Papua New Guinea (MNN) — Radio might be an “older” technology, but it’s still very useful for ministry work around the world. Wycliffe Associates has begun using radio signals to support Bible translation work. Radio signals can’t be blocked or monitored like the internet, and it doesn’t require difficult or dangerous travel.
The program’s beginnings
Tony Tophony with Wycliffe Associates talks about how this program got started. “In Madang, in Papua New Guinea, the translating teams there said, ‘Why can’t we have something ongoing, that reminds us and walks us back through all the lessons we’ve learned here at our workshops with you? [We need training] when we leave, and we go back to our homes and life happens.’ In the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea, it’s not easy to get around.”
From there, Wycliffe hopes to expand this program to reach 35 new language groups. Tophony says, “What we do is basically provide the scripts for the radio broadcasts to either be broadcast live or to be recorded. The radio gives a great way for people to tune in at their village or at their home and keep the work going.”
“The radio broadcast covers the translation steps. It goes through a storytelling narrative of a group of people who have tried Bible translation and successfully completed it.”
Pray this ministry will reach many Christians with no other access to training.
The header photo shows a road in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
