Discussions

It is important that the more difficult or important passages of the translation are discussed by the Translation Team. All the members of the Translation Team have the intention to produce a reliable translation. But the views of the members about how to best put this reliable translation into words may differ. All members will listen to each other's arguments, bring their own arguments, and come to a conclusion. The conclusion can be reached because everybody agrees, or it can be reached by vote, or by consulting others, or a combination of this.

Discussions shall be guided by the following rules:

1. If a member of the Team wishes to raise an issue for discussion, that member shall create a consultation note for the team. The consultation note will be distributed to all members of the team. To give members time to think about the issues, and thus make the discussion more productive, the consultation note shall not be discussed immediately, but after a day or more.
2. The consultation note clearly describes the issue or question. If the member desires a change, the member shall include a clear suggestion for change in the consultation note.
3. The members of the team shall choose a chair person. The chair person leads the discussions, keeps the discussions on topic, ensures that procedures are followed, and keeps the time.
4. The members of the team are all busy and their time is valuable. Therefore discussions should be kept short and to the point. Personal reflections and deliberations about a passage shall not be done in the team, while others are held in suspense. Everybody shall hold such deliberations in his own time without disturbing others.
5. If discussion of a consultation note is dragging on, let's say for more than 5 minutes, a vote shall be taken so as to arrive at a decision.
6. If a member is not satisfied with the outcome of a discussion, that member can forward the consultation note to other appropriate bodies who are able to advise the translation team. If the matter concerns the original language, then it will be forwarded to the Bible Society. If the matter concerns the local language, the matter should be forwarded to the group of language scholars. If the answer from the scholars does not satisfy any member of the team, the matter can be forwarded to the panel consisting of local Church leaders and scholars.
7. If a consultation notes has gone through the advising bodies, and a rendering is arrived at by the majority of the members of the translation team, and this rendering does not satisfy a team member, that member can ask the matter to be forwarded to three able Church leaders. Those able Church leaders have knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, of good commentaries and other reference materials. The questions sent to them should be worded such that it places a low demand on their time. The matter shall include the discussions of the translation team, the answer given by the Bible Society, shall state the rendering chosen by the majority of the team, and the alternate rendering. The able Church leaders shall be asked whether they choose the majority rendering or the alternate. They shall be informed that their choice defaults to the majority if no response has been received by the translation team within a month. A vote shall be taken from the answers given by the Bible Society and each of the able Church leaders. If the vote needs to be split, equal votes will be given to each of the members of the translation team.