Simbiti Jesus Film

Last week the Jesus Film was released in two more local languages, Jita and Simbiti!!!

I was able to go to the Simbiti showing, which was my first time to go and see a movie being shown in a rural setting. They set up a sheet in the middle with a projector on either side. You can watch the film from almost anywhere around the screen.

There was a slow trickle at first, but eventually a couple hundred ended up watching the movie and listening to Jesus speak their mother-tongue.

As Jesus is lifted up on the cross they pause the movie and inform all those watching the film that Jesus suffered all of this because He loves them. Any one who wants is then welcomed to come forward and accept the amazing gift of grace that Jesus purchased for them on that cross.

It was beautiful to see the response of over 100 people going forward to accept this precious gift.

Another sweet moment from the evening was the slow movement of a couple of young girls towards me through the course of the movie. By the end of the film one was sleeping in my lap and the other was leaning on me with her head on my shoulder. When they saw that my feet were exposed to the weather they took the corner of their shawl and made sure that my feet were covered - lest I get too cold.

The Jesus Film

I’ve been asked many times ‘why is the Gospel of Luke often translated first?’

A copy of Luke in Zinza

Well, one of the main motivations for translating the book of Luke first is that the Jesus Film script, in large part, is based off of the Gospel of Luke. So, once Luke has been translated it is easier to prepare the script of the Jesus Film.

In case you want to know more about the Jesus Film you can check out this site: Jesus Film

(Side note: My parents were in Israel when the original of this film was being filmed there!)

Back in December two of the languages in the Mara Cluster (Kabwa and Zanaki) recorded the adapted scripts. Over the last several months those recordings have been matched up and synched with the film so that the Jesus Film can be watched in either of those languages.

A group of Zanaki watching the Jesus Film in Swahili. Several of the voice actors who later were recorded for the Jesus Film are in this photo.

This week is an exciting week for the Mara Cluster. The Jesus film is being shown to the Kabwa community for the first time! You don’t have to watch the whole video (because it is over 2 hours, and in Kabwa), but here is the video that members of the Kabwa community are watching this week.

Kabwa Jesus Film

We are still working on adapting the Jesus Film for the other Mara Cluster languages, and I’m excited about getting to be there for future movie releases!