Posts Tagged ‘Jesus film’

‘He speaks my language! He’s my God!’

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Wycliffe’s language work often supports the work of other organisations, enabling them to produce materials which can reach language communities with the good news of Jesus. One partner organisation we work closely with is The Jesus Film Project, telling the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection through the medium of film.

The film is dubbed into minority languages as the Gospel of Luke is translated into each new language, and as audio scriptures are recorded. It is distributed via DVD, or through the web, or by teams taking it directly to rural areas and projecting it in the open air  using generator-powered equipment.

The Jesus Film has now been translated into more than 1,140 languages, with new languages being added every month. This allows God’s word to speak to people in more than 200 countries in languages they know and understand.

From time to time, we have the privilege of hearing stories about how this translated word has made it into the hearts of individuals, transforming families with the truth of God’s love to every people group. Here is one such story of how The Jesus Film touched a young man and his family, as retold by Elizabeth Schenkel.

Find out more about The Jesus Film Project, and Scripture use with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

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Posted in Asia, Bible Translation, Multimedia, People | 1 Comment »

The IT fixers

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Because Wycliffe work in so many places around the world, teamwork can sometimes be a challenge. Richard Young (a Brit, working in Czech Republic and managing the IT department in Nigeria) shared this story about one of the times where cooperation across continents worked just as it should:

“It was great to go back to Nigeria in November, where I met up with some of the colleagues whom I had helped at a distance – people like Gareth Mort, who lives in a village on a bumpy road.

“One of his jobs is helping Nigerian translators to dub The JESUS Film into their languages, which makes a great tool for communicating the gospel to large groups. This involves a lot of work on the computer – preparing text from the book of Luke so that it fits well in the time slots, while still speaking Biblical truth.

“One day several months ago, Gareth switched his laptop on, only to find the screen looked like this:

“Probably it had suffered one jolt too many on those bumpy roads. So he texted me in the Czech Republic, asking for help. I found out that an American missionary was due to come to Nigeria in a few weeks, so I ordered a new screen for him to bring for Gareth.

“When the screen arrived, Sunday Ude (my Nigerian colleague) fitted it, and as you can see, Gareth was very happy to be able to see his full screen again, so he could work more effectively. It’s great when teamwork across continents works this smoothly…”

Getting God’s story out to people everywhere needs lots of skilled workers in lots of places. IT specialists, like Richard and Sunday, are especially needed. Visit wycliffe.org.uk/it to find out more about how you could support the work.

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Posted in Africa, Missionary life, People, Serving Overseas | 1 Comment »

Special Joy

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Mpyemo, spoken in the Central African Republic, is the mother-language of some 30,000 people. They have established churches and a large group of Christians, but they can’t access the Bible in their language.

However, they are working to change that. One of the projects that they have decided to begin is the translation of the JESUS Film into Mpyemo. The JESUS Film script is based on the Gospel of Luke and there are now more than 1,000 translations of the film.

Rev Athanase Malaguis is eager to have it in his language will have. “I am so happy to learn that the Jesus Film is going ahead,” he said, “and that we will have it in our language. It will make our job of evangelism much easier.”

But the effects of Bible translation are much wider than just a film production. Rev Athanase is hoping that literacy classes in churches will begin, equipping people to read the Bible. And the change that comes with having the Bible in the mother-tongue is already starting to show. At local meetings, people are starting to pray in their mother-tongue language, where before they always prayed in a second language.

“When someone prays in their own language, they feel a special joy.” Rev Athanase’s excitement is evident: “I am ready to give all my time at such meetings because I want to go on growing in the joy of learning to pray in my own language before I die.”

I live in an English-speaking culture, and it seems natural for me to pray in my mother-tongue. But where people don’t have the Bible in their mother-tongue, relationship with God – through his word, and through prayer and praise – is in a foreign language. Help them get to know God in their own language.

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Posted in Africa, Languages | No Comments »

Calling Pray-ers

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

When The Jesus Film in the Kuo language was being shown in Chad, five men who spoke a neighboring language turned up to see the film. They couldn’t really understand Kuo, but the man sitting next to them spoke a little of their language and did some on-the-spot translation. It was a difficult task, given it was his first time seeing the film himself.

The following day, one Kuo translator had some visitors. The five men were there, asking how they could arrange to see the film again, so they could understand it better. The translator found The Jesus Film in their own language and arranged the viewing. But when he got to the venue, he was surprised to find more than just the five men – more than 100 men, women and children had turned up to see the film.

One person believed as a result of seeing the film in his own language. In fact, on average, someone in the world turns to Jesus in response to The Jesus Film every eight seconds. It has been translated into more than 1,100 languages. Find out more about The Jesus Film at jesusfilm.org.

Today, thousands of people in the UK are praying for Chad and the impact of The Jesus Film in mother tongue languages. They have been prompted to pray by our prayer diary Call to Prayer.

God is using Bible ministries, like Wycliffe and The Jesus Film, to bring people to himself. If you want to pray for work like this, you can be informed by Call to Prayer. You can read Call to Prayer on the blog sidebar, receive it by email or even read the good old fashioned paper copy. Sign up here.

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Posted in Africa, Languages, Multimedia | No Comments »

Feeding with God’s word

Monday, April 18th, 2011

The JESUS Film is being shown all round the world. Based on the gospel of Luke, the script has been translated into more than 1000 languages, and has shared the Story with billions of people in their own language.

Stephen, a translation consultant, was recently consulting during a workshop where the JESUS Film was being translated. One moment really struck him, as he saw the passion of the translators to share Jesus’ words with others in their own language:

At a recent translation workshop involving eight languages in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, we were only getting about two hours of city electricity every day between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. The translation center had a generator, but it was expensive to run and just came on at certain times. Early in the workshop, Dominique, one of the translators in the Yaka language, stood up after the morning devotional time and said,

“Yesterday afternoon we weren’t able to work because there was no electricity for our computers. We only have three weeks here to translate the whole script, so our time is very limited. I’m willing to skip lunch if we can take the money and use it to buy gas for the generator so we can work in the afternoons. How many of you are willing to join me?” Read more on the Seed Company blog.

Stephen works with the Seed Company, whose aim is to help accelerate Bible translation. The Seed Company, Wycliffe Bible Translators and many other organisations are striving to make the Bible accessible for the 300 million people without God’s word in their language.  Find out how you can be involved.

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Posted in Africa, Events | No Comments »

The Dedication of the Chumburung Bible

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Many people in Ghana are celebrating: today is the dedication of the Chumburung Bible! Among those gathered to celebrate are Keir and Gillian Hansford, who have worked with the project for many years.  Keir (pictured below) says:

“May the translation [of God's word] into Chumburung lives go on and on!”

Keir Hansford checks the Chumburung text with a colleague.

The New Testament has been available in Chumburung since 1988.  The language also has a dictionary and grammars, providing access to literacy. Now, after 21 years, the people will be able to read the whole of the Bible in their own language.

Having the entire Bible in their language will help many Chumburung believers grow in faith and love of God.  This includes the thousands who have recently come to know Jesus through the Jesus Film.

This translation project opens up God’s word to over 70,000 people.

But a further 300 million are still waiting for God’s word in their language. Find out how you can share God’s story.

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Posted in Africa, Events, Languages | 2 Comments »

Inspired by the Bible…

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

The Bible may seem like an unlikely source of ideas for a successful film.  Nevertheless, The Pitch has set a challenge – to create a short film inspired by its content.

Competition registrations are due in this month.  Many Hollywood movies contain biblical themes – Armageddon, Atonement, I am Legend, Seven Pounds, The Devil’s Advocate, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Matrix, The Shawshank Redemption and The Sixth Sense, to name a few.  The Pitch builds on this, pointing to scripture portions that could be used as springboards for creative storytelling.  The challenge is set for competitors to propose how they would communicate timeless Biblical stories in a modern, culturally relevant way.

Across the world, Wycliffe is increasingly seeing God’s word speak into the culture and the language of those who still need to hear the story… Through The Jesus Film, or audio scripture initiatives with organisations such as Global Recordings, the message of the Bible is being communicated through a wide variety of media. 

So do you have what it takes?  If film and video editing is your area of passion, take a look at The Pitch competition.  Or read more about how Scripture Use specialists in Wycliffe are seeing God’s word impact lives around the world through different media, and how you could be involved.

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Posted in Culture, UK | No Comments »

Torom’s Testimony

Friday, August 8th, 2008

From Wycliffe International:

From beneath a furrowed and troubled brow, Torom peered at me with sullen eyes. Strange young man. Why had Samuel chosen him to join us for training at the Wycliffe center? Had I known his background, I would have protested. Wife beater; heavy drinker; temper… But I didn’t know, so Torom stayed.

What follows is an amazing story of how God not only changed one man, but used that man as a catalyst to bring transformation to his community. The combination of mother-tongue scriptures and a transformed life was a powerful testimony of a God who reaches out in love to all people.

Read the rest of the story…

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Posted in Languages | No Comments »