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TechnoratiThe JESUS Film has been viewed by more than 201 million people, in some 950 languages and is used as a powerful evangelism tool by over 1,500 Christian agencies.
Photo: DeMossNewsPondJim Green, executive director of The JESUS Film Project
Jim Green, executive director of the JESUS Film Project, spoke to The Christian Post on Wednesday about the film’s effectiveness in transcending barriers, and about the new JESUS Film initiative to send 3.6 million videos and audios to Asia.
CP: What about this project makes it so effective?
Green: The Jesus Film is a movie on the life of Jesus taken from the Book of Luke. It is really the Word of God and the Bible says of itself that it is alive, powerful, sharp and impact people’s lives – so certainly that is the foundational reason.
The other day I was thinking and asking myself the question ‘Why has this film been so powerful over the years?’ Actually, I came up with ten different reasons.
Certainly, the first one is the power of the Word of God. Second is the power of seeing Jesus and his life and word. He said of himself that, ‘When I am lifted up I will draw all people to myself.’ It is the power of hearing it in one’s own ‘heart language;’ it has been translated to probably 950 languages to date.
It is also the power of story; we all relate to story. When you stop and think about it, when we were children, our parents didn’t put us on their knees and give us a three-point outline, but they told us stories. So we all love stories.
Fifth is the power of media. The film engages people with sight and sound and they can replay it over and over in their minds. Sixth, is certainly the power of the Holy Spirit. God is the one who impacts people’s lives and convinces them of the Truth as they hear stories of His love and His Word. Also the film is effective because of the power of personal testimony, because the film is being used by people who are followers of Jesus all over the world. So the film is being used in the context of real life followers of Jesus who have a quality of life that impacts people as well. Then it is the power of follow-through because it is used in a situation of following through to help people grow in their faith, planting churches, and small groups.
There has been probably more than 40 films made on the life of Jesus but why does the Jesus Film have such a great impact?
I think another reason is because it has been used by many, many people – so the power of mobilization of the body of Christ. We know over 1,500 different mission agencies that are using this film. So this is really a mobilization and multiplication of many people using this film. Then finally, I would say it is the power of prayer because people who are using it are praying and asking God to touch people’s heart and He does. So there are probably ten different reasons why it is being used in such a powerful way.
CP: How and by whom is the film being used? In particular, what are some of the mission groups that have used the film for evangelism
Green: The list is so long so in one sense I am hesitant because I don’t want to marginalize anyone and make people feel left out. But certainly some of the groups I could mention are the International Mission Board of the Baptist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, many different denominations such as the Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterian – virtually every major denomination have used the film in many ways.
I personally lived in Africa and I’m aware of people from all those particular denominations that I’ve mentioned who have used the film - so certainly mainline denominations.
Also mission agencies such as Wycliffe, Bible Translators, Africa Inland Mission, Mission Aviation Fellowship, JAARS; I could go on and on and I am leaving out a whole bunch of groups but those are some. Continue »
