‘JESUS’ film hits 1,500th translation; reaches millions

‘JESUS’ film hits 1,500th translation; reaches millions

For one morning a week for quite some time both women had been nothing but consistent.

Riah had been faithfully working to help keep up the home of Yvonne Cantwell, an International Mission Board missionary in Southeast Asia. And Cantwell had been faithfully sharing the gospel and Bible stories with Riah as they built a relationship.

“She is from a UPG [unreached people group],” Cantwell said. “I speak her national language but not her heart language.”

Riah was “friendly … but she stayed loyal to the religion of her people,” Cantwell said.

Until one day, that is, when Riah came in talking about a radio program she had heard — one that talked about the lineage of Jesus — and Cantwell remembered she had the “JESUS” film app on her phone.

“I searched the app and found they had short clips from the ‘JESUS’ film in so many languages — including Riah’s heart language,” Cantwell said. “That day before she went home, I showed her ‘The Beginning’ clip.”

Captivated by the story

Riah was captivated with the story of creation and the fall, of Abraham and the sacrifice and the prophets telling of the coming Messiah, Cantwell said.

“She has not yet turned from darkness to light but these ‘JESUS’ film clips in her heart language … are helping her along this journey,” Cantwell said.

Riah’s story is one of countless thousands the Jesus Film Project is celebrating as it marks its 1,500th language translation in March, said Josh Newell, the project’s director of marketing and communications.

‘Big milestone’

The latest translation — into Daasanach, a language spoken by an ethnic group inhabiting parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan — is part of the project’s initiative to reach the world’s remaining 865 language groups that have 50,000 or more speakers.

It’s a “big milestone,” Newell said — “a celebration of a partnership from Bible translators to church planters to individuals who use it … to reach people from far-flung corners to city high rises.”

Multiply those partnerships across 1,500 languages and 37 years, and “you just have to sit back and say, ‘God, You’re so amazing,’” he said.
The ‘JESUS’ film, based on the Gospel of Luke, was initiated by the late Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru), who had a vision to show the film in every country.

About 2,000 theaters in the United States first aired the movie in 1979 and it wasn’t long before the Jesus Film Project began to translate it into other languages.

Since then the film has been used to make 7.5 billion gospel presentations in 230 countries, with more than 490 million people indicating a decision for Christ after viewing it. (BP)

EDITOR’S NOTE — Names changed for security reasons.