All Scripture Points to Christ

A PNG man teaching

 When a young man named Demas showed up for an oral Bible storytelling workshop in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea, he seemed a little rough around the edges. But then so did the tiny, unkempt village he came from a day's hike and canoe ride away. He didn't know much about the Bible, but he was willing to learn, and he was willing to ask for prayer for the struggles in his life.

At the workshop Demas studied Bible stories from Genesis. Working with five others who spoke his mother tongue, Mamhoaf, he translated the stories and learned to tell them effectively. All Scripture leads to Christ, and as the days went by, his understanding of the Good News began to grow. One evening toward the end of the course, he asked Jesus into his life.

Four months later, Demas came back for the second workshop in the series. Staff members could hardly recognize him. His appearance had changed and his face was radiant.

He said that when he got home, he immediately told the story of Creation to his family clan. That night, his older brother became ill and strongly felt the oppression of an evil spirit. Family members asked the village's traditional healers to remove the evil spirit, using their spells, charms and chants, but none of the traditional methods seemed to help.

The next day, Demas heard about his brother's illness and went to see him. He offered to pray for his brother, but he said he would only pray if the family agreed to stop asking for help from the traditional healers. He didn't feel right to mix good and evil. Then he told the family that before he prayed, they all needed to confess the wrong things they had done, so they would be clean before God.

The family must have been shocked at the changes in Demas, but they accepted his offer of prayers and confessed their sins as he asked. Then he prayed and returned home. During the night, his brother felt the evil spirit leave him, and he returned to normal. Demas shared more stories, and spiritual interest began to stir in the village. The once-dead church began to revive. The villagers asked Demas to share devotions on Sunday mornings.

They set about building a church and asked Demas to be the pastor. As God's Word in story from began to change lives, five young men felt led to enroll in Bible school. Demas gave his report to the workshop participants with excitement, but quickly voiced a multitude of questions. What does it mean to be a pastor? Can I pray with someone to help them receive Christ? Can I baptize them?

Demas had come to a good place to ask questions, because the workshop was staffed by a strong team of Papua New Guinean trainers and mentors, who along with several SIL workers, were well prepared to talk with Demas through Scripture and find answers to his questions.

At the end of the workshop, Demas went home stronger in the Lord, with a new collection of Bible stories to share and a deepened understanding of how to lead his people toward God. He knew it would not be easy, but he had glimpsed what God could do through His Word, and he was looking forward to seeing what God would do next.

Having too much fun

*This post is from Bob Creson's (the president of Wycliffe's) blog. 

Transformed by Translation

New Ireland Sunset

 "It began in 1998 when I had a dream." Gillian, a Tiaang speaker from New Ireland Province, wiped tears from his eyes as he stood before 50 Sunday School teachers, gathered for the final day of a translation and training workshop on Djaul Island.

"I dreamed I got up from my house and went to the beach where the [village] elders were gathered in a meeting. When they saw me, [one man] got up and shouted, 'Brother! You come over here! We want to talk to you!' When I approached, another stood and said, 'We are going to gather money together, 300 kina total, so that we can send you to learn about God's Word and then you can come back and teach us.' And then I woke up."

In 2004, a couple with SIL came as linguistic advisors to Djaul Island to assist with Bible translation for the Tiaang. The past five years, Gillian had been helping translation efforts, but now he was uncertain-was he still supposed to be involved?

"They told me [and my two fellow translators] that they'd like to send us to a translation course. When my community heard this, they gathered money [for our transport]-this money came to 300 kina!

"When I saw this, I realized that my dream had finally come to pass... Now I was certain that God wanted me to go to this school and come back and share God's Word in my own language."

But soon, Gillian found that the work of Bible translation would not just impact his community-it would impact him. "I found, when I was translating, the Bible translated me, showing me I needed to understand better how God wanted me to read His Word and translate it. If I just translate carelessly, and I myself haven't been transformed, then it's nothing, because God's Word must change me first, and only then will I be able to translate accurately and men will be able to understand."

Making it Mine

Now I Understand

New Understanding

When the Scriptures are understood in one's heart language, there is a breakthrough in understanding. Ideas that had been heard in a second (or maybe third) language suddenly take on new meaning as the familiar words that express these thoughts, now have deep meaning and a clear context. As churches begin to read the Scriptures in the assembly's mother tongue, and teach its meaning, it implants a strong desire to study it more. Pray that the impact of all newly created Papua New Guinean Scriptures have deep and and meaningful impact wherever they are read.

*This post was taken from the PNG Experience blog.