Dogrib New Testament Dedicated

“As the Dogrib people explore their self-determination, what better guide could they have than the Word of God?”

The long awaited Dogrib (Tlicho) Language New Testament has been published! Various groups involved in the translation held a public dedication service on August 23, 2003 in Rae, Northwest Territories.

The dedication was part of the larger Dogrib Nation Annual Assembly, the highlight of which was the signing of their Land Claim and Self-government Agreement by Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

It seemed fitting that these two historic events be celebrated together. As the Dogrib people explore their self-determination, what better guide could they have than the Word of God?

Wycliffe Bible Translators has had teams working in the Dogrib language off and on since the 1960s. Although we were not directly involved in the actual translation, we are a part of the distribution and promotion of the newly-translated New Testament.

Since the completion of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Language JESUS Movie in 1998, I have been working on literacy aids to help people read their own language. This has included the production of various audio CDs and tapes of the Dogrib Scriptures as well as computer-based interactive Bible Stories (a sampling is available on the Internet at http://denefont.tripod.com/bible.htm).

It has also been my privilege to develop the cover design and the computer font (typeface) used for printing the Dogrib New Testament.

And there is much more to do! With the publication of the New Testament, most of the recordings done from preliminary versions of the translation are now obsolete. So, along with the Wycliffe Bible Translators team, I am in the process of recording the entire Dogrib New Testament.

This will be an invaluable companion to the printed Word, both for those learning to read Dogrib as well as for those, mostly elders, who will never learn to read it.

(Some have shown renewed interest in learning to read the Bible and we have been asked to help teach the classes.)

We appreciate your prayer support. We need a sensitivity to what God is doing among the Dogrib people.

We ask prayer for people to read and listen to the Bible in their own language, so that many would be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word.

Jim & Lois Stauffer are now associate NCEM members living in the Northwest Territories.

Adapted from our Northern Lights magazine (Issue #486). Note: some of the locations and involvements of our missionaries may have changed since the original publishing of this article.