The Gospel on Film

Saturday night, we showed the Jesus Film out doors in Machava, about 12 km from where we live and where we have a new church plant. One of our church leaders had tried to show the film at Easter while we were showing the film at T-3 (earlier blog) but had technical difficulties and wanted to try again with our other set of equipment.

In this case, we showed the Tsonga version of the film (southern language dialect) and again used DVDs vice the old grainy VCR tapes. About 100 people showed up in this rural area to watch the film. We did an evangelistic outreach afterwards, there were many people who accepted Christ, and all were invited back in the morning for church at the same location, under a tree right now! There are about 20 faithful followers meeting at this house under the tree each Sunday, including several times during the week as well.

I’ve seen this movie so many times now that I tend to watch the crowd more, wander around more talking and listening. This film has been shown many, many times around Maputo and many have seen it multiple times. It is the Gospel story, based on the book of Luke, shot in the 1970’s. This time, I was surprised to see many people saying the lines a little in advance of the actors at certain places. That surprised me and demonstrated to me how many times this film has been viewed.

Things have gotten a lot more sophisticated around Maputo in the last couple of years. There are more and more TVs and DVD players around and hi-jacked movies can be purchased on the street for a couple of dollars all over the city. (Yes, the grainy movies with poor sound that at the end, you can see the people get out of their seats to leave! – As an aside, that is how people get their view of America and the West – movies. Gulp!). I think the medium is very accepted and enjoyed here, but perhaps we need to move to the next level. The Jesus film works tremendously in areas where people have not seen it or heard the gospel – it’s incredible; but last night as I wandered through the crowd I was wondering how much of it in this case was simply entertainment, something to do. “We’ve seen it 10 times, but there is nothing else to do tonight……” But, I stand on the promise that God’s Word does not return void…(Isaiah 55:11) for if only one person accepted Christ as a result of the movie, it was absolutely worth doing!

There is a wonderful kid’s version that we are starting to use (from a kid’s perspective) and it is always enjoyed because it is new.

People love stories, oral, visual, written, drama. Wouldn’t some sort of follow-up or just some true stories of lives changed – some good movies that touch the heart with the truth…what an opportunity it could be. Not for simply entertainment, but with a heart-felt message that relays that there is no other answer. It’s a great opportunity for someone with a flair for that sort of thing, but probably not a money-maker, but rather a gold-in-heaven maker! The beauty of the Jesus film is all the heart languages it is available in. I wish we had some other things in the heart languages in addition – what a great tool it could be.

I rejoice at how this film has changed lives the world over and for those just last night who accepted Christ as their Savior. I pray our leaders do a good job following up; there is so much more to the Christian life. It begins with accepting Him but the time-line extends into eternity, one step at a time. It isn’t so much how we share the story but simply the fact that we but ourselves out there and share the story. As Ann says all the time, ours is the easy job – “we just tell the story.” God is the one who moves the hearts of people to see the truth.

Tomorrow we make a quick run to South Africa to get our car’s four-wheel-drive repaired in advance of another trip north. It’s making lots of ugly noises and we depended on the 4-wheel drive nearly daily. In addition, the windshield is leaking all around the top – will probably require some body repair to fix. At zero dark thirty in the morning, we’re caravanning with some friends, one who has a truck with no brakes (or nearly no brakes) that needs repair and another friend and her daughter who feel safer not traveling alone. Head em up, move em out!

Dave & Ann

“Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven...” Luke 6:23