Have Music and Scripture Cassettes, Will Travel

In February 2005 Vernacular Media Specialist Dan Bauman assisted the Mende language team in northern Papua New Guinea, recording five cassettes of hymns and Scripture reading in the language. In September the finished cassette tapes arrived in the villages and within three weeks all 250 sold out, except a cassette that contained children’s songs.

People would gather outside their houses to listen to the cassettes. Tape recorders are common in the area, but not more than 10% of the population owns one. Every evening when the owner of a tape recorder popped in a cassette, ten to 20 people soon congregated around the player, listening attentively. If a small child cried, he was hushed up quickly. People loved the songs and listened to the Scripture reading as well. They would make comments in response to it, agreeing and nodding their heads in approval. Others brought their Mende New Testaments and followed along with the text that was read on the cassette.

Some people loved the cassettes so much that they carried their tape recorders—in their string bags that hung from their heads—everywhere they went! One man who is sick and cannot go to church said he can play his cassette, listen to God’s Word and sing his favorite hymns and so be encouraged. He thought the recorded cassettes would be a great comfort to old people who might be too weak to walk a long distance to church. Another person suggested we send cassettes to Radio Sandaun, the main radio station in the province, so they could broadcast Mende Scripture reading.

Praise God for this portable and affordable medium for the Word that touches people’s hearts.