The engaging story of the Malila Scriptures

‘Now I have seen who God is’

The Malila people have had the New Testament in their language since 2020. Translation work may be over, but that is just the beginning

It can be easy to think that once people have the word of God in their own language, the work of Bible translation is done. That could be the case for the Malila community in Tanzania, who celebrated the arrival of their printed and audio New Testament in 2020.

But Bible translation isn’t just about the actual act of translation; there’s no point in doing all the translation work, only for the precious books to sit on dusty shelves in church vestries.

Using audio players to listen to Scriptures is common worldwide, not just among the Malila community

Which is why Bible translation teams continue to partner with communities who have the Scriptures in their language after the translation work is complete. They carry on to ensure that people don’t just have God’s word in their language, but also use and apply it in their churches and daily lives.

That’s what’s been happening in the Malila community.

‘It touches their hearts in a special way’

Engaging people with Scripture takes many forms. For the Malila people, the promotion and use of audio Scriptures has been key – and is vital for orally based cultures. Several books of the Bible were recorded as translation progressed, and were made available through solar-powered audio devices, memory sticks and phones. Once the New Testament translation was completed it was recorded in its entirety.

A Malila family listens to the audio version of Malila New Testament

Research last year revealed the impact of the audio Scriptures. Katherine O’Donnell, who serves with Wycliffe and the Scripture engagement team of Wycliffe’s partner organisation in Tanzania, was heavily involved in the research.

She says:

‘Of all the communities that have recently published New Testaments in Tanzania, the Malila community is the one where I’ve felt that having the audio Scriptures in their language is particularly important.

‘I’ve found that old and young alike use the Malila language in daily life.

‘There have been times when I’ve been teaching in Swahili [the national language of Tanzania] and the women and children haven’t understood well. The research shows that people are understanding God’s word better now they can read or hear it in Malila, and that some people have come to faith through engaging with God’s word in their language.

‘I love the smiles and laughter whenever I’ve listened to the Malila Scriptures with people; it shows just how much they enjoy it, and how it touches their hearts in a special way.’

Two people study the print and audio versions of the Malila New Testament

‘Now they know what they believe about God’

The impact among the Malila people is clear. Jofrey, from the village of Shuwa, says, ‘I listen to the audio Scriptures with adults at church. Now many of them can tell others the word of God with confidence because they know what they believe about God.’

The leader of the women’s group in Iyunga Mapinduzi now uses Malila in their meetings. She says that if she uses Swahili, eight out of 20 may understand. However, if she uses Malila they all understand! Not only that, but many raise their hands to answer and ask questions – something they never do when she uses Swahili.

‘Now I have seen who God is’

But the word of God is not meant just to be heard in church buildings. As people go about their daily lives, so hearing the Malila Scriptures is drawing people to Jesus.

Huseni heard the Malila audio Scriptures at his neighbour’s home. Such was the impact, he obtained an audio player from the team. He says: ‘Since I began listening I have met with the words of God, which judge my wrong deeds, and now I have decided to give Jesus my life. I have been saved.’

A pastor was doing house-to-house evangelism in the village of Shigamba. He came to the house of a woman and read her some Bible verses from the Malila New Testament. The woman said that others who had visited had never read this book to her (they read in Swahili and she didn’t realise what it was). She said, ‘Now I have seen who God is!’ and prayed a prayer of repentance in Malila.

And back to Jofrey again, who sees how the audio Scriptures are building God’s kingdom: ‘I have been listening to the audio Scriptures with the children in Sunday school. I have been getting children who come with their friends and the church grows daily.’The Scriptures in Malila are having an impact.

The next step: more audio players

The challenge is to build on this success.

Katherine continues: ‘The stories we heard through the research were encouraging, but we could see that there was still much to be done in the area of distribution, of both the print and audio Scriptures. There were only 40 audio players spread across a community of around 70,000 people, and with the impact they were having we could see a need for more.’So earlier this year Katherine and her Malila colleague, Heri, travelled to the Malila region with a further 20 audio players. They trained a group of Malila people on how to use them effectively. The workshop included how to do simple audio-based Bible studies, as well as talking about other opportunities to use the audio Scriptures, such as in evangelism or for personal devotions.Katherine concludes: ‘The community needs further support to ensure that as many people as possible can access the audio and print Scriptures, but we pray that the resources that are out there will continue to be used and go on to bear much fruit for God’s kingdom.’