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Children learning the signs of Easter

By Deb Fox  |  Wycliffe Today Winter 2023  |

In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. – Isaiah 28:18 (NLT)

Do you remember listening to Bible stories in Sunday School? For many Deaf children, there are very few resources available for them to learn more about God’s love for them. So far, only American Sign Language (ASL) has the full Bible available. Australian Sign Language (Auslan) only has a few books translated and does not have any resources to support Scripture engagement. Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia members Saul and Rebecca Thurrowgood want to change that. 

Saul & Rebecca Thurrowgood

Saul and Rebecca Thurrowgood with their children.

The Thurrowgoods have been working in partnership with the Bible Society to create animated Bible stories for children in Auslan. The Christmas story was released at the end of 2022 and an Easter message was recently published. The videos are based on evangelical children’s booklets the Bible Society produced a couple of years ago. They have been created using the motion capture Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called ‘Chameleon’ which Saul and his team have been refining for the past 10 years ’and which converts the signed movements from a real person to an animated character.

Saul explains:

Last year, the Bible Society wanted to see if they could use Chameleon for translation projects and they came to check it out. We trialled the technology with the Christmas story and were thrilled that it worked so well. The second time around, everything worked even more smoothly with the Easter story. All the characters are consistent throughout the series. It’s been a long time building up but we’re finally seeing fruit from all the years of hard work to get Chameleon off the ground. 

Rebecca adds:

A screenshot of the Easter video translated into Auslan.

I’ve been thinking a lot about creating resources for kids to put online to equip the church. These videos are like a seed – the first in a way of creating resources for Deaf children. Auslan has its own linguistic style that is very poetic visually that would not translate the same way in spoken English. These videos provide the stories in a form that kids can easily understand. We have a dream for Deaf community to be able to connect with the gospel. The children’s stories we’ve created using Chameleon so far will hopefully be a good start.

Pray:

  • for more people to join the team! We need workers highly skilled in programming, computer science, AI, computer vision and robotics
  • that the Auslan translation of the Easter story can continue to be shared with Deaf children throughout Australia and open their hearts to the love of Jesus
  • for the languages and countries that have shared an interest in using Chameleon

More: To watch the video, click here. To visit the Chameleon website, click here.

Transformed by the Word: Remembering God

By Lyn Wake | Wycliffe Today Autumn 2021 

In 2021, we pause to remember God and all he has done over the many years of Bible translation ministry in our country and throughout the world. Remembering God’s faithfulness is a major theme that keeps appearing throughout Scripture. Why? Because we have a great tendency to forget! 

In Deuteronomy 8, the people of God were told to REMEMBER the Lord and not forget his character and promises. They were commanded to keep remembering him by constantly declaring to all generations the stories of his great deliverance and his wonderful attributes. They were also asked to keep certain memorial ceremonies built into the rhythms of community life to protect them from forgetting God and his eternal covenant with them. 

The ancient Passover was the greatest of these remembrance feasts. Passover pointed forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would deliver God’s children from slavery and death. During the Last Supper, Jesus turned this most significant remembrance symbol into a much deeper one as he established a beautiful and sacramental way to practically remember God and his merciful salvation plan.  

Passover was not only fulfilled in Jesus but transformed by him into a magnificent memorial. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus took the Passover bread, gave thanks, broke it, and offered it to his disciples, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’. Luke 22:19 (NIV)

The remembrance Jesus commands is not simply reflecting on his death and resurrection through a religious ceremony. Nor is it merely longing for the fulfillment of his glorious promises in the future. 

It is also an active, continual remembrance of God’s love for us here and now. Intentionally remembering God in the memorial of communion activates the liberating presence of Christ himself. This active and living remembrance of God provides a transformative means of abundant life with him right now as we keep remembering behind with thankfulness, and remembering ahead with hope. 

Be transformed by the Word as you engage with Psalm 106 and 1 Corinthians 11:23–26.

Thanks for your patience...

Waiting is hard, isn't it. But imagine waiting 2000 years for Scripture in your language! Thanks for your patience. And thanks for your generous support which will help bring the long wait to an end...