Punctuating the Pacific Ocean are thousands of islands where ancient cultures and developing modern societies coexist in converging streams, where the languages shift as frequently as the landscape, and where the gospel has taken root and multiplied in remarkable ways.

Shaped and defined by the world’s largest ocean, the landscapes of the Pacific are startlingly diverse. Inhospitable Australian deserts, chilly New Zealand fjords, dense tropical rainforests, and palm-fringed atolls are the stage on which a great human drama has unfolded over countless generations.

A widening arc of settlement spread through the Pacific islands over thousands of years. Early pioneers reached Australia and New Guinea long ago, apparently by way of Southeast Asia. Later, the ancestors of the Polynesian peoples began their great voyages across the sea, guided by a legendary intimacy with the stars and winds and waves. Today, more than 1,300 languages, nearly 20 percent of all the world’s languages, are spoken in the Pacific realm.

From the beginning of Christian missions in the Pacific, local believers have played an active role in reaching out to their neighbors. Samoan Christians, for example, were among the early missionaries to the island of New Guinea. Today, the gospel is nominally accepted by a great many of the Pacific peoples. In fact, the Pacific has been called “the most solidly Christian part of the world” (C.W. Forman).

However, syncretism and cults are widespread through the region. In some places, the Christian church is vibrant, sending missionaries to Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world. Too often, though, the church is stifled by animism, fear, and an incomplete understanding of the gospel message.

Together with the Indonesian archipelago, the islands of the Pacific represent one of the greatest remaining needs for Bible translation in the world today. Hundreds of translation projects are in progress now, but hundreds more languages are still without even a single verse of Scripture.

Thousands of Pacific Christians are working to translate God’s Word for their own peoples and for their neighbors. Organizations like the Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association, Wycliffe Australia, and the Vanuatu Christian Council’s Translation and Literacy Program are partnering with local churches and Christians from around the world to see the Bible translated into the languages of the Pacific.