Last year, one of our church members completed the translation of the New Testament into a Papua New Guinean language — a project that took two decades. The Bibles were printed, shipped, and recently arrived on the island of the people for whom it was translated. Our member and his family recently traveled to PNG for the dedication of the Bible. The church wrote a letter for him to take to the church for their celebration of God’s provision:
Our dear Feni brothers and sisters —
Greetings from Grace Bible Church, in Granbury, Texas, USA.
We rejoice with you for the completion and printing of the Feni New Testament and for this celebration of God’s provision of His Scriptures for you and for your dedication ceremony.
We thank God for the laborers who have worked for 20 years to faithfully translate the Bible into your language. Year after year, you have sacrificially and faithfully sent men to NITI to work on the translation and they have faithfully worked to make the translation as clear and accurate as possible.
We thank God for our brother, David Gibson, who has traveled across the world dozens of times to labor with you. We have seen his tears of joy as the translation has progressed over those years, knowing that you would soon receive the Word of Life from our Lord. We thank God that He has woven your lives into David’s life and that he and his family can rejoice with you this day.
We thank God for His revelation of Himself to us. We know Him because of His Word. We know our sinfulness and our needs because of His Word. And we know His salvation because of His Word. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ,” Paul wrote in Romans 10:17. And now you have this precious Word in your language so you can hear and believe.
What a great gift of grace God has given to you.
In this Book, you have the living word of the living God — He has spoken to you (2 Timothy 3:16-17)! In the pages of this Book, you have life itself. It is a living Book (Hebrews 4:12) that contains the words of life. Everything you need to live life and be godly is in this Book (2 Peter 1:3).
So as you dedicate this Bible, we pray with you. We pray that you will know and understand what you read in this Book and that those who teach it to you will be faithful to teach it accurately (2 Timothy 4:1-2). We pray that you will be careful to do all that Christ has commanded in this Book (Matthew 28:20). We pray that you will know the freedom from sin that this Book enables you to experience (Romans 8). And we pray that you will enjoy the satisfaction of fellowship with Christ that this Book produces — you will never be disappointed by following Him and this Word (Romans 10:11).
As you gather, we also anticipate one day meeting you at the Throne of God’s grace in Heaven, where we will rejoice together in Him and for what He has worked in our lives — both yours and ours — through the Scriptures He has so graciously given to us.
In His grace and love, and for His glory and your joy,
Your brothers and sisters at Grace Bible Church at Granbury, Texas.
Words of Grace 