In a remarkable demonstration of faith and unity, thousands of Christians in Papua, Indonesia, recently set a national record by hand-copying the entire Bible. The event, which commemorated 170 years of the Gospel in Papua, saw around 3,870 participants across 58 locations in Indonesia’s easternmost region join together to handwrite all 31,171 verses of the Bible.
The participants, hailing from a diverse range of Christian denominations, including the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI), 48 other Christian groups, and one Catholic church, took part in this historic endeavor. The event was organized by the Indonesia Sejahtera Foundation through its Terang Papua program, aiming to foster a sense of community and spiritual unity.
Each individual was tasked with writing 8 to 10 verses of the Bible. They dedicated approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to this sacred task, with the handwritten verses eventually being collected in a worship procession. The culmination of the event took place at GKI Elim Kwawi in Manokwari, where 68 pastors symbolically handed over the completed Bible verses to the chairman of GKI’s Synod and the chair of West Papua’s Papuan Communion of Churches (PGGP).
The massive effort earned the group a prestigious honor from the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI), recognizing it as the largest gathering of people to handwrite the entire Bible. The event not only celebrated the spread of Christianity in Papua but also paid tribute to two German missionaries, Carl Wilhelm Ottouw and Johann Gotlob Geissler, who first brought the Gospel to Mansinam Island on February 5, 1855.
Daniel Sukan, the chair of PGGP – West Papua, expressed his hopes that the act of handwriting the Bible would deepen participants’ faith and strengthen their connection to the Scriptures. This event was not just a record-breaking moment but also a powerful reminder of the enduring spiritual legacy and influence of the Gospel in the region.
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