The leader of a Muslim community asked Sitara* if she would translate a children's Bible into his language.  

This surprised Sitara.

"Imagine the Muslim leader", she said, recalling the moment, which was not long after she met him.  

Sitara works among a minority people group in Pakistan. To protect both her work and the people group, they will not be named. Nor will their language be referenced. 

After years of language learning and ministry, Sitara was passively kicked out of the country.

At that point, she asked God what was next. "I feel my calling to the people is not finished," Sitara said.  

With one contact in hand, Sitara traveled to another country with a large population of this people group to see if she could continue her work. 

She visited that contact and her father during a vision trip, and it happened that the father was the leader of the community in this country.  

He invited her over again once she moved to the country. And during one of the visits, he asked about the children's Bible.  

Sitara did not promise him anything but invited him to show her the book.  

What he brought her was a children's Bible published by Watchtower Press, the publisher for Jehovah's Witnesses.  

Sitara did not want to quench the initiative – she wanted the Bible in the language of this group. But she did not want to translate this particular Bible.  

"You deserve something more authentic," she told him.  

With his permission, she began translating a set of Bible stories into the language of the people.  

"So we followed their choice of story set and did that for two years," Sitara said. 

After that, she asked the translator about translating the whole Bible. He wanted to talk with the community leader before moving ahead. 

The pair asked the leader for permission. The leader withdrew his support of the project, but said the translator was allowed to continue if he wanted.  

That's how Bible translation began for this language in 2017.

Translating Bible stories for oral cultures 

"In our translation team, everyone is Muslim, but they are happy to translate the Bible," Sitara said, adding that they work to get the meaning of the text accurate because it is a holy text.

Until recently, all her work has been done in partnership with Muslims because Islam is the religion of this people group. Joshua Project reports that 0% of the population are evangelical believers.  

Sitara, on the other hand, said she knows of about 10 people who are secret believers. Right now, it is better for them to keep their faith private, she said.  

"She walks a tightrope, maintains the relationship and gets Bible materials in non-print form into [the language of] this people group," said Andrew Haas, adaptation coordinator for TWR MOTION.  

MOTION is a ministry of TWR that creates animated Bible story videos for people groups with limited access to biblical content. The team believes that people of all cultures deserve to hear about Jesus in a way they understand. 

That's why the team partners with church planters and local believers to ensure the videos will speak to the people and culture.   

Haas worked with Sitara to adapt MOTION's animated Bible story series, Share the Story, into the language of this people group. 

Haas calls workers like Sitara the heroes of the final frontier of missions. 

"God's Word doesn't return void," Haas said. "And this is going to be an incredible tipping point for the culture to have the truth of Jesus available in a way they can repeat, they can mediate on, they can share with their friends." 

Like many cultures in the world, this people group is an oral culture. 

That does not mean the people are not literate. It means they pass down their culture through spoken word. 

"[This people group] responds so much better to audio," Sitara said. "Audio really sticks to their hearts..." 

That's why, although Sitara is writing down the Bible stories as part of the translation process, the stories will be in audio. She is also working with teams like MOTION and JESUS Film to get Bible stories in the language in video and audio form. 

Adapting Share the Story  

Sitara received Share the Story in the language of the people group in December 2024.   

Share the Story is a 20-episode series. The stories, artwork and music were chosen to connect Muslim audiences with the story of Jesus' sacrifice and redemption. It was originally created for a people group in North Africa and has since been translated into 19 languages with 15 more in progress.

[photo_footer] The 2025 Partnership Map for TWR MOTION, depicting the areas of the world served through their language adaptations.[/photo_footer] 

Part of adapting the series into a new language involves testing the stories with the people group once the translation is complete.  

"What is sticking when they hear the stories? Are there any misconceptions?" Haas said. "That tells us how decent of a job we did at communicating [the story] in the [video] script." 

It can be a rewarding process. 

Considering Jesus 

Part of Sitara's approach is to encourage natural friend groups or families to gather and learn about the stories together. If groups come to faith together, they are more likely to withstand persecution.  

The team does not receive too many responses when they run ads or share content online. It takes time to build trust, but Sitara remains hopeful.  

"It's not all negative even if they don't answer," she said, adding that people are watching. Viewership is up on their YouTube page, and visits have increased to their website. 

Since Sitara is seeing openness and curiosity at in-person gatherings, she sees that as representative of what is happening when people engage with the content online. Although the impact may be reduced because there is no explanation alongside it, she said. That's why getting people in messaging conversations is the goal. 

"But still it will do its work, and it will have an impact in their hearts," Sitara said. 

*This is a pseudonym.

Rachel Mehlhaff serves as the marketing manager for TWR MOTION.