Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a land of high mountains and lush valleys. On this rugged island are some 800 different languages!
Hundreds of villages have a church. Missionaries in the past centuries had brought many to the Lord. Many call themselves Christian though now they just try to follow rules and recite prayers. Millions of people are without Scripture in their own languages and have no deep understanding of the Word of God.
Traditionally, a language group would be chosen for Bible translation by Western missionaries, and many years down the road that one group would get a New Testament. Many Papua New Guineans have given up hope of ever seeing God’s Word in their language. There just are not enough missionaries. Today, God is doing a new thing.
God has opened the door for Wycliffe Associates to network with national church groups in a single location where we can equip them to launch Bible translation projects with their own congregations. There is an opportunity today for Wycliffe Associates to build a Bible translation training center in the capital city of Papua New Guinea where these groups can meet and be trained.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)
What an opportunity for us to pray for Bible translation on this far away Pacific island. God is, indeed, doing a new thing!
Please pray with me:
- Pray for the hundreds of church leaders doing the best that they can to preach and teach using Scripture in a second or third language and pleading for the Bible in their own language.
- Pray for Wycliffe Associates to build good relations and unity in the Spirit with the many national church organizations in PNG.
- Ask the Lord to bring in all the funds necessary to build the translation training center and to hold MAST workshops for the first 20 language groups that are ready to go.
- Please pray for those nationals chosen to be Bible translators for their language group. Pray that they will be prepared by the Holy Spirit to do this work that God has planned for them.
- Please pray for an emergency situation we just heard about from translators and local churches
Praying with you,
Prayer Coordinator
Wycliffe Associates
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