CMS missionaries Matt & Ellen Tyler serve the Lord in Vanuatu. Here, one year into location, they reflect on the role of language in their partnerships. 

“Sometimes our attempts at talking in Daakaka are met with laughter – not mocking us, just delight from hearing their language in the mouth of someone so different to them.”

Celebrating a wedding! Aunties escort the bride to her groom under a cloth canopy.

We’ve been in Vanuatu for a full year now, and it’s tempting to look to other missionaries who went out at the same time as us (or even afterwards) and see all the ministry they are doing. Already some are teaching classes, preaching, leading Bible studies and training people in kids’ ministry. And here we are… still learning language. 

However, your partnership with CMS has given us world-class training, and so we know already that language learning is ministry. Ministry, at its heart, is serving people, and language enables this in so many ways.

Learning places in the village with a local chief.

Language learning…

… happens with people

Despite what you may remember from learning French or Japanese in high school classrooms, language learning is a social activity. Matt’s language lessons take him into people’s kitchens, yards and gardens. Women come to our kitchen while Ellen is cooking and ask her questions in language. Sometimes our attempts at talking in Daakaka are met with laughter – not mocking us, just delight from hearing their language in the mouth of someone so different to them.

… brings us into the community

Bislama, English and French are used to communicate with outsiders, but people use Daakaka with the people they are closest to. Most people will speak Bislama, an English-based creole language, as a second language. It’s not unusual for strangers to greet us in Bislama, but you can see their faces light up when we respond in Daakaka! You can almost hear their surprise: “Oh, you want to become part of us?”

… shows people we think they are valuable and made in God’s image

As we learn the words that others speak, we come to understand their thoughts and the way they see the world. We communicate that their knowledge and experience is important. As we work hard to get words right, we can show that their language – and they themselves – are important and precious in God’s sight.

… makes us the learners, not the experts

Rather than coming in with all the answers, we come in empty, starting from a position of weakness. Right now, a two-year-old can communicate better than we can! Yet this is the pattern set for us by the Lord Jesus, who “made himself nothing” (NIV) or “emptied himself” (CSB) to come and serve us (Philippians 2:7). We show we are not in a hurry to follow our own agenda; instead, we’re happy to just spend time with people.

Matt helped out in James’ garden…

…then they shared a watermelon while learning language.

We are thankful for CMS and our supporters, who enable our long-term ministry, relationship building and opportunities to share the gospel. We long to see people here have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2-3).

PRAY

Give thanks for Matt & Ellen and their humble, dedicated hearts for language learning in Vanuatu. Pray for consistent, skilled language helpers so that the family may continue to learn and minister effectively.