Bibele end'ekila — Kela Scripture Portions (DR Congo)
Overview
Bibele end'ekila ("the Bible of Ikela" — Ikela being the main town in Kela territory) is the Gospel of Luke in the Kela (Yela) language of central DRC, published by Beyond Translation under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4317). Bible portions in the Kela language date back to 1940 (Joshua Project); the current edition is a modern CCBT community translation.
Language and People
Kela (ISO 639-3: kel; autonym: Yela; also called Ikela, Okela, or Lemba) is a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family: Atlantic-Congo → Bantoid → Narrow Bantu → Zone C, Bangi-Ntomba group, Guthrie classification C.75. The Kela and Yela varieties are two dialects of a single language. The Kela people are part of the broader Mongo ethnic and cultural complex of central DRC, and are culturally related to the Mbole (Bambole) people. The Lilwa Secret Society — an initiatory structure shared with the Mbole and Yela — is partly borrowed from the Lega cultural tradition.
Geographic distribution:
- Kela dialect: Kasai-Oriental Province (Lomela territory)
- Yela dialect: Tshuapa Province (along the Tshuapa River, near Ikela town)
Estimated speakers: approximately 180,000–982,000 depending on the source and scope (Ethnologue 1972 figure: 180,000 Kela + 33,000 Yela; Joshua Project 2025 estimate for combined Kela/Lemba: ~982,000 — the large variance reflects both population growth since 1972 and counting methodology). The community is predominantly Christian (~95%; Joshua Project Progress Scale 5 — Significantly Reached).
Historical and Cultural Context
The Kela region was severely affected by the Second Congo War (1998–2002): Ikela town endured a year-long siege. The Kela/Yela area's remoteness — dense equatorial rainforest with poor road access — meant humanitarian aid arrived slowly. Kela traditional material culture includes ancestor masks with distinctive geometric, two-tone band styling.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by Beyond Translation (beyondtranslation.org, Arlington, Texas), using the Church-Centric Bible Translation methodology — local church networks lead translation with outside quality oversight. The CC-BY-SA 4.0 license allows unlimited distribution, including digital copying via mobile phones, consistent with CCBT's community-ownership philosophy. Beyond Translation has been working on 14+ DRC languages with Luke as the primary initial translation.