Jesus Film Dedication Report

The DVD being joyfully dedicated (A.Evers)

The dedication of the Jesus Film in Kope language was a big day and a good day. I’ll be writing about several aspects of it over coming weeks, but first wanted to give a summary of the event.

The highlight for me was in the moments after the circuit minister prayed a dedication prayer and they showed the start of the movie, as a taste of the full thing which would be shown after dark. The thin crowd suddenly swelled as people emerged from shady spots around the fringes of the field to squeeze together in front of the tiny screen. The excitement and joy was beautiful.

Paramount chief, Tompkin (A.Evers)

Even better though was the quiet moment happening between two brothers on the stage behind the screen. They were in full sight of everyone, but few noticed as they were all looking at the screen. Older brother and paramount chief Tompkin, and younger brother and translator Samson stood with tears in their eyes giving each other a hug. They had no words for the emotions overwhelming them as they heard the film start in their language, but they had each other and they understood each other. It was a precious moment to be part of as an observer.

Once the sun was set and the feast was done, we showed the whole film to a large crowd. I’ve no idea how big the crowd was, as my skills at estimating are poor anyway, and dark skinned people in the dark camouflage well. The crowd was big, and the crowd was quiet as they watched attentively. Only the smallest children fell asleep, everyone over six remained transfixed. When the movie finished, they sat in silence for awhile. A pastor then prayed for everyone and they dispersed to their houses, still quite quietly. The silence spoke to me of people reflecting on what they had seen and heard, digesting what it meant for them.

The next day I heard the film being played in different houses and on phones around the village. I also heard that some people had stayed up late the night before to watch the whole thing again. We did a re-screening the next night, to another big crowd. In the coming weeks the film was shown in other villages in the language community.

It is hard to know what the impact of an event like this is, but I find encouragement in the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15). The sower scattered seed generously, some of it eventually bearing fruit and some of it not. Showing this film to a big crowd is a generous sowing of the seed which is God’s word. It will have taken root in many hearts, but we may not see the harvest for some time yet as the seed grows to maturity. In other hearts it will not get far, but we will continue to sow generously in the hope that eventually those hearts are fertile enough to receive. 

A crowd gathers (D.Petterson)