Bible translation is so much more than just translating the Bible. As we look ahead to the publication of the Nukna New Testament in the near future, we recognize that making God’s word available to the Nukna people is just the first step. If they haven’t received training in how to read and study God’s word, we would be leaving the job half-done. This week, a team of Papua New Guinean trainers from our mission’s Scripture Access department is in the Nukna village of Komutu, teaching the SALT course. SALT stands for Scripture Application and Leadership Training, and has the goal of equipping people to study their Bibles with understanding, and to train up Christian leaders in the local church. We’ve seen amazing growth from past Scripture Access courses (Bible Background course in 2019 and Culture Meets Scripture in 2022). Would you pray that God would also move powerfully among the Nukna people through the SALT course?
The course handbook references many hundreds of Bible verses, and since we’ve recently completed translating the Nukna New Testament, Matt produced a 100+ page Scripture booklet that includes all the verses for the course – in the Nukna language! Many of these Bible verses have never been read before by the Nukna people in their own language. We’re excited to see God’s word in the hands of the Nukna people – parts of it for the first time!
Please pray for the audio recording of the Nukna New Testament. Our recording sessions begin on September 8th, and will last for twelve weeks. During this time we will also produce a video of the book of Mark, using the biblical text. Please pray for the Nukna readers, many of whom have never done something like this before. They have been diligently practicing their out-loud reading for months now, and we are praying for clear, easily understood recordings.
Recently, Matt led consultant checks for the Mato language (parts of Genesis), and the Adzera language (book of Acts). Consultant checking is a big investment of time and effort. Matt spent a full month on the check of Acts in the Adzera language, confirming the exegesis and doing face-to-face comprehension checks with the Adzera
translation team. He also supervised two consultant trainees during this check. It’s such a joy and privilege to be a part of the hard work these teams are doing to bring God’s word to their own people!
