Serving With:

Wycliffe Bible Translators, Solomon Islands

Background:

James was born in Manila, Philippines to Wycliffe translators for the Tausug people of the southern Philippines. James majored in Bible and math at Bryan College to prepare himself for the analytical work of deciphering an unstudied language and translating Scripture. At Bryan he met Karen, a “preacher’s kid” from Gallatin, Tennessee and fellow math major whose general interest in missions had been narrowed to a focus on Bible translation by a presentation that highlighted the need for analytical skills in the task. James and Karen married in 1979 and have three children: Kent, Philip, and Susan.

Ministry:

From 1986 to 2005 James and Karen lived and worked among the Sa’a people on the island of Small Malaita in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. They learned the Sa’a language and worked with national partners to translate the New Testament. Work on the Old Testament in the Sa’a language in continuing. From 2004-2008, James was the director of the Wycliffe group in the Solomons. After a couple of years of studies in the States working on advanced linguistic degrees, the Ashleys returned to the Solomons, where they continued their work with Wycliffe Bible Translators and national partners.

Though James and Karen Ashley are now based in the Dallas area, their work is still centered on the task of Bible translation. The Saꞌa New Testament was completed in 2005, and work on the Old Testament is now making good progress, with James and the national translators working mostly by Zoom. Regular trips to the Solomon Islands keep the personal connection strong and also allow James to check the translations of other teams for accuracy, clarity, and naturalness. His years of experience help him to spot problems and train the translators in ways to solve the issue at hand and apply similar strategies to other passages. For her part, Karen works at Dallas International University as an Associate Instructor for the Foundations of Translation course, supporting the professor by giving an occasional lecture and grading a large part of the homework, exams, and papers. This course gives new Bible translation students a good grasp of the complexity of the translation task, helping them see that it goes beyond merely substituting one word for another. God wants to communicate his message to all the people groups he has created, and the languages they speak fit together in a wide variety of ways that are quite different from Hebrew, Greek, and English.

Prayer Requests:

• For continuing culture, linguistic, and administrative challenges in the field
• For encouragement, well-being, and faithfulness in the sometimes tedious work of Bible translation
• For their marriage and grown children