The “Jesus” film has been influential in leading more than 200 million people across the globe to make a decision to follow Jesus and has been a catalyst for planting new churches.
Even though last November the “Jesus” film celebrated its 2,000th language translation according to its website, it is estimated that 2 billion people have yet to hear the gospel even once.
This November, the most-watched film on the planet announced that it has now been translated into over 2,100 languages and has scheduled three global livestream events to share an announcement of a new vision—which appears to be related to animation.
“We’re announcing something big,” the film’s social media posted.
One of the new languages the film was translated into was for the Waorani tribe, which some might remember as the famous Auca Ecuadorian tribe known for killing five American missionaries in 1956: Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian.
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The Waorani people came to know Christ though the dedication of Jim’s widow, Elisabeth, and Nate’s sister, Rachel. The mission was later carried on by Nate’s son, Steve, who was asked to live among his father’s killers at their request in 1994. Two years, later Steve founded Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center (ITEC) which is now helping the Jesus Film Project’s evangelistic efforts in the Waorani community.
Josh Newell, the Jesus Film Project’s executive director, recently told The Christian Post that the group’s “mission is to reach everyone everywhere with the good news of Jesus. The way that we do that is through translating the ‘Jesus’ film into heart languages and partnering with the body of Christ to show the ‘Jesus’ film.”
“I think much of the older generations and many of the current generations of the Waorani people don’t read or write,” Newell added. “Having the Gospel on film is a great way to access the story of Jesus. It’s a great way for their culture to be honored. Because there’s not a lot of other people that are taking the time and effort to produce something in their language.”
Newell said that the translation “will be a great tool to honor the Waorani people and to express the Imago Dei and how God’s image is on every person.”
