- Location: Chad
- Bible Completion Target Date: 2028
The Sara Kaba Naa people live primarily in southwestern Chad with a few thousand people residing in the Central African Republic. They number between 35,000 and 39,000, with 74% professing Christianity, 28% of whom claim to be evangelical. Some still practice animism or follow Islam.
When Baptist Mid-Missions missionaries first traveled to Kyabe, to the northeast of Sarh, they communicated with the Sara Kaba Naa through school boys who knew French or Sango. The missionaries translated some simple songs and verses into the Sara Kaba Naa language and started writing a dictionary. Later, another BMM missionary began translating the Gospel of John and some hymns. BMM missionaries Nancy Knopf and Ada Temple began to study the language and translate the New Testament using a new orthography required by the government. Unfortunately, translation work stopped when the government forced the churches to close and expelled the missionaries in 1973. When the churches reopened in 1975, one pastor felt the Lord leading him to complete the New Testament translation. The return of the missionaries, including Ada Temple in the early 1980s, led to significant progress on the translation.
In 1986, Ada Temple approached Bibles International with the manuscript of the newly translated Sara Kaba Naa New Testament. At that point, BI came alongside the translation team and helped to complete it in 1988. A dedication was held in Kyabe on January 7-8, 1989. The closing prayer expressed the day’s sentiment: "This ceremony has been a thing of much joy. In the past, we have had to read the Word in another language and have it changed for us. Thank you, Father, to call down your blessing upon it. You have given, Father, the Word in our own language."
The translation of the New Testament has caused the church to grow among the Sara Kaba Naa. One national testified, "Since the arrival of the New Testament in Sara Kaba Naa, there has been an increase in the number of churches and Christians, all this because teaching has become clear in our New Testament. Some churches that had been closed since the difficulties of 1975 were reopened."
After the completion of the New Testament translation, the Sara Kaba Naa expressed a desire for the complete Bible in their language. With this goal in mind, BI consultants have worked with national translators on the translation of the Old Testament. The book of Genesis was printed in 2013, followed by Exodus and Deuteronomy in 2021. Translation work has continued steadily toward a target completion in 2028.
Literacy work also continues with a published reading primer and an Old Testament Storybook. The Sara Kaba Naa churches see a higher literacy rate than the remaining population because of the availability of the Scriptures, literacy primers, and Old Testament Storybooks in their language.
Download this Scripture to your Android device:
Bibles International exists to advance Christ's church through reliable Bible translation; supported by literacy, training, and publishing services; in worldwide partnership with individuals, churches, agencies, and institutions of like purpose and faith.
Bibles International is the Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions