When was the last time you attended a celebration? Maybe it was a recent birthday party, a baby shower or a holiday spent with family and friends. These are opportunities to rejoice, reminisce and look ahead to the future with the people we love.

But in the busyness of our day-to-day lives — with our responsibilities, deadlines and schedules — it can feel difficult to set aside intentional time to pause and celebrate milestones or achievements.

While God wants us to come to Him in prayer with our struggles, heartbreaks and requests, celebrating His goodness is also an important part of growing in our relationship with Him. Praise and worship remind us of God’s faithfulness; celebrating His steadfast love also helps to anchor us when we face hard times. The Book of Psalms exemplifies the importance of praise with verses like: “You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (Psalm 118:28-29, NLT).

And there is so much to praise God for: Around the world today, God is at work like never before, drawing people to Himself through Scripture in their language. God is inviting us to participate in these Bible translation milestones too! Whether through prayer, financial partnership, serving or even getting our church communities involved, we can be part of a community’s joy as they receive Scripture in their language for the very first time.

See how God’s extravagant love is on display in three different communities who recently celebrated the dedications of their New Testaments.

The Word of God Is Light

God reminds us that Scripture is light in the darkness, guiding our paths (Psalm 119:105). Today the Niellim community in Chad is rejoicing that they finally have God’s Word — His light and truth — in their own language!

The one and only local church, in the center of the community, tackled this New Testament translation project. The translators themselves are pillars of their small body of believers; there are less than 200 church members.

The majority of those who attended the New Testament celebration in May 2024 actually follow another major religion. The Niellim church is excited to see that God’s Word is bearing fruit in the community. The district chief, who attended the event, proclaimed:

Felix Kaibene, pastor and translator, said: “We, the Niellim community, thank God from the bottom of our hearts for placing this valuable work on the hearts of our national and international partners. Seeing the impact the Holy Scriptures have made on our community spiritually, socioeconomically and culturally causes us to bless God.

“Indeed, today we recognize that community transformation in how our way of life has changed: People are committed to hearing the Word of God and putting it into practice. The traditional ways of treating women and girls at home or in marriage are changing [and] the ways that farming or fishing produce is managed are also changing, to cite just a few examples.

“All this is the fruit of the church being planted in Niellim. The impact can be clearly seen. … May God’s blessings abound on all the men and women, from near or far, who have contributed to this work of salvation within the Niellim community!”

When Scripture is translated, it transforms individual hearts and lives. But the change doesn’t stop there — God’s Word impacts families, communities, churches and even entire regions! Since the majority of the Niellim community practice a religion that is opposed to the gospel, pray that the Holy Spirit would work through God’s Word to bring people into a relationship with Him.

Transformed From the Inside Out

If you’re a native English speaker, you’re probably within arm’s reach right now of a Bible in your language. Whether it’s the YouVersion Bible app, a printed copy or even an audio Bible, you can easily read or hear Scripture — and even different versions of it! — in a variety of ways.

But what if that wasn’t the case? For many people around the world, it’s their reality: They’re still waiting for even one word of Scripture in their language. Sometimes, like in the case of the Bena New Testament project in Tanzania, translation work can take many years.

Joshua Mhelela is a pastor in Tanzania. He’s also one of the Bena speakers who trained and worked for years as a translator on the Bena New Testament project. On May 26, 2023 — after 18 years of hard work — Joshua and his colleagues got the chance to dedicate their completed New Testament!

“God is doing great things. Bena people are hearing the gospel. They are being saved from their sins, and we can see changes,” Joshua said.

Back in 2004, the Bena translation project kicked off with years of work to develop the language’s orthography (which are its systems of spelling and writing). In those early days, the team also translated and published the Gospel of Mark, as well as Ruth and Jonah.

“Around my home in those days, people there were not believers,” Joshua said. He continued: “But now there are many denominations. Notorious people are no more notorious, and most people who worshipped other gods … don’t practice that anymore. Those beliefs are fading away.”

At the New Testament dedication, a choir joyfully performed songs in their own language. “The Bena people love to promote their language,” one person in the crowd said. “They love singing hymns in the Bena language.”

Over the years of this project, the translation team was supported by the Bena community — many volunteers participated in reviewers’ meetings and tested the translated Scriptures in the community. More church denominations came on board as the project progressed, boosting unity among churches in the area. Churches and other groups provided meeting rooms and accommodation for translators and other workers.

One team member said: “… The dedication ceremony and now distribution of Bena New Testaments have only been possible thanks to these partner relationships.”

As a pastor, Joshua knows the profound impact that this New Testament will have — not just for his own spiritual life but for the Bena community now and in the future:

While Joshua celebrates the joy of the New Testament, he and the team are also looking ahead to translating the Old Testament. “I’m very happy the people received this New Testament,” he said. “And they want us to continue with the Old Testament. But some say our Bena language has no value in society. They ask if I can do this — such a young man with very little education. I can see that I have a great responsibility, and I think this work is God’s purpose for me.”

God’s Word has the power to transform lives when it’s in a language and format people clearly understand. Let’s rejoice with the Bena people who, through Bible translation, understand that God loves them and knows their language!

The Value of God’s Word

For many years, most Aklanon people in the Philippines didn’t see the value of having a Bible translation in their own language of Inakeanon. After all, in addition to their language, they can also speak the national language, a widely spoken trade language and English.

This was clearly demonstrated during the audio recording of the Inakeanon New Testament. While recording the passage in Matthew 27 about Jesus’ death in which He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, the translator got emotional.

He became so affected by those words that he could hardly get them out during the recording. At that moment, he felt all of the emotion that Jesus felt when He said those words too.

This man was a pastor and had read those same words many times in other languages, but they had never affected him that way until he was reading them in his own language!

Now more Aklanon people will be able to understand Scripture on a deeper, emotional level too. On April 13, 2024, 2,000 people gathered to celebrate the arrival of the Inakeanon New Testament. There was excitement in the air as worship began. All of the songs were in Inakeanon: People were connecting with God in their own language! Over and over during the program, people expressed thanksgiving for the Scripture in Inakeanon.

This day was a demonstration of Christian unity as many different churches came together, all for the purpose of celebrating the arrival of God’s Word in their language. Outside of the venue, many copies of the New Testament were sold. God was glorified throughout the entire dedication day!

Joy for Eternity

When Scripture is available in someone’s language, it settles deep into their hearts and profoundly changes them. It’s no longer just words on a page — it’s the living Word of God that has the power to capture hearts and transform lives forever.

Around the world today, communities like the Niellim, Bena and Aklanon are celebrating that God’s Word has come home to their people. They know now that God sees them, loves them and has a plan for their lives.

But there are still millions of people speaking or signing at least 7,300 languages who don’t yet have access to the Good News of Jesus. Every number represents a person who has a story that matters to God — and He’s called each of us to play a specific role in making sure that the gospel goes out to all people in all languages.

Scripture paints a picture of heaven; it is a place where there is no more death, sorrow, crying or pain (Revelation 21:4), and where people from every nation and language will worship around God’s throne (Revelation 7:9). Bible translation helps people understand the gospel and believe in Christ, leading them to this ultimate promised future.

Who might you meet and celebrate with in heaven because you said “yes” to being part of the work of Bible translation on earth?

Join the Wycliffe Prayer Community!

Discover more stories of celebrations as well as timely prayer requests from the mission field by joining the Wycliffe Prayer Community.

There, you’ll get to link arms with people around the world by praying for communities waiting for Scripture in their language.

Join the Community