The film JESUS, which holds the record for the being most-watched film in history, has now been translated into 1,500 languages, it was announced at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in the US this week.
The 1,500th language is that of Daasanach, which is spoken by an ethnic group in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. It’s estimated that the film, which was released in 1979 and is based primarily on the Gospel of Luke, has been used in some 7.5 billion presentations of the Gosoel in more than 230 countries and, say the project team behind it, it’s resulted in more than 490 million decisions to follow Christ.
Josh Newell, director of marketing and communications for the Jesus Film Project, described the translation as an “incredible milestone”.
“This marks a critical advancement in reaching those who have never heard the Gospel,” he said in a statement. “JESUS has long been one of the most effective ways to reach people in a way they can immediately understand the message of salvation, and now our reach can go even further.”
In 2010, the Jesus Film Project launched an initiative, Mission 865, to reach the remaining 865 language groups in the world with 50,000 speakers or more which have not heard the Gospel of Jesus in their own language.
Mr Newell said that while the Gospel has gone to every modern nation, in the Great Commission Jesus commanded his followers to make disciple from “every ethnic people group”, adding that this is why “achievements such as the 1,500th language translation of JESUS makes such a broad impact on this mission”.
