I have deep personal appreciation for The Jesus Film Project. Indeed, several Jesus Film staff members attend my church, including the current director of the project. I first saw it when I was in High School when I went with my youth group. It is also something of a family tradition for us to watch it at Easter time. The first time we did so, at the end of the film there is a simple invitation to trust Christ and my then quite young son, Brooks, quietly bowed his head and prayed along with the voice on the film.
But I must tell you that I didn’t “get it” until I saw the film in Malawi. One of our Malawian Ministry Partners called “Fishers, Trainers and Senders” (FTS) uses the film in their outreach weekends to poor villages.
The Director of FTS, Louise Laubscher (pictured here with her faithful and delightful assistant Mphatso) and her team come in for the weekend, work with the local pastors, offer a VBS-like day of games and instructions, put on a soccer match and study and then that evening everyone returns to sit on the soccer field in front of a large white sheet projecting the Jesus Film.
The two nights they showed the film, (I was there the second night) I was told that 2000 people watched the movie. But there was something more happening there. Throughout the film, FTS team members would stop to change the reels and offer testimonies and lead in singing. The crowd would sing and dance all over the field, a roar of enthusiasm sparking faith to flame, growing all the more as the story was told. But when the film would start again, all would fall silent.
Then the strangest thing happened: When Jesus appeared on screen the crowd cheered. When he healed someone, they roared their approval. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, they yelled as if they were part of the original palm waving crowd. When a Pharisee confronted Jesus, the crowd would boo and shout out their disapproval and when Jesus was arrested they protested. As I stood on the field with these villagers, I realized that in a very real way, they were hearing the gospel the way it is supposed to be heard—as a story that demands our response.
In America, The Jesus Film is a movie that tells the story of the gospel. When we watch it, we are more spectators than anything else. In Malawi and many other places of the world where films are not part of everyday life, The Jesus Film is more of an icon, an encounter, a “passion play” where every person participates in the universe-changing drama and has to decide who they will cheer, with whom they will identify, and what will they do about it.
The next afternoon, as our team gathered in meetings to discuss our partnership, FTS volunteers led a final worship service for their outreach weekend with all the local churches. 5000 people showed up to hear more about the Jesus they had seen with their eyes.
It seems odd that I who have preached the gospel, told the story, seen the film (and others also) needed to travel around the world to truly understand the power of the gospel when it comes to a people for the first time, but it was just one more gift I received even as I came to minister the gospel to them. Mission is a ministry to the needy. Sometimes those of us who come as the “missionaries” are the most needy of all.
Recent Comments