Old Testament Translation

Now that the Enga New Testament has been published and dedicated, many people are asking if we will translate the Old Testament into Enga as well. The answer is that the Enga translation team has already been working on the Old Testament for a few years now. In fact, the team has already drafted eighteen Old Testament books! In October, the team had the first 25 chapters of Genesis checked by a consultant. The remaining 25 chapters are scheduled to be checked in early 2025.

Checking Genesis 1–25

Promotion and Distribution
In the past, the distribution of New Testament translations in Papua New Guinea was restricted to transporting physical hard copies to remote destinations. However, thanks to technological advances, we are now using a variety of promotional strategies to distribute New Testaments in electronic formats to people we may never meet face to face. Watch the video below to learn about the innovative strategies we are using to promote and distribute the Enga New Testament

Two More Dedications

In August we had the opportunity to hold two more dedication events for the Enga New Testament. The first event took place on August 10 in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Although Port Moresby is nowhere near Enga Province, the capital city is full of Enga speakers. For example, the day before the dedication, I went to a mobile phone store to get a SIM card. I began speaking with the employee only to find out that he was from Enga. When I showed him the Enga Bible app, he said, “Yes, I have that app already on my phone.”

The dedication was hosted on the outskirts of the city by the Christian Apostolic Fellowship (CAF) church. We were grateful to have the SoCal Network Assemblies of God Missions Director, Dan Campbell, with us for the dedication, along with his son Andy, who is my coworker and friend. Soon after we arrived at the dedication event, reporters from National EMTV News arrived and did an interview with me while also getting video footage as we were getting things set up.

Engan pastors from many different denominations came to the event along with many church members. Although it was not a part of the program, the attendees were so moved by the efforts of the Enga translators that they decided to take up an offering to show their appreciation for the translation work. At the conclusion of the dedication ceremony, there was a long line of people waiting to buy copies of the Enga New Testament. Many people bought multiple copies to give to friends and family, and the printed editions ended up being much more popular than the audio editions (presumably because people in Port Moresby have a higher level of literacy).

When I got back to the hotel and turned on EMTV news that night, I was happy to see that they ran a three-minute segment about the Enga New Testament dedication, which you can see here.

Enga pastors at the Port Moresby dedication

Kompiam
Kompiam is a remote government station located in the Kompiam-Ambum district of Enga Province. Due to persistent tribal conflicts in the district, the road going to Kompiam has not been safe to travel. Consequently, we did not include Kompiam in our original list of locations to dedicate the Enga New Testament.

However, we received word that there would be a combined church crusade in Kompiam the last week of August in observance of the National Day of Repentance. I heard a report that the Chairman of the Enga Ministers Fraternal had traveled to Kompiam by car to make arrangements for the church crusade, so I sent him a WhatsApp message to see if the road was clear. He said that on his return, “five gunmen” were waiting at the top of the mountain. Because of his work with the church, they let him through. But he advised me not to travel on the road without a police escort (which can be difficult to arrange).

However, a combined church crusade is an ideal time to do a New Testament dedication because the hard work of organizing the pastors and Christians has already been done. So we arranged to fly directly from Ukarumpa to Kompiam, which has a nice airstrip. Instead of an eleven-hour drive, we had a 50-minute flight to Kompiam in a ten-seater Kodiak airplane. (You can see a video of the airstrip landing here.) Because we flew, we were also able to bring some colleagues with us to participate in the dedication.

After touring the area and the amazing hospital that had been built with help from the Australian Baptist Union, we went into the large tent where they were holding the outdoor crusade. Although I didn’t do an official count, I estimated that there were 300–400 people in attendance, which was remarkable for this remote area.

Pastors dedicating the Enga New Testament in Kompiam

After some preliminary speeches, the Enga pastors held up the Enga New Testament to dedicate it to God. It was a powerful moment to see pastors of various denominations and churches united together. After the dedication ceremony, people rushed forward to buy copies. I was pleasantly surprised at the response and the number of people who came forward to buy, because we had given a free copy of the Enga New Testament to every pastor pictured above. We left the remaining copies at the hospital store for them to sell for us, and then we got in the plane for the return trip home. Praise the Lord!