A Scripture translation agency celebrates a milestone in Indonesia.

Indonesia (WBTC/MNN)–The World Bible Translation Center just released its Easy-to-Read Indonesian New Testament in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city.

Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim nation. Indonesia is home to over 200 million people who speak over 200 languages. The Translation Center opted for Bahasa Indonesian, the most commonly used language in the country of 17,000 islands, for its Indonesian translation.

Copies of the initial printing of the New Testament went to Indonesian church leaders all over the country. An Indonesian businessman who helped substantially with the Center’s Indonesian project believes, “this translation will be very useful in evangelism, especially among the villages.” He also noted how new believers and nonbelievers as well as people with lower education levels would also profit from the easy-to-understand translation.

A much larger printing should follow in early 2004. The Center’s Indonesian Old Testament is well underway. WBTC has produced seven New Testaments and a Bible in East Asian languages.

World Bible Translation Center exists to translate and distribute faithful, easy-to-understand translations of the Scriptures in the world’s major languages to lead people to Jesus and help believers grow in faith.

The Translation Center has completed 30 New Testaments and 13 Bibles during its 30-year existence. Some 6.5 million of the Center’s Bibles, New Testaments and Scripture portions were distributed during the year 2003.