Literacy on Sierra Leone

00:01
Rev. John Bundor
But when you communicate to them in your own language, they will grasp the gospel with their two hands. 

00:21
Rich Rudowske
Welcome to the Essentially Translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. My name is Rich Rudowske. I’m the Chief Operating Officer here at LBT. 

00:28
Rich Rudowske
On December 1, 2020, Lutheran Bible Translators will celebrate Giving Tuesday 2020 on all of our social media channels and on our website, lbt.org/givingtuesday. This year, we have a goal to raise $45,000 for literacy efforts in the West African nation of Sierra Leone. On today’s episode of the podcast, our guest is Pastor John Bundor, President of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone and literacy coordinator with the Institute of Sierra Leonean Languages. Our conversation with President Bundor will give you insight into the importance of this critical ministry that we carry out with our partners in Sierra Leone and how the Lord is at work in the out-of-the-way, hard-to-reach parts of the world through literacy and putting God’s Word directly in the hands of those who need it most. 

01:20
Rich Rudowske
So we are here with the Reverend John Bundor, President of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone, and we’d like to have our listeners get to know you a little bit. If you could tell us how you got involved in ministry and how you became the president of the church and what motivated you to continue as a literacy coordinator with TISSL? 

01:41
Rev. John Bundor
Okay, it’s a very good question, and I want to greet everyone that is listening to me right now. And to start with, my name is Reverend John K. Bundo, a Kissi by tribe and Israel Union by nationality. And I was born in this very small village in Budoki, Sitomi Chibdam. And I graduated from high school since 1991, and I was fortunate to teach in one of our Lutheran schools in Fuertinga, where Bob Rugner started his ministry. From there, the war broke out. We crossed over to Guinea as refugees. There we are. I met with Reverend Tim Heine, who has been my first mentor into this ministry. 

02:24
Rev. John Bundor
He encouraged me and most of my friends also, we are encouraged for us to start ministry in Guinea, in the foreign land where we do not even know how to speak their language, but we actually managed to speak the local language. That was the Kissi language, that is within that area. So in that, I enjoyed doing ministry in Guinea. From there, when the war was over, we crossed over to Sri Lanka in my homeland, and there we are. I also get interest in studying, and I enrolled in our Coordinating Center for Theological Studies, CCTs, established by Reverend David Lunenberg. And I got through that I got diploma in training and evangelism, but I could not stop there. I continue to study diploma in Christian ministry under the School of Theology known as Wesleyan or Methodists. And also we continue to work with them. 

03:35
Rev. John Bundor
And I study applied theology in that area. And after studying applied theology, I came back to my seminary, and I worked with my friends in the seminary there also. Also I was helped with Dr. Heine to do some training. So we got a lot of training with him. And as I’m speaking right now, I’m one of the facilitator in the seminary. So from there, after my seminary education, I look at it that it is good for me to communicate this idea that I got from the seminary to my people, this training, this good material that I have in the seminary. A big question was in my mind, how can I communicate some of these ideas to my people? And there was no way to communicate that in English. They cannot understand English. 

04:37
Rev. John Bundor
So it is from there I said, well, it is good for me to go back and study my own language. And which I did. I studied the Kissi language, and I was able to read and write my own language. So at that moment, I was like Ezra and Nehemiah. When the people lost their language and they could not speak their language well, or they could not even know how to read and write their language. These were the only people that enabled their people to understand God’s Word. They read God’s Word to them. And because of that, I grew interest in literacy. So I tried to write some of my letters to the Institute for Sierra Leone and languages, which I was accepted as a coordinator. And I trained a lot of people in doing ministry through literacy. 

05:32
Rev. John Bundor
And literacy has helped us a lot in the propagation of the gospel to our people in their local language. That’s a very big things that I see that I enjoy doing, because literacy has helped a lot in implanting churches in the Kissi area so far. For now, as a background, this is what I will run. 

05:53
Rich Rudowske
Very good. So what does it mean to be able to read the Word of God in your heart language? 

06:00
Rev. John Bundor
The need there is when we only hear the Gospel orally, it doesn’t all the time remained in the minds of the people, but it will be good if people are able to read God’s Word in their own mode and tone, they always communicate with God. You will see that they are always in constant communication with God. It’s not that they will not need any other person to be as an mediator, that is a direct communication, direct link. So that is why I look at it, that literacy is one of the main tools to reach the Gospel to the rural community and one of the things that we like to talk about is, like many people who have graduated from seminary that has higher degree or higher diplomas in theology, they may not like to go to the rural communities, like villages. 

07:00
Rev. John Bundor
So with this, it is good when people are educated in their own language, they will be able to read and write their language and communicate Gospel to their people, and everybody will be able to read. God will communicate to the person where he is reading. He or she is reading God’s Word. But when it is only heard or only be spoken, people will tend to forget some of the things that they are. Our minds are not like computers to remember everything. But when everything is in black and white, it always stick in the minds of the people. Just like what happened if God’s Word was not written. Nehemiah and Ezra could not be able to communicate God’s Word to his people. But it was recorded, so they took what was recorded and communicate to people. 

07:58
Rich Rudowske
Right. So the literacy and the written word, then, are a key to connect with the rural societies and to keep that word of God in front of them. 

08:10
Rev. John Bundor
Yes. 

08:11
Rich Rudowske
Some people say that since many of those rural communities with a language is only oral or only spoken, that it’s an unnecessary barrier to put the Bible in written form, and then literacy isn’t necessary. It’s just a barrier. It’d better to only give a recording of the Bible or in some audio form. How would you respond to that? 

08:34
Rev. John Bundor
Yes, I can say again in another way that their own thought, which I cannot deny, but to me, that is just halfway done. 

08:44
Rich Rudowske
Only halfway done. 

08:45
Rev. John Bundor
It’s just halfway done. It is not complete. 

08:48
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

08:48
Rev. John Bundor
Because in case the person lost the audio, in case the person could not get someone to speak God’s Word to the person. 

08:57
Rich Rudowske
Sure. 

08:57
Rev. John Bundor
So automatically, the person is left out. But when you help someone to read and write, you are enabling him to be able to hear God’s Word by himself without involving another person. 

09:12
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

09:13
Rev. John Bundor
To me, only audio is not complete. We need to be able to read and write. 

09:20
Rich Rudowske
Okay. So I’d like folks to learn a little bit about how a literacy program works. Can you describe the process of how you handle literacy from the beginning stages to people, the learners passing the program? 

09:34
Rev. John Bundor
Yes. Let me just throw light on that so that you will get me clear to handle literacy is not just an easy task. 

09:45
Rich Rudowske
Sure. 

09:46
Rev. John Bundor
We are dealing with adults right in literacy. Literacy we are not only teaching people how to read and write. You need to take some amount of counseling. You need to take some amount of encouraging people as leaders in our community, it’s very difficult to take them through. But with God’s help, with patience, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we take time. And every morning or whatever time they stated to attend the class, the first thing we need to tell them is to take them to the Word of God so that they will understand, so that they will be encouraged, so that they will be gingered. And from there, we begin to teach them how to read their language. And we show them the importance of reading and writing one’s own language. And from there we begin to encourage them one after the other. 

10:48
Rev. John Bundor
And one of the things that we do so that we’re able to capture their attention whenever they are busy at the time of their farming season, we slow down the training. When we know that the time of farming is a little bit relaxed, then we can engage them, and then they will be happy to come and land. And through this learning what we do, first we take them to the Word of God, tell them what God says, and through that, they will be willing to say, okay, I want myself to read and see what God is saying, to hear what God is saying. So some of these things help us to take them through. Some, we take them from the pre-primer, we go to book one, book two, book three, and they graduate. 

11:37
Rev. John Bundor
And I want to tell you that I have up to 25 people who are now serving our congregation as Lutheran pastors or lay preachers, I call them, because they are not able to read and write English. But I want to tell you that for now, they can read and write their own language, and they are able to preach God’s Word in their own language. They read the Bible frequently, they preach. And this time now we are taking them the balancing of Law and Gospel as Lutherans. And they are doing very well in that. But it takes time. It’s not just a deep process. It is a gradual process. It is something that once need to be a patience with the people, or else you will lost them and you will feel somehow tired or boring to learn. But with time, they can do it. 

12:30
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. So I think one of the things that you mentioned that our listeners may not have been aware of is that a lot of the students are adults, they’re not children. So for them to give their time for literacy means that it’s very important to them. They’re taking away time that they could be doing other work or as you mentioned, farming. And so those have to be attended to as you plan the coursework? 

12:54
Rev. John Bundor
Yes. 

12:55
Rich Rudowske
How many people have gone through the literacy classes that you have worked on and how long have you been doing this? 

13:02
Rev. John Bundor
Well, literacy started long ago, but for me, it really kick off in 2012. And from 2012, we can be boasting of graduating up to 75 learners who are able to read and write, both men and women and not children. And one of the things I noticed that in the U.S., when we are communicating to people that we are teaching adult how to read and write their language, it is clear, it is functional, because you can see an adult up to 75, 60, 40, he or she cannot read and write both English and his own local language. And when you look at it, literacy has helped them to even be able to read and write something. So we also eliminate the predominancy of illiteracy. So through illiteracy, it has helped a lot. 

14:11
Rich Rudowske
So the folks you’re talking about, you’re mainly working in the Kissi language, where you’ve had since 2012 about 75 learners who have graduated from the program, and 25 or so of them are working in the Lutheran church. Is that correct? 

14:26
Rev. John Bundor
Yes. 

14:27
Rich Rudowske
Okay. So can you share two or three stories of someone being able to read specific people, how it changed their life working through the literacy program? 

14:37
Rev. John Bundor
Yes. Most time I used to write my report to LBT. I do mention I have people like Faya Bukari, who is now assisting me when I’m not in my area. He takes care of the classes. Faya Bukari. I met Faya Bukari as a layman, let me just say, illiterate, someone that do not know how to read and write. And we established the class. He went through the class. Now, because of that zeal, he has to learn his own language. That also motivated him to read some part of English language. And because of that, he was enrolled in one of their seminary. And he went to the seminary and he did well. And now he’s an Assistant Pastor to their congregation. So you see, these are tourists that we can tell people. And I have another who is a Matthew Bumbe. 

15:42
Rev. John Bundor
The father was just a hunter, and he too was just a hunter. In fact, he was not recognized in the society. But through literacy, he is now being appointed as our leader. And also he is serving as the village secretary, taking note of some of their little money. They can put sometime in their savings. So because of that, it draw a signal to many people in that area that it is good for someone to learn how to read and write in your own mother tongue. So people are responding positively to our training. 

16:30
Rich Rudowske
So how has literacy impacted the growth of the Christian church in the Kissi area and other parts of Sierra Leone? 

16:38
Rev. John Bundor
Literacy has helped us a lot in growing or in the process of Gospel propagation, because in our area we are living far off from the capital city. Many people could not understand God’s Words and today the Kissi people, they are doing well. We have churches that are planted through this literacy program. Pastors from other different denominations are benefiting. And today I want to tell you that we have up to 15 congregations as Lutherans in my area through this literacy, because many of the pastors that I’m working with are literate in Kissi, not in English. That is why I was even moved to write a project of translating our liturgy. And we are working on that. And churches are growing. They are serious to communicate God’s Word to people. 

17:45
Rev. John Bundor
And lot of people, we have lot of people coming to Christ, teaching them, and then they are baptized. Each time we teach them, you will see that people respond by accepting to be baptized. So because of this, both in Sierra Leone and Liberia and Guinea, the Kissi work is spreading the Gospel on a very high velocity. Speed. Velocity. So even in Sierra Leon, our local language is helping. Like the Krio corner, most of our people in Kono area do not speak English. They speak Kono. So when you go to them and speak English, they will vote against the Gospel with their feet. That is to say, they will move out, they will look at it that the Gospel is in a foreign language. This is not part of their culture, this is not part of our culture. So they will move away. 

18:46
Rev. John Bundor
But when you communicate to them in your own language, they will grasp the Gospel with their two hands and they will be willing to accept the Word of God and walk. This has helped us to build many churches, and it is helping us, as I’m speaking, for us to reach the most remote villages that we are. Lack of the Gospel. 

19:12
Rich Rudowske
That’s great. The literacy is the key, again into those most remote areas. And sharing the Gospel in the mother tongue, where people don’t speak more than the local language, certainly not English. You mentioned that you are working on a liturgy in some of those languages. What motivated you to do that? And how is that affecting the church? 

19:36
Rev. John Bundor
You know, we want to maintain the same worship service as it is in the United States as it was before. And know worship is a continuity of the past act of God. So for us to maintain the purity, the uniqueness of our worship pattern, our people need to have it in their own local language. Okay, immediately. Interpretation, as how we call it, comes in lot of things, lot of important ideas will not be communicated. So I look at it as a theological personnel to say, well, for us to have our order of service or divine service, accordingly, it needs to be translated in local languages. 

20:33
Rev. John Bundor
And since we are not having lay preachers that are literate in their own language, then it is good also for us to teach them our liturgy, so that they will also be able to teach others to teach their parishioners how the liturgy should go. So because of that, I was motivated, and I look at it, that it is good. If we want to maintain Lutheranism in its purity, we need to translate some of this material into local language. Our people, we understand our doctrine, our people, we understand how we do things, and we actually grasp what we are doing with their two hands, because they will actually understand. There is no need of interpretation, there is no need of ambiguity in walls. Everything will be understand. They read the Word. 

21:33
Rev. John Bundor
So because of that, I said, well, it is good for us to translate our literature so that we can be on the same standard, the same level, the same understanding with our partners. So that motivated me. I want my people in this country with our partners to be on the same level. Let there be no difference. So that when people move from here or move from the U.S. and come here, let them see the same pattern, let them see the same things. Let us speak the same world and not different worlds. That is why I say, well, it is good for us to translate our literature. 

22:13
Rich Rudowske
Sure. Now, I understand that you mentioned that there are devotion or Bible studies in the literacy classes as well. So what impact have you seen in that? What insights from God’s word have you learned from literacy participants as they read the Bible in literacy class? 

22:32
Rev. John Bundor
Yeah. What I can sometimes see in that is when we are doing literacy, both Christians and non-Christians do come to our class. Some are coming to our class to say, okay, I just want to know how to read and write my language. So we organize that as a bit to call them to Christ. And that is why most of our material that we prepare, they are in line with God’s world. So our devotion go in line with God’s Word. We speak God’s Word to them, and we give them our portions of Bible to read. And because of that, I want to tell you that some non-Christians have become Christians, some non-Christians have become people that are very serious to do God’s Word. 

23:31
Rev. John Bundor
We have many of them in our area, and many people know reading God’s world transform lives of people, by the time someone read God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will walk in the minds of the person to transform the know, to bring the person to Christ and keep the person on the true faith. So that is how we use our devotion. Our devotion is to help people to understand Christ, but we don’t bring it directly but indirectly in devotions, as we say. Okay, let’s read social portion and then the person we read. Can you please read this? The person we read and through that you will see that the person we have interest to read more. And as you read more God’s Word, it transform your life. So automatically the person will become a Christian. 

24:24
Rich Rudowske
God’s Word is living and active and accomplishes that which he sends it for. So obviously the Word of God is important to you. Tell us about the role of God’s Word in your life. 

24:37
Rev. John Bundor
Yes, the role of God’s Word in my life is one. I will call it as it transform my life deadly. It helps me to understand God’s Word and it helps me, as I say, to transform my life, to keep me in the true faith. And also through that I will be able to communicate that to my people. And through that life-changing that people see in me, also create a platform for others to follow. And it has transformed my life in diverse way. In fact, for me, being a leader today as Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sierra Leone leader, it takes God’s time. Yes, it is God’s doing. It is not something that I was even thinking about. But as the Word of God sees, the Eord of God is active, living, sharper than double sword. 

25:48
Rev. John Bundor
Why I was in this ministry, literacy ministry, through what God is doing in my life, I was called to be a servant for these people. And that is why I keep literacy as a front picture of my ministry. It is a placard for my ministry, literacy, because through literacy many things are happening in my life. Personally, I have been in so many places through literacy and I have get a lot of understanding about God’sWord through literacy. Even in my seminary studies, it helps me greatly. When I was in the seminary at the College of Theology and Church Training center in Freetown, some of the things that you sent to me assignment through reading my own local language, it helped me when I understand God’s Wordd in my own local language. For me to write it in English is something very simple. 

26:56
Rev. John Bundor
And that has helped me to get some good records, to get some diplomas that I don’t have problem much about today. So literacy or God’s Word has transformed my life in diverse way. So I just give God the glory of what he is doing through me. Amen. 

27:14
Rich Rudowske
And besides the literacy program, and you’re the president of the church, I also understand that you have a radio program. Tell us about the radio program. 

27:23
Rev. John Bundor
Okay. Yeah, the radio program was something that I actually eager, but I was praying about it many years ago. Radio program is a program that also helped because when I look at our road conditions, I look at the distances we have for us to reach these people become very difficult and my passion today is to reach God’s Word, to rule out communities where people are not able to reach. We have communities that are not motorable. So I had a vision or I had a desire, how can I take this Gospel to these people? How can I communicate Gospel to these people? That was my burning desire. And fortunately for me, they established a radio program in my area. We have a radio camboy agriculture radio. And I go and talk with the manager and I explained my desire and then he welcomed the idea. 

28:33
Rev. John Bundor
And I started teaching people, even though I don’t have much money to give, but with a little they accepted. I started preaching, telling people God’s Word, take some of our literal materials or justification, teach people about justification, teach people what God’s Word is. And people started growing interest into that also. And today, as I am speaking every Friday, I’ll be on air teaching people about God’s Word teaching. And a lot of churches have joined me now. In fact, through that churches come together. They say, okay, let’s have radio program. So let John alone. Don’t go over radio now. Every one of us want to go over radio and preach as a well, glory be to God, because that is why. 

29:31
Rich Rudowske
That’s great. What are some things you think that Christians in the USA can learn from Christians in Sierra Leone? 

29:38
Rev. John Bundor
Yeah, it was a bit tough questions for me, but I tried to work on know. One of the things I want the Christians in the US to understand or to learn from us is that they should learn that God’s Word does not mean when someone get higher education than he knows about God. 

30:04
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

30:05
Rev. John Bundor
It’s not like when someone is rich, then the person knows God. The Word of God is just natural, is a gift which God have entrusted in our care. 

30:19
Rich Rudowske
Yes. 

30:20
Rev. John Bundor
So let them see, let them learn that they should use local people to preach God’s Word. They should use people that they are thinking that they are not somehow noble people. These are people that God want to make use of. I want to take this to the story of Peter. When we look at the twelve disciples, one of them was Peter. Peter was not educated. This is what I want the American brothers to learn. Peter was not a Ph.D holder, neither was he a Master’s holder, but God used him. So if God can use a fisherman, for us here we call them hunters, what about the local people? What about the marginalized people? What about the marginalized communities in the US? What are we doing about them? That is why for us here, we go to rural communities. 

31:23
Rev. John Bundor
We do not only focus our attention on urban ministries, but we focus our attention in rural communities. So I actually want them to learn that from us. That God’s Word is not all about being in urban area. Let’s go to rural communities. Let’s move to people to marginalize, to unseen people. Let’s see them. These are some of the things, because I’m not seeing that happening in the U.S. I don’t know. I’m not in the U.S., but that is how I look at it. 

31:57
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, definitely. Ministry to the marginalized, to the rural, to the local, that Christianity is not a matter of degrees and education, but a matter of the heart, and God working in the heart through His Word. Well said. What Scripture verse do you have to encourage our listeners? 

32:18
Rev. John Bundor
Yes, I have a Scripture verse that I always share with my people here, and I want to share that also with my listeners. That Isaiah 43:1 says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” Amen. This is the Word of God. 

32:48
Rich Rudowske
Thanks be to God. Mr. President, how can we pray for you in your work in Sierra Leone? 

32:54
Rev. John Bundor
Well, I actually want you people to pray for me for the work in Sierra Leone, because over the years, the ministry in Sierra Leone was crippling, and God have done it to bring this leadership in place. We want to pray that God will enable our partners to see the need of spreading God’s Word in this country as a country that is dominated by Muslims. That is why my prayer is that God should help us to finish our seminary so that we get more instructors to actually recruit more students for God’s work, because this country is dominated by Muslims and we want to penetrate them. But we can do that when we do not have the manpower. So we actually need prayer so that God will help us to build this seminary, to view more men. 

34:03
Rev. John Bundor
And God also should help us actually to create more rooms for us to preach God’s Word. 

34:13
Rich Rudowske
Amen. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. So we will join in praying for the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers and resources for the ongoing ministry in Sierra Leone. We have been talking with President John Bundor, president of the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone and literacy coordinator with the Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. Pastor Bundor, thank you. 

34:39
Rev. John Bundor
Thank you. 

34:43
Rich Rudowske
Our thanks to President John Bundor for being on the podcast today to talk about literacy work and the spread of the Gospel in Sierra Leone. We invite you to save the date for LBT Giving Tuesday 2020 on December 1. Go to lbt.org/givingtuesday or follow us on any of our social media channels to see some of the great prizes and opportunities to get involved, to collaborate and rally around this important work, and to raise $45,000 for literacy work in Sierra Leone. That’s lbt.or/givingtuesday or Lutheran BibleTranslators on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter thank you for listening to the Essentially Translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. Look for past episodes of the podcast lbt.org/podcast or find us and leave a good rating on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

35:38
Rich Rudowske
Follow Lutheran Bible Translators social media channels on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Or go to lbt.org to find out how you can get involved in the Bible translation movement and put God’s Word in their hands. The Essentially Translatable podcast is edited and produced by Andrew Olson and distributed by Sarah Lyons. Technical support for this episode was provided by David Federwitz. Executive Producer is Amy Gertz. Podcast artwork designed by Caleb Rodewald. Music written and performed by Rob Veith. I’m Rich Rudowske. So long for now.