Conversations: Chris Deckert, the Jesus Film Project

DAVID ADAMS speaks with the Jesus Film Project’s language studios director, Chris Deckert, about passing the recent milestone of the 2100th translation of the ‘Jesus’ film, why the film has been so enduring, and the organisation’s new aminated film project…

Chris Deckert is the Jesus Film Project’s language studios director. Sight speaks with him via email about passing the recent milestone of the 2100th translation of the Jesus film, why the film has been so enduring, and the organisation’s new aminated film prioject…

Congratulations on the 2100th translation of the Jesus film. Can you tell us why the selection of Waorani as the language is significant?
“The Waorani language is significant because it is the language of the people group that became infamous when they killed five missionaries back in 1954. Included with those missionaries were Jim Elliott and Nate saint. Their martyrdom was instrumental in a new wave of mission expansion and missionaries going throughout the world. Now years later many people from that group are excited that the Jesus film will be part of their strategy to bring the Gospel back and have the opportunity to expose everyone in their people group to a movie where Jesus is speaking their own language.”

What are the next languages you expect to see the film translated into?
“[The] Jesus film is constantly doing translation and recording of new languages around the world. We will often complete 70 to 80 new Jesus film languages every year.  We have working with local translators with nearby  churches and denominations and missionaries In Papua New Guinea, in various places in Africa along with small languages in Latin America.”

How many languages are yet to have a translation? Do you envisage a day when there will be no more need for translations to be made?
“Wycliffe Bible translators estimate that there are over 7,000 languages in the world. As Bible translation organisations and other groups have researched this, they feel there are approximately 5,000 languages that will be around in the next 20 to 30 years. We desire to serve alongside the Bible translation agencies to provide the Jesus phone whenever a Bible is being completed. This way the people have a visual representation of the Gospel of Luke through the Jesus film.
“One interesting aspect of the Jesus film is that we will often do more dialects of a language than needed for Bible translation as the way people speak their language is very unique to each region. We may create one Jesus film that has dialects from each region so that the whole language group can be represented in one Jesus film. Sometimes the dialects are so distinct that we need to create a new Jesus film in each separate dialect of the same language. We would say there are approximately 2,000 more languages that would have a need for the Jesus film in their language. any languages change over time and our first languages we did were over 40 years ago. We are constantly reevaluating the language as we’ve done in the past years and assessing whether it needs to be redone in order to modernise the language or the way people speak today.”

When did you first see the Jesus film and how did it impact you personally?
“When I first started working with the Jesus film I went to Mexico with a local church for an outreach with the Mexican church. We set up the Jesus film in an alley in a small neighbourhood near that local church. Earlier that day we had gone door-to-door with the church and invited people to the movie showing. That evening, 50 to 60 people (including many kids) came out to watch the film. It was in the days when we used a film projector with 16mm film. We showed the movie on the wall of one of the buildings outside in the cool of the night. We created tarps and blankets on the ground for all of the children to sit so they could see well in front of outdoor chairs we had set up for the adults. Everyone sat with their attention fully on the film the whole evening. Even the children didn’t get up to play around but watched. Even though it was in a major language like Spanish and at that point was around 20-years-old there was still much interest in hearing a movie in your own language.
“It was a great opportunity for the local church to draw people in to hear the Gospel and be there to follow up the many people that indicated they wanted to know more about Christ. I’ve been able to watch that same situation all over the world. It has always been a great opportunity to see the local church have a tool to gather many people together and find those who are interested in growing and knowing more about Jesus.”

How did you come to be working for the Jesus Film Project?
“While working on a masters degree in computer mapping, I was leading a Bible Study with international students. I was struck by the fact that a few of the people from Asia had never heard the stories of Noah and Moses and was convicted thinking I had grown up with these stories. I wanted to use my major to make sure that people around the world would have access to the Gospel. I heard about the Jesus film when I was at a conference a few months before I graduated. It was shared with me how my mapping skills would be very useful to the Jesus film to help track language and people group information and show where the Bible had been translated. I was excited to think that my skills would make it possible to prioritise the areas that needed to hear the Gospel and where we could next translate the Jesus film.”

Why do you think the Jesus Film has had such an impact around the world since its release in 1979?
“The Jesus film simply puts the Gospel of Luke on film. It does not try to embellish or change Jesus’ words. The use of the Jesus film impacts people because they are hearing God’s word in their own language and immediately that breaks down barriers of understanding. The Jesus film is therefore a common tool across denominations and mission organisations that quickly gathers people together, presents the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in a way that people understand.  Local churches and church planting organisations then can quickly create follow-up groups that can study the Bible together with those who expressed interest after watching the Jesus film.”

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What is the the animated story of Jesus film about?
“Jesus (2025) is a new, animated family film about the life of Jesus designed to reach families, new generations, and people of all ages with the story of Jesus. Anchored in the Christian Gospels, the film re-imagines the Jesus film, using much of its dialogue in a refreshed script. The film is slated to release Christmas 2025 and will eventually be in 2,000-plus heart languages! Jesus (2025) builds on the global impact of Jesus and more than 40 years of Bible translation work, language production, and strong relationships with ministry partners – helping to reach everyone, everywhere.”

At work on the animated version of the Jesus film, due for release in December, 2025. PICTURE: Courtesy of the Jesus Film Project.

Has it been made to replace or to enhance the impact of the Jesus film?
“The animated Jesus film is made to enhance the impact of the Jesus film.  Animation will allow us to have a new ministry tool to share the Gospel in a new way with the ability to be available in all 2000-plus languages.”

 When is it expected to be released?
“December 2025.”

Is the Jesus Film Project working on any other new initiatives at the moment?
“We have hundreds of short films that we have created or curated for other ministries on our website and app. We are constantly looking for ways to find culturally relevant ways of sharing the Gospel, create discipleship materials or provide opportunities for spiritual conversations.”

To stay updated on the Jesus Film, go to: https://asj.jesusfilm.org/connect/