Timothy Duncan
Ethnos360 — South Africa
Hello! I'm Timothy, and I'm from South Africa. The Lord has given me a burden for longer than I can remember for unreached people groups in Papua New Guinea. Specifically I desire to see mature, indigenous, New Testament churches planted that will glorify God. That means the long road of cross-cultural church planting in some of the more remote parts of the world. Papua New Guinea has over 800 distinct language groups, and it is estimated that about 300 are still unreached!
I am currently in South Africa, getting ready to go. I recently became a member of Integral Vision, which is the southeast African branch of the global network of church-planting organisations including Ethnos360 and NTM Papua New Guinea.
I have a special interest in Bible translation and linguistics. In order to see mature churches, there has to be access to God's Word in the heart language of the people! In addition, many languages in Papua New Guinea have never yet been written down. Thus, a key part of the work will be to analyse the language and produce an orthography (alphabet) which can be used to translate the Bible and teach people to read their own language.
I don't have a specific people group in mind yet. That will be decided with a team once I am in the country. Surveys will need to be done first as well to ascertain priority needs and openness to having missionaries come and live and work among the people. I am praying towards September 2027 to arrive in Papua New Guinea.
I am so thankful for many opportunities so far to be prepared for the work, many people who have mentored me or spoken into my life in big ways or small. I just completed my BTh (bachelor of theology) through the South African Theological Seminary in April this year. I have also had the immense privilege of a year of cross-cultural training in England through NTM-UK. In order to be best prepared to serve within my giftings, I am praying to be able to go back to the UK for the advanced linguistics training necessary for analysing a previously unwritten language. That will be, Lord willing, September this year.