A large crowd gathers, alive with dancing and shouts of praise. A steady procession of people carrying New Testament translations walks past in a continuous line. For many people, this is a highlight of the 70-year anniversary celebration of SIL in Papua New Guinea: the presentation of God’s Word translated into 233 Papua New Guinean languages since 1956. Nothing can dampen the spirits of those in attendance, not even the sudden downpour of rain.
Dr Johnstone Ndunde holding the Label New Testament
As people begin huddling inside a large marquee, Robyn Davies proudly carries the Kandas New Testament to the front. After a few minutes, something catches Robyn’s eye. She notices the Executive Director of SIL International, Dr Johnstone Ndunde, holding a copy of the Label New Testament. This translation, made for a small language group of fewer than 300 people, represents something beautiful: that God cares for all people and wants them all to know him in the languages they understand best.
Robyn explains:
The Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 is something that resonates with the Label people: they may be small but they are no less important to God. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Well, 99 is enough, don’t worry about that one!’
Robyn has been supporting minority language communities in PNG since 1987. After spending a couple of years teaching at a Christian school in Darwin, she found herself in PNG working alongside Swedish translation advisor, Lisbeth Fritzell, on the Ramoaaina language. This was the start of a friendship of almost 40 years, which has also included living and working among the Ramoaaina, and forming life-long connections with the Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label people they worked alongside.
The work is long and it can be easy to think that nothing is happening, but Robyn says that over the years there have been many ‘little glimpses of God at work’. She reflects on the transformation in the life of one of the Kandas mother-tongue translators over the course of around seven years. Working with God’s Word truly transformed his life. After he received prayer for his sick child, and while translating Luke 15, he was challenged to put his faith in Jesus and trust that he is the true and living God. Sadly, this translator passed away at the age of only 35. Yet his legacy lives on. At his funeral, guests said that he had preached in church only the week prior on The Prodigal Son. When working with the translation team on this passage, he had been challenged by the response of the elder brother, which he had never heard about before.
Robyn says she is encouraged that God is working in the lives of the Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label communities. She is grateful for the friendships and sense of community that come from her time in PNG. Robyn and Lisbeth are both preparing to leave PNG at the end of 2026 for a six-month home assignment and a return to their respective home countries (Robyn to Australia and Lisbeth back to Sweden). Robyn shares:
It’s going to be hard at the end of the year when we go to two separate countries! But both Lisbeth and I know that as God has guided us, been with us and held us in the past, so he will in the future. We’re just weak people that God is using.
Please pray:
that the New Testaments in Ramoaaina, Kandas and Label language communities continue bearing fruit
for the distribution of MP3 players and apps in Label and Kandas.
He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. – Psalm 40:3a (NLT)
Fanny Crosby had a significant story to tell, and she told it prolifically through the writing of more than 8,000 worship songs! Fanny was blind from infanthood, yet grateful to God for spiritual sight. An American poet, hymnist and mission worker, Fanny was known as the ‘Queen of Gospel Song Writers’. Many of her songs still resound more than a century after she faithfully walked the earth. One in particular is embedded in my spirit. Perhaps you can sing along with me:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song, praising my Saviour all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, praising my Saviour, all the day long.
What is your story? What is your song? Perhaps you are in a season of sorrow, unsure of how your story will unfold. You may even be heading towards the last chapter of your story on earth. But friends, when our stories are united with Christ and woven together with his, we always have an extraordinarily precious life song to sing!
When my story felt like it was totally falling apart, God kindly showed me how he was integrating everything into its rightful place within his-story. Priceless promises from Psalm 40 assured me how he was going to transform cruel circumstances into an unimaginable redemption story. My life song is not over, and neither is yours. May our life stories sing in harmony with God’s glories – now and forevermore!
For reflection: How can I be more attuned and attentive to the life stories of others?
Be transformed by the Word as you engage with: Psalm 40
Prayer: Lord of all our stories, I want my life to sing that you are mine! Whatever chapter I am experiencing, may I be given the grace to sing your praises all day long. Amen.
Ninety people come to Christ through translated materials
Have you ever wondered what happens after a Bible translation project has finished? Do the materials get used? Are they accepted by local communities? The flow-on effect of partnering with local neighbours is evident in the following story about the Papuan Malay (PM) Scripture Engagement team. During a local church visit, they met an evangelist who told them how instrumental the PM materials were in seeing 90 people in one village come to faith in Jesus and be baptised! This is what she shared:
We used to use the Indonesian Bible in our evangelism. But in 2016 we started using the books of Jonah and Ruth in PM, and praise God, they attracted the interest of the people! Many children who were far from God came and listened to these extraordinary stories. Older people were happy to hear the stories too because the language was simple enough to understand.
One night, we played the Jesus Film in PM. We had tried playing it in Indonesian for them before, but they had just blankly stared at the screen. When we played it in PM, however, many people were curious and came over to watch it. A big crowd gathered and everyone started telling us their problems and asking for help. We used the Bible to help them find answers to their problems.
One young man visited from another village three hours away by boat. He fell off the bridge as he was getting out of the boat, but he still turned up in his wet clothes. He begged us to play the Jesus Film again because he really wanted to see it. We also gave him the PM ‘Freedom in Christ’ tract. After reading it he said, ‘This story is about my own life’. He had a history of violence towards women.
Early the next morning, he came to me for prayer. ‘God showed me what to do: Get some water from the well.’ As the young man drank the water, I prayed, ‘God, this water symbolises the ransom that you gave to restore this boy’. Once he drank the water, he fell over. And he began to scream, ‘Lord Jesus help! I want to come back and follow you because of what you taught me through this little book!’
So the PM books and films have been a huge help for our ministry in this village – from 2016 until this day. Many people in this village have repented and believed in Jesus. They asked us to run a baptism service for them and 90 people were baptised!
Praise you in this storm
By Belinda Fox | Wycliffe Today March 2020 |
I’ve faced my fair share of storms in my 10 years of living in Papua, Indonesia. One thing I’ve realised is that there are two ways you can respond to a storm. You can ride it out and then look back and see how God was at work. Or you can cry out to him in the midst of the storm. Praise him in the storm. The choice is ours to make.
In March 2019, Sentani—the town I call home—was ravaged by severe flooding and landslides. Hundreds of lives were lost and thousands of families lost their homes and all their belongings. After two nights of abnormally heavy rain and more on the forecast, we were all wondering how our town could possibly endure any more rain.
As this crisis was taking place, I was in Australia on home assignment. But although I was physically removed from the situation, my heart was fully in Sentani; breaking for my brothers and sisters in their suffering. As I wept and prayed, God brought to my mind the Casting Crowns song ‘Praise you in this storm’.
The song talks about struggling to understand why God hasn’t stepped in to save the day. ‘It’s still raining!’ But through the rain God whispers, ‘I’m with you’. That’s the message God had for the people of Sentani in the midst of their storm—that he was in control and he was with them. I sensed God’s leading to make a video (with Papuan Malay subtitles) using the song and a collection of photos people had taken depicting the devastation of the flood. That video ended up being viewed over 100,000 times. God’s promise of his presence in the storm brought great comfort.
Two of the worst-hit areas of Sentani happened to be right at the foot of two hills—one being the campus of the Hillcrest International School and the other the complex of buildings where our Papuan Malay Bible translation office is located along with other translation teams’ offices. Several thousands of people whose houses were washed away in the villages below these two hills sought refuge at these locations.
In the days that followed, these people experienced the love of Christ in very practical ways. The mission community, along with church, government and local organisations, provided food, shelter, medical care and a listening ear to those who had lost everything. What a beautiful picture of the body of Christ at work.
After the fourth straight night of rain, something truly amazing took place. People began to gather to worship God publicly in these places! Even before the storm was over, they chose to praise God, anchor their hope in him, and trust in him for deliverance.
Knowing God is with us is one thing, but praising him in the hard times is another. The chorus of that Casting Crowns song ends by saying, ‘Though my heart is torn I will praise you in this storm’. May we, like these remarkable Papuan people, learn what it means to praise God in the storms of our lives and cling to his goodness, whatever circumstances we face.
Thanks for your patience...
Waiting is hard, isn't it. But imagine waiting 2000 years for Scripture in your language! Thanks for your patience. And thanks for your generous support which will help bring the long wait to an end...
By Lyn Wake | 
Thanks for your patience...