After six decades of faithful work across two generations of one family in missions, the
Bible has been fully translated into the Ngalik language in the Indonesian Province of Papua.
The Ngalik New Testament was completed in 1992 after 25 years of labor by Ed and Shirley Maxey, missionaries from the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Two young men named Amos and Enos helped the couple with the project.
Building on the Maxeys’ work, the couple’s son, Buzz, and his wife, Myrna, worked with Amos and Enos to complete the Old Testament translation in 2023.
The completion of the full Ngalik Bible, as well as the missions work the Maxeys and local Christians had done, was celebrated at a dedication ceremony in February.
The completion of the Ngalik translation occurred as Papuan Christians face increasing persecution in their province. Since 2018, the area has experienced armed conflict and an independence movement that has led to political unrest and human rights abuse allegations against Muslim officials in recent years.
The Province of Papua, which is about 70% Christian, is an anomaly in Indonesia, which is the world’s largest Muslim country. As part of a push for the Islamification of the province, Muslims from elsewhere in Indonesia are migrating to Papua to change the religious and cultural dynamic of the ethnically Melanesian or Polynesian Papuans.
Reports of forced conversions to Islam and other religious and human rights abuses regularly emerge from Papua. Despite its hostile context, the gospel continues to advance throughout Indonesia. The completed Ngalik Bible translation is expected to dramatically boost evangelism and discipleship efforts in Papua. — International Christian Concern
