Biblical work a massive task

National

By LARRY ANDREW
THE translation of the Bible into local dialects requires a lot of work which locals should take ownership of.
Organisations such as the Summer Institute of Linguistics and Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association are heavily involved in the translation work.
Crystal Davis, of the Summer Institute of Linguistics,  said 205 New Testament books had been completed.
She said about 200 staff had been engaged in the translation and had come from the United States, Korea, United Kingdom and Australia.
“There are ways of translating the word of God. One is people approaching SIL for God’s word to be translated into their language. The other way is by training Papua New Guineans to do the job of translations.”
Steven Topoqogo, who is attached with the association,  said the challenge of translating the Bible was enormous.
He said the churches in PNG had not taken ownership of the work.
“Churches in PNG have not taken ownership of translation so outside organisations with their resources and with support from their countrymen are doing the work,” he said. “The church in PNG must take ownership to do the work.”
He said Cassowary United Church and Our Savior Lutheran Church in Lae were involved in the translation work.