Ethical Stances of Fraternal Partnership: The Ethiopian Comprehensive Plan for Bible Translation

The Ethiopian Comprehensive Plan for Bible Translation (CP) is part of Vision 2025. The target was to start Bible translation in twenty-seven Ethiopian languages that had no single Bible text translated by 2008. The Ethiopian CP was established by six partners, comprising churches and Bible agencies. Leaders of these organizations formed a fraternal partnership, which required extensive consultation. This was reinforced by a strong code of conduct. A conducive context was created by a Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations. The leadership interaction required high-level ethical practices that went beyond the traditional approach, which had elements of paternalism.

There were multiple challenges that threatened the integrity of the partnership. However, the leadership remained resilient and maintained the integrity of the partnership. This article, based on interviews, document review, and analysis, describes the ethical stances that were used by the leaders to harness the fraternal partnership in the midst of storms that rocked the integrity of the partnership. External partners stepped in to support and prevent the partnership from disintegration. Partnership members served as guardrails to protect the partnership en route. Despite the challenges, the majority of the leadership remained committed to enforcing ethical stances that harnessed the fraternal partnership and kept it on track . By 2020, the Ethiopian CP had attained the intended target.

This required engagement of multiple groups including language communities, government agencies, mission agencies, para-church organizations, and individuals.. The partnership succeeded, makes it educational for others engaged in Bible translation. The nucleus of the partnership was fraternity demonstrated through equity and respect for all, protected by ethical stances.