Ministry of Jack Popjes with Wycliffe Canada

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Jack Popjes provokes his audiences and readers to think new thoughts, moving them to positive action. Much of his experience, and his stories, come from the twenty-two years Jack, his wife Jo, and their three daughters, lived in Brazil with an illiterate indigenous people group called the Canela.

They learned the previously unwritten language, finding it complicated and fascinating. They learned about and respected the culture, developed an alphabet and a dictionary, taught the people to read, trained teachers, did medical, dental and community development work, produced educational materials, and translated a large part of the Bible into the Canela language.

By the time the project was completed, their daughters were grown up, had graduated from college and one of them was married. Jack and Jo dealt with a more than usual allotment of loneliness, disease, opposition, and frustrations. They also enjoyed a wide variety of deeply satisfying experiences during their more than twenty years among the Canela. Jack speaks and writes honestly about both the failures and the successes.

Since completing the Canela language program Jack has spoken at events in hundreds of cities in North America and overseas. He served as the CEO of Wycliffe Canada for six years and of Wycliffe Caribbean for three years.