54 Baptisms

Story: Janeen Michie
Photo: Nete Talian

Engan translator Nete Talian has been leading evangelistic meetings in the village of Immi. The meetings were held in Enga using the Enga Bible translation. During these meetings he showed the Enga Jesus Film, a film against tribal fighting, and a film promoting AIDS awareness. As a result, fifty-four people were baptized.

The Apostle Paul Speaks Nukna

Story and Photo: Matt Taylor

Recently some of the Nukna people were reading through the translation of Colossians with Matt Taylor, checking for accuracy and naturalness. After one particular passage, Matt noticed one of the Nukna men smiling and chuckling to himself. When Matt asked what was going on, he replied, “It’s just that for a minute there I forgot it was a translation. It’s like Paul knows the Nukna language and is speaking directly to me!”

Moments like these greatly encourage us to persevere in the task God has given us, to partner with the Nukna to translate the good news of Jesus into their heart language. It’s a long and complicated process, and there are no shortcuts to achieving a high-quality translation that speaks to the hearts of the Nukna while also remaining faithful to the original text.

Recently the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Timothy have been checked by a translation consultant and given final approval for publication. Our translation team has also completed several stages in the translations of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Titus and Philemon. These books are now ready to be consultant checked as well. Our hope is to publish these 10 Pauline epistles later next year, in both printed and audio formats.