Latest News #266 – Canada
December 18, 2003

Plautdietsch Bible brings God’s Word to scattered communities

Hart Wiens, Director of Scripture Translations for the Canadian Bible Society, speaking at the launch of the Plautdietsch Bible. On the right is Marilyn Hudson, Manager of Kindred Productions, joint publisher with the Canadian Bible Society. Winkler, Canada. Photo: CBS (CAN03DJ-11.JPG)

The launch of De Bibel, which was followed by a similar ceremony the next day in nearby Steinbach, is the culmination of a long struggle to bring God's Word to the Mennonites. Historically the victims of persecution, they moved in small groups from country to country and still tend to live in their own communities. In each country in which Mennonite communities have been established, they have generally used standard, or High, German as their formal language of written communication and in schools, as a standard written form of Plautdietsch never emerged. They were able to read the Bible in German, but many struggled to truly understand its meaning.

It was against this background that, in the 1980s, Plautdietsch-speaking radio preacher J.J. Neufeld began translating the Scripture texts he used into Plautdietsch. The strong interest his translations aroused led to his Plautdietsch New Testament being published in 1987, and this text has been used, with some revisions, for the new complete Bible. With Plautdietsch being essentially an oral language, however, this project presented significant challenges for the translators when they began work in 1998.

Eventually, the multi-agency team, which included input from the Canadian Bible Society (CBS), the United Bible Societies and Wycliffe Bible Translators Canada, was able to work through these challenges and produce a translation which will be meaningful to all Plautdietsch speakers. There was certainly strong interest in it among the Mennonites who attended the launch in Winkler, with copies of the initial print run of 5,000 selling briskly.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was a dedicatory prayer delivered in Plautdietsch and English by Hart Wiens, Director of Scripture Translations at CBS, and Marilyn Hudson, Manager of Mennonite publishing house Kindred Productions, respectively. Mr Zacharias commented, "This prayer, which was a compilation of a lot of relevant biblical verses and expressions, was meaningful to everyone. But to me, and I trust others for whom the Plautdietsch language is in our hearts and minds, it was a tear-jerker. To hear all of the attributes of God and his Word spoken in Plautdietsch was a highlight."

Plautdietsch Bibles are now being shipped to Mennonite communities in Central America, South America and Germany.