Jesus Film Project to Take Over the World With 865 More Languages
Although the Jesus Film Project has been around for over 30 years, the organization has made a new goal to expand its reach to millions more by creating 865 translations.
The Jesus Film Project is a video representation of the Gospel according to Luke, telling the story of Jesus Christ. The film has been translated in over 1,100 languages and has been shown in over 230 countries.
According to the project website, the film has caused one new person to become a follower of Jesus Christ every eight seconds. In a ranking of evangelical organizations by the Return on Investment Ministry, Jesus Film Harvest Partners, a ministry that uses the film to share the gospel, was deemed "a phenomenal eternal return on your investment."
The movie is able to be produced with the help of a partnership between the Church of Nazarene and Campus Crusade for Christ, which have formed into the JESUS Film Harvest Partners. However, others have begun jumping on board to spread the Gospel through film after seeing its impact.
Berry Fiess, Director of field information services for Jesus Film Project, spoke to The Christian Post about the reason behind the film's international success.
"We find that the film has much more value when it is shown in the areas where people are interested in it," Fiess said. "One of the things that we've discovered is that the film has particular value to different groups when you put it into their mother tongue. That is one of the reasons why it has been so successful around the world."
Paul Marin, founder of spreadgodsword.org, has decided to include 1,072 adult translations of the film on his website, along with 142 children's translations which include the English version. He spoke to The Christian Post about the importance of featuring the unique film about Jesus on his website.
Marin said the film was nothing like others that document the story of Jesus, especially Hollywood interpretations.
"The films that I have seen are Hollywood interpretations to the Scripture. Their objective is to create a certain feeling and get to the good parts just so the film can sell," he said. "That's not what I see with this."
Although Marin sited Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" as a Hollywood piece that was done well, he said the Jesus Film Project had a different focus.
"This (film) is not as controversial," Marin said. "I think it really focuses on the love of Christ versus the pain that Christ went through."
The Jesus Film Project is now 865 languages away from being translated into every documented tongue in the world with 50,000 or more speakers, and has made doing so its mission. The project has gained followers around the world, who attest to its powerful life changing message.
Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, is no exception, speaking highly of the project.
"The 'JESUS' film is the most effective evangelistic tool ever invented," Warren said.