At the request of a partner pastor in Odisha, Odia officially enters the project's roadmap.
After conversations with a partner-network pastor serving in Odisha, the state neighboring West Bengal, we confirmed that Odia will be the second language to receive the translation of the Interdenominational Theology Course — even ahead of Hindi, a language with broader national reach, but one that will require more preparation time.
The decision reflects a clear priority of this project: to go where a network of pastors already exists, ready to receive and multiply the course, rather than simply chasing the largest possible number of speakers. Odisha has about 35 million Odia speakers — a meaningful reach, sustained by relationships that already exist today.
Since the translation and production process has already been tested with Bengali, the added cost of opening a new language is proportionally lower than the initial investment — which also makes it feasible, in the medium term, to plan the expansion into Hindi. Pray for wisdom and stamina for Pr. Paulo Henrique, who will also translate the course into Odia, and for supporters to sustain this new stage.
