June 23, 2010
Divine Appointment
The above phrase--"Divine Appointment"--is a difficult one to translate into Portuguese. The word "appointment", as in a doctor's appointment, is translated "consulta", which carries more the idea of a consultation. But the phrase "divine consultation" does not at all carry the same meaning as "divine appointment".
I discovered this last week as I was translating for John A. Stewart, founder of Lamplighters ministries. Mr. Stewart was telling our students about his ministry, which promotes intentional discipleship. At one point he used the phrase "divine appointment"...and I was stuck. How was I supposed to translate that?
My mind raced back and forth, flipping through Portugues synonyms and antonyms, cognates and false cognates. Nothing. Finally I settled for something lame like "an encounter ordained by divine providence."
Regardless of how I translated it, the whole seminar from last week was indeed a divine appointment, at least in my life and ministry.
As many of you know, we will be relocating to São Luís after our furlough in order to begin a church-planting ministry. Very clear in my mind is how I want the church to "look"--the culture of worship, discipleship, and outreach that I want to form. Let's call that "Point B". The difficulty has always been how to get to Point B from where I am now (aka Point A).
Enter Lamplighters Ministries. Up until two weeks ago I knew nothing about them. Then I was informed that, as the only American missionary available for the task, I would be translating for Mr. Stewart as he gave his seminar to our students. At about the same time I received an e-mail informing me that I would need to translate the Power Point presentation that would accompany the sessions. All of this while packing for a move and preparing for furlough.
With no small amount of under-my-breath grumbling I began the task. But as I made my way through the material, I began to realize that this was exactly what I was looking for. And as the seminar began and Mr. Stewart shared the details of his discipleship/leadership training/evangelism/Bible study program I became more and more enthused. Right in front of me were the tools necessary to get from Point A to Point B--and beyond!
Me translating "divine appointment" and other tricky phrases.
If you have never heard of Lamplighters, and are interested in a more effective discipleship ministry, I would strongly encourage you to check them out. For me, this was truly a Divine Appointment, or an encontro ordenado pela divina providência, if you will.
Talk back to the missionary: Ever had something happen to you that could only be described as a divine appointment? Tell us about it in the comments section.
Posted by Andrew on June 23, 2010 8:12 PM.
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