Golden Jubilee For Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference The Biblical Pastoral Ministry T he Biblical Pastoral Ministry Office at ZCBC coordinates activities of the Catholic Church in the area of Ministry of the Word. Bishops are the prime Ministers of the Word in the Church. They collaborate in this ministry with priests and deacons, making sure that the Word of God reaches the ears and lives of the faithful. The ZCBC is a member of the Catholic Bible Federation. Through this Federation we share experiences of the whole Church in the area of the ministry of the Word. We learn from each other about the power of the Word and how to make it effective in our midst. The Word of God is presented to us through reading of the Bible. We need a faithful translation of the Bible into our languages, so that we can read it and understand it well. One of the concerns of the office is that many people read the bible in English, rather than in their own language, their mother tongue. For many languages all over the world, Bible translations have given the foundation to organised written forms of those languages and preserved the riches of the cultures that are transmitted through spoken and written language. The work of missionaries in this respect is enormous. ZCBC, through the Biblical Pastoral Ministry, engages in projects of translating the Bible into local languages. Through common efforts made with the Zimbabwe Bible Society, we now have well-translated Bible versions in IsiNdebele and ChiShona. Thanks to the translation work carried out in the Hwange Diocese, the Nambia Bible is also available. Translating the Bible is an ongoing task. There are more minority languages that need new translations, while improvements on existing translations are always welcomed.The dioceses and religious congregations care for the formation of the Ministers of the Word through sending a number of priests to study the Scriptures. Due to these efforts, the number of scripture scholars has increased. They teach in seminaries, houses of formation as well as offer courses in Pastoral centres and parishes. 73