Solomon Islands

Would you like to be involved in giving God’s Word to the 25+ languages that are still waiting to have God’s Word in their own language?  

 
Do you want to work with local Bible translators to train and mentor them?  Would you like to strengthen the local church by providing Scripture so the people can clearly understand the gospel and who God is?  If so, consider serving in the Solomon Islands!

SITAG’s main objectives are to train Solomon Islanders in Bible translation, literacy and linguistic principles and to provide advisor and consultant help for those engaged in such work.

Current Work
Translation work completed in recent decades has laid a good foundation for rapid progress in remaining languages. Because translations have been done in many strategic languages throughout the Solomons, many remaining projects may be able to use computer adaptation tools and language cluster approaches.
That said, a small number of the remaining languages will still require a more traditional one-team, one-language approach, but even in these projects, the main focus of SITAG personnel will be the training, advising and mentoring of Solomon Islanders.

Since the people who need this work the most live mainly in rural areas, SITAG families generally live out in the provinces where they can best learn the language and culture of a particular language group.  They then work with national counterparts, training them in translation principles and procedures. 

Advisors are needed for New and Old Testament translation teams.

Solomon Islands Translation Advisory Group

SITAG is a small entity (approximately 30 members) administered by a director who is advised by a committee of members and accountable to the SIL Area Director. SITAG’s infrastructure and support services (e.g., housing, transportation, purchasing) are minimal.

SITAG members need to be resourceful, self-directed people who can adapt to local conditions and challenging circumstances while still managing time well and remaining focused. Close relationships with Solomon Islanders and with other expatriate families require grace, humility and openness in all areas of life. It takes a special kind of person to live and serve in the Solomon Islands. If you’re one of those people, we’d love to talk with you. We have many Solomon Islanders who are waiting for your help!

For more information, contact Wendy at pacificbible@hotmail.com   

Additional Information:

Blogs from the Solomons:

Havengadventure Serving as Translation Advisors
Choate Serving as Translation Advisors
Matzke Mission Serving as Directors in the Solomon Islands
Van Andel's Adventures Serving as Translation Advisors

Owa New Testament Dedication

Blog post: Literacy Training with the Awas
Blog post: SI Bible Translation Stamp
Blog post: Dedication of new Training Center

 
Quick Facts

Population: 472,000 (SIL Ethnologue)  

94% Melanesian
Polynesian and expatriate minorities
Literacy rate: 5-60% (SIL Ethnologue)
Living languages: 70
New Testaments and Bibles: 22
Active translation programs: 20
Remaining need: 25 or more
Economy: 75% subsistence agriculture;
fish, timber, copra, cocoa, palm oil, services
Religion: 95% Christian; animism and cults

Needed: Operations Manager for the Solomon Islands

Do you enjoy using your administrative gifts to help others? Your gifts and talents could be used to support Bible translation in the Solomon Islands. 

The Solomon Islands, an archipelago about 1000 miles east of the northern tip of Australia is home to about 600,000 people from about 65 different language groups.

The New Testament has been published in 18 languages and 5 language groups have full Bibles.

The Operations Manager works closely with the Director and other staff to help provide administrative leadership for the smooth operation of the office, group houses and vehicles and communicate with the members of the group.  Good relationships with members, administration, officials and visitors are a high value as we strive for working together in harmony.

The job includes a variety of duties and no two days are the same. An important part of the job is helping to provide support for language teams whose ministry is based in a village setting. This includes helping with ticket purchases, sending supplies to personnel in the provinces by ship or air and regular communication with these teams via email and two-way radio.

We are blessed with Solomon Islands employees who work alongside us. The Operations Manager works closely with the employees and needs to feel comfortable working in this cross-cultural situation. The employees are most comfortable speaking Solomon Islands Pijin, so being willing to learn this language is a must.

At times the job may require supervision of building maintenance and building projects, which may involve outside workers as well.

Ideally, we'd love to have someone commit to this role for 2+ years but if you have 4+ months to give, let's talk!

For more information on the Bible translation work in Solomon Islands, click here.