A Wave Moving Across the Pacific: Church- and Community-Led Bible Translation
Think of the first time you saw the ocean. Do you remember the emotions it evoked in you?
Perhaps you felt delighted by the sound of the water — the gentle melody of waves lapping at the sand or the thunderous crashes as a storm approached. Maybe you felt overwhelmed by its sheer size, stretching beyond the horizon. Or perhaps you felt awed by the knowledge that beneath its surface lives an entire ecosystem.
There’s something about the ocean that declares, “I was created by a Master Designer who is bigger and more powerful than your mind can comprehend!”
That same Master Designer didn’t just create the ocean and all that is hidden within its depths; He created everything, as we see described in Genesis 1–2.
Today, God is still creating new things — things our finite, human minds can’t always comprehend. But that’s the beauty of the God we serve: He cannot be contained by human understanding or finite wisdom. He is God, and He will make Himself known throughout all of creation!
As believers, we know this is true. But sometimes we get caught up in the busyness of our daily lives and lose sight of the reverence we should hold for all that God has done and continues to do.
The same happens in the Bible translation space. We know that God is at work, but sometimes we need to simply step back and stand in awe at the sheer magnitude of what He is doing — not just within our own communities but around the world! Like the energy that causes the waves to move across the ocean, God’s Spirit is driving transformation everywhere.
Join us today in stepping back to look with awe at what God is doing in the Pacific — a region of 14 countries comprising thousands of islands and hundreds of languages — where people are encountering Jesus personally through Scripture.
No Longer “The West to the Rest”
Historically, Christian missions often originated from Western countries going out into the rest of the world to spread the gospel. In the Pacific, missionaries came from the U.S. and various European countries to evangelize and plant churches. This model, while effective, took great effort; the intricacies of traveling from one island to the next — or even within the same island nation — were complicated and time-consuming.
Let’s take a closer look at one country in the Pacific: Papua New Guinea (PNG). This beautiful country is the most linguistically diverse country in the world, with more than 840 known languages. In part due to the rugged terrain, communities might be only a few miles apart from one another but have completely unique languages!
Because of this linguistic diversity, PNG has always been counted among “the Big Five” areas with the highest remaining Bible translation needs in the world. Currently the Big Five also includes East Asia, Indonesia, Vanuatu and the global Deaf. As you can see, all four of the country-specific areas reside within the Pacific and its neighboring region, Asia, representing more than 60% of the remaining languages that are known to need Bible translation to begin.
But today Papua New Guinea is on the cusp of seeing Bible translation begin for every language still waiting — and that significant milestone in history will be a direct result of decades of prayer and the faithful obedience of agencies and local churches who have stepped up to say, “We want the Bible in our own language for our community! And we’re willing to do the work, together.”
Yara Maka, director of BATTLE, Inc. in Papua New Guinea, shares how Bible translation is shifting to meet the specific spiritual needs of local communities. By starting with stories that resonate — like Jesus calming the storm in maritime regions — translators are helping Scripture come alive in hearts, homes and ministries.
Local Church and Community Ownership
In 2022, more than 570 languages across the Pacific needed Bible translation to begin for the first time or restart. These were largely centralized in Papua New Guinea, Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
A significant shift has occurred over the last few years. Local partners such as BATTLE, Inc. and United Church Papuan Islands Region (UCPIR) in Papua New Guinea, led by the Lord, proactively sought a process by which local partners and churches own Bible translation as a ministry of the church. The hope was to see transformation in their communities as they initiated, owned and led the effort.
This wasn’t orchestrated by Wycliffe USA or driven by a Western initiative. Instead, it was birthed in prayer — a chorus rising from PNG, Australia and the Pacific islands. Believers gathered, asking God to start Bible translation work in the remaining communities and bring transformation to the people.
The Synod of UCPIR, the governing body of UCPIR, set the vision and realized the need to invite other denominations across the province in PNG. Multiple denominations signed an agreement affirming unity and shared responsibility in Milne Bay, a province of PNG.
A tool called the “Overview” was developed as a framework to gather church leaders, hear their vision and share core translation principles. For example, Vanuatu and Fijian church leaders met in the Solomon Islands and, after learning about the vision for translation led by regional churches and communities, invited PNG leaders to provide an overview for them. This approach resonates with the Pacific culture of relational leadership and collective processing.
The Overview process continues to evolve as more churches in different countries learn from others and seek to establish translation ministry within their communities. Along the way, it’s the local churches and communities that own and establish Bible translation goals for their communities.
The wave of interest has been driven by a God-led determination to see lives transformed and the confidence that God has placed them as leaders in their churches and communities in this generation for a purpose. They are not waiting to see Bible translation happen; instead, they own all facets of the work with their people!
Sister Cecilia Legani once thought her season of impact might be over — until God turned her quiet “yes” into a powerful homecoming. Now she’s helping lead a Bible translation effort in the Solomon Islands, bringing God’s Word to life in the language of her childhood. Read how God is using Cecilia to reach her childhood community.
Ripple Effects in the Region
Progress had been slow in countries like Vanuatu, but the same momentum that took hold in PNG is now rippling outward to reach those shores as well. Some church leaders from Vanuatu even traveled to PNG, saw the process firsthand and returned energized, ready to take on the work themselves. Today they are doing just that, taking initiative to translate the Bible as a ministry of the church.
The Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu has started work in 25 languages. Other partners are collaborating to ensure that all remaining languages are engaged in translation. As a result, Vanuatu is on the verge of reaching zero languages waiting for Bible translation to start!
And they’re not alone. Fiji is close behind, and the Solomon Islands have identified languages to utilize the church and community-led translation process; church and organizational leaders there have requested training using the model. In New Caledonia, various churches and communities have indicated interest, and next steps are in the early stages of development. Additionally, partner organizations have now committed to tackling the 14 remaining sign languages in the Pacific that are known to need translation work to begin. Only one province — West Sepik — still has a significant number of languages waiting for translation to start, and plans are in place to engage churches among the remaining 40+ languages.
All of these efforts have resulted from church leaders seeing the community impact of participating in the translation of God’s Word together. These churches have longed to see transformation among their people, and Bible translation is becoming the ministry that supports the breadth of their discipleship efforts within their communities!
While it’s clear that the force driving this new wave is local initiative energized by the Holy Spirit, collaboration with Bible societies and other mission agencies remains vital. In PNG, BATTLE is now engaged with Bible translation projects in more than 230 languages. United Church of PNG and additional partners like Word for the World, Beyond Translation, Rhema for the Nations and Faith Comes By Hearing are tackling most of the other new translation projects with local churches and communities. The skills and competencies of these respected, established partners prove invaluable in supporting the wave.
In just 18 months, the landscape has changed. The Pacific is no longer a place where, limited by our human understanding of the possibilities, we ask God to somehow show up and move; it’s a place where we rejoice because He already is moving and at work in new, exciting ways!
Discover how churches in the Solomon Islands are leading a Bible translation movement that’s transforming lives and communities. Through partnerships, technology and a church-owned translation model, see how God is raising up Bible translation workers from within churches across the Pacific region!
The Work Ahead: Making Disciples From One Shore to the Next
In the Pacific, the ocean is not a barrier — it’s a highway. Just as canoes once traveled island to island, local community and church leaders are now carrying the gospel across waters, bringing the vision of Bible translation from one shore to the next.
They are praying, discerning, planning and stepping out in faith together, asking that God would equip them to reach people with the gospel and disciple them. Their efforts are focused on:
- Seeing translation start in all remaining languages by the end of 2025.
- Getting Scripture to everyone so that all people can encounter God personally.
- Prioritizing language engagement based on the local churches’ values.
Because of this church-led vision and collaboration, we prayerfully anticipate seeing the Pacific removed from the Vision 2025 list by the end of 2025, indicating that Bible translation has started for all languages that need projects to begin!
This is a God-only movement and a moment in history when we stand back in awe and declare, “This is God’s hand at work! This is His Spirit being poured out, and the resulting wave of His glory is cresting in ways that our human minds can only begin to understand.”
Starting Bible translation in a community is only one milestone in the much longer journey of making the full counsel of God’s Word accessible in a language and format they clearly understand. There is still significant work to be done, and we will need to continue praying that God would move in and through His Church, both in the Pacific and around the world.
But let’s not miss the opportunity to stop and acknowledge this moment. God is on the move, and He is using His translated Word to capture hearts and equip local churches to make disciples of Jesus!
May His glory be made known and His love experienced among the nations as we sit back and declare, “All the nations you made will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your holy name. For you are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God” (Psalm 86:9–10, NLT).
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