funded by Wycliffe, Andre will enroll this fall at the first Bible translation degree program in Congo, located at the University of Shalom in Bunia, DRC. The program will allow students to remain close to their churches and communities while continuing to bring God’s Word to the millions still waiting.

“Our aim is to bring everybody to the Lord,” Andre said. Because of Andre and the support for Bible translation programs around the world, one language program will be a step closer to doing just that.

You have an opportunity to support students just like Andre. Wycliffe will be biking from the JAARS Center in Waxhaw, NC to the Wycliffe USA headquarters in Orlando raising funds for scholarships for Bible translation students. Click here to find out more or to partner with us on this important work.

-Dustin Moody
Wyclife Bible Translators