Friday 11 September 2020

‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’ Memoirs of Bible Translator David Bendor-Samuel

When I finished ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’ I thought – ‘This is a life well-lived. There are lessons here for us all.’ The book is not thin. It is a portly 589 pages; however it is a smooth, easy read. Before you know you are at the end of one chapter and wondering if you have time to read the next. 

There are reasons for this. The story line is clear: this is the life of the author, from child-hood to retirement. There are endless by-ways he could have gone down, but he keeps us on the main path: his life, and especially his life as a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators[1]. Moreover the story fascinates, taking the reader both to a primitive tribe in the Amazon basin, and to the senior offices of one of the world’s largest mission organisations with cameo portraits of some of its pioneers such as Cameron Townsend, Kenneth Pike, and George Cowan.

 Another reason is the prose. It is steady, clear and dignified; the words precise, but also pleasing and apt. There is no gushing or gratuitous emotionalism. There is of course emotion, but the author lets the story do its own work as when he tells of his courtship with his child-hood sweet heart, Margaret, now his wife of sixty-four years. Romance was flourishing - until they attended a Keswick convention. She stood for the missionary call; he didn’t. And so separation was inevitable. She never thought of another man; he never thought of another woman. But they were apart; God’s will must come first. However his understanding of how God calls someone changed, and he began attending night classes at London Bible College. This is where Margaret was a residential student. There was a break in his New Testament Greek class and he went to make his hot drink; and, yes, Margaret appeared. Maybe it’s not quite Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on the top of the Empire State Building, but it is still quite a scene even in the humbler setting of a Bible College dining room. There is plenty of feeling, but it is all in the story, not in horrible loud exclamation marks.

 It would be understandable to see this autobiography as important for shedding light on the growth of the Wycliffe Bible Translators, for this is the organisation the author served till he retired when he was nearly 80. Wherever you turn, there is Wycliffe, or its cousin, the Summer Institute of Linguistics[2]. However that would be a mistake. The book is not about an organisation, it is about a man’s life and, as said, there are important lessons to learn from the life of Dr David Bendor-Samuel.

 One would be that the important decisions in his life are marked by careful thinking. This is what happened when there was that change in his understanding about what a calling meant. David had thought there had to be a clear divine invitation for the missionary, which he had not received. However he saw that Paul’s movements in Acts were controlled by a ‘logical thought process’. So he concluded the Christian should look for a principle in the Bible, and carefully apply this to their own situation. Again and again the author brought this understanding to bear when he faced important decisions. And he faced several. As anyone in Christian work knows, emotional decision making can leave a lot of damage in its wake. This emphasis on calm logical thinking is an important lesson for us all.

 Another lesson, closely connected to the above, is the way David handled sudden changes and set-backs. He took them on the chin, they hurt, but he again applied logical thinking which led him to submit to his circumstances. You could call it submissive thinking.

 After four years in the Amazon basin the family returned to home in 1963 to England just for a break (missionaries call it a furlough); but while there, out of the blue, he was asked to become the Acting Head of Wycliffe in the UK. After two years the family returned to Brazil and were making excellent progress with the translation of the Scriptures into the Guajajara language. And then again, just after one year, the call came to lead the work in the UK.

 ‘This was a complete surprise to us, and initially it brought us a good deal of dismay’.

 The dismay was because everything was in place for the translation of the Scriptures into Guajajara. But they had to hand it over. Then settling back into the UK, after three years another surprise request: to become the international coordinator for literacy which would mean moving with all his family to Dallas.

 As well as these unexpected changes, there were outright disappointments. In the jungle their house was burnt down. David was at a conference at the time: ‘A telegram arrived with the message ‘house in Pindare destroyed by fire’. When he was head of the Wycliffe UK a boiler was left on and burnt down the kitchen and the dining room at the mission’s main centre. Also when he was responsible for the work in the UK, the government decided to build a motorway through the Wycliffe property.

 After moving to the USA there are no reports of fires, but the set-backs seem harsher. In the 1990’s each national Wycliffe organisation was given autonomy, and David was appointed the Vice President for Wycliffe organisations. This involved a lot of travel, diplomacy, and administration. It was a job he did well, so much so that the CEO gave most of his attention to SIL affairs (the translation work), leaving the Wycliffe side of things to David. Indeed at one point he decided to formally delegate this responsibility to David. Then, without warning, the CEO changed his mind, and appointed another man to take this role on. When David asked what he was meant to do, the CEO replied that he did not know. David allows himself one short paragraph to express his disappointment over this:

 ‘For the past six years, I had worked very hard indeed, virtually single handed, to re-organise the Wycliffe side of things, and I knew that I had done a good job…..It just didn’t seem right or sensible.’

 Just over ten years later came another set-back, probably the most bitter. David’s last senior role with Wycliffe was as the International Coordinator for Pastoral Care. His major contribution here – as mentioned – was to introduce reconciliation training. It was called ‘Dealing With Conflict Biblically’ (DCB). The course had been warmly received and David was developing the material so his successor could ensure the DCB course continued. In 2008 the news came that there would be no successor.

 ‘This came as a stunning blow. It had been decided that nobody was going to be appointed as my successor in leading the DCB programme since this was to be closed down as an International Function at Dallas.’

 In all of these sudden changes and set backs there is a common theme: submissive thinking. This does not mean there is not a raw reaction. The set backs are ‘blows’, there is ‘dismay’, there is ‘spiritual struggle’, but soon there is a bounce back.

 With those requests to dramatically change his plans David’s attitude had almost a soldier’s feel to it. His view was that he was being asked to do this by someone senior in the organisation that God had led him to join. Hence without strong reasons, he should obey.

 With the fires, and the motorway plan, David looked to and believed Romans 8:28, that it would work out for good. This was submitting to God’s providence, and so in each case it turned out to be.

 And so too for those harsher disappointments towards the end of his career. Regarding the abrupt decision of the CEO not to confirm the role supervising the Wycliffe organisations, David writes this:

 ‘Gradually, the Lord helped me to accept the situation. The CEO had the responsibility to make these decisions and had no doubt tried to decide wisely...Eventually I was able to trust that God was truly in control of his world.’

 The same goes for the closure of the DCB programme at an international level:

 ‘After a time of spiritual struggle, I was able to accept it as the Lord’s will for me at that time.’

 This is not blind submission, it is thoughtful. As with his initial decision to join Wycliffe, he brings the principles of the Bible to bear on his particular situation, and so submits, choosing to trust the good intentions of his seniors, and ultimately the goodness of God in directing the affairs of the world.

 Careful thinking, submissive thinking, and a third would be forward thinking. This was David’s determination, in whatever role he was in, to push things ahead. One of David’s first attempts to do this earned him a firm reprimand. In 1960 David and Margaret were assigned as translators to the Guajajara tribe in the Amazon basin. One of the more laborious tasks of translating was to copy out for analysis sentences with words that appeared regularly, but with no clear purpose. To avoid all the copying David suggested using a new ‘edge punched card’ method[i]. Looking back he believed such innovations ‘culminated in the development of personal computers.’ When he told Dr Gudschinsky, his linguistic supervisor, that he would be using these cards:

 ‘Her response was immediate and sharp. It consisted initially of just the three words ‘You will not!’.

 She then ordered David to use the copying method. While he lost that particular battle, there was eventually some poetic justice. For when over twenty years later David was Wycliffe’s Vice President for Academic Affairs he saw beyond the horizon and ensured the entire organisation benefitted from all that computer programming could bring to Bible translation. He set up the ‘Language Data Processing’ department. As anyone who has had any contact with Bible translation will know the Wycliffe computer programmes are renowned in this field.

 There are many other examples of David looking to make things better: for the Guajajara tribe he made gospel recordings and composed hymns; in the UK he set up what today would be called a development department for Wycliffe UK when he was the acting head; later he set up a personnel department and also led the campaign to wean British members away from depending on the US emergency funds and bring in their own support; when David and the family moved to Dallas he set about expanding the role of literacy for the whole Wycliffe organisation; he also spear headed a push for the organisation to find out more about how many languages in need of Bible translation there were; and much more. As seen one of his last innovations was bringing a course on conflict resolution for all Wycliffe’s members.

 Two other examples of thinking and acting beyond tradition certainly deserve a mention. One is that during his national service he proved to the British army that it is perfectly possible to induct new recruits to the rigours of military life using a constant stream of foul and abusive language. David himself had to endure this from a brutal and blasphemous training corporal. However when he was assigned the same job:

 ‘I concentrated on showing that it was possible to produce a series of well-trained squads without the use of foul language or any other kind of unreasonable pressure.

 The other wonderful innovation that must be mentioned is that all over the world, to the delight of hundreds of missionary audiences in need of light entertainment, this distinguished scholar and senior leader would take to the stage for a reading of - ‘Winnie The Pooh’. David would imitate the voices of the actors he had heard as a young boy.

 This is a significant book with important lessons for us all. There is the wisdom of carefully applying the principle of the Bible to one’s own particular situation; the prudence of thinking through the good reasons for submitting either to ones’ seniors or providence; and finally the courage being ready to look beyond the horizon to make things better.

 Things have certainly got better for the Guajajara tribe. In the book there is a delightful description of the dedication of the New Testament in their own language. It was a day full of joy and rejoicing. This is not in the memoirs, but it would seem from a little googling that when David and Margaret first arrived among this tribe there were hardly any Guajajara Christians. Now, according to the Joshua Project, 60% of the tribe, that is about 14,000 people, are Christians. There is little doubt that the translation of the New Testament into their own tongue is a major reason for this dramatic growth.

 No doubt the Guajajara tribe are thankful that David and Margaret came to them; and I am sure many Christians will be grateful that they can now read about this and much more in ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness.’



[1] Bible translator for the Guajajaras, Amazon basin: 1960 – 1969; Head of Wycliffe UK, 1964-1966 (Acting); 1969 – 1976; International Literacy Coordinator: 1976 – 1982; Vice President for Academic Affairs: 1982 – 1990; Vice President for Wycliffe Organisations: 1991 – 1997; Coordinator for Pastoral Care: 2001 – 2008.

[2] Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics has always been two separate organisations. The former related to the churches for support; the latter focused on translating the Bible into tribal languages.



[i] If you are interested in what this method entails it is detailed on pages 252 – 253 on the book.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for this review. I know the Bendor-Samuels slightly, and I knew some but not all of what is hinted at in your review. I will be buying the book.

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