Mele
Fast Facts:
Languages: Mele*
No. of speakers: 10,000–12,000
Christians: est. 10%
Location: Southeast Asia**
Project start date: 2013
Expected completion: beyond 2027
Goals:
Translate the NT and portions of the OT.
Equip the churches to use scripture for discipleship and evangelism.
Produce literacy materials such as stories and songs.
The Mele are mostly farmers in a mountainous region in Southeast Asia. Farming is difficult, and the community struggles with issues such as poverty, sickness and drug addiction. Literacy is low.
More than 97% of the people are animists who fear and worship spirits. Although Western missionaries came to the area many years ago, there are few Christians.
There are 9 known churches with Mele people as part of their congregations. Local churches use the scriptures in the language of a neighbouring group, but many Mele are not proficient in that language.
Update on the Ade* team (October 2023): a difficult decision has been made to suspend the Ade project temporarily as the main mother tongue translator (MTT) has left the team due to unresolved personal issues. The rest of the team feels unable to continue without him, and no replacement has been found. We pray that the project can be resumed in the future.
* For security reasons, pseudonyms are used for the language name and names of individuals.
** The exact location is confidential. Prior approval is required for further reproduction or distribution in any form.
Project updates:
