More than a movie night

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 13th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a foundation for peace.

Ethiopians are no strangers to conflict from civil wars to border disputes.

In Southern Ethiopia, one feud between border groups has been going on for generations. The Mesqan and the Marako tribes disagree over where the border actually is and which tribe owns what land. The violent feud’s been going on for so long that both sides are losing population.

BROWN: But missionaries are working to end the feud through a message of peace in the tribes’ own languages. WORLD intern Tobin Jacobson has the story.

TOBIN JACOBSON, REPORTER: 500 people are crammed into a small compound in southern Ethiopia watching a film. The gate is open to the main road. Hundreds more crowd the streets. Some are sitting in nearby coffee shops, while others huddle behind a wall. Not everyone can see the movie playing, but they can hear it. Everyone is silent. This is the first movie translated into their native language; no one wants to miss it.

SOUND: [JESUS SPEAKING IN THE MESQAN LANGUAGE]

Those are the words of Jesus, voiced by an actor speaking the Mesqan language. He’s providing a voiceover for the Jesus film, a movie adaptation of the gospel of Luke. The Jesus film has been translated into over 2,000 languages since its original release in 1979.

Today, the film is playing for both the Mesqan and the Maro tribes in their own languages.

SAMSON USMAEL: Our prayer is because of the gospel that they're getting a peace will come between these tribes, and they get to see, you know, the sacrifice and the love that Christ has shown to us, to them. And equally, they are loved, so that that will go on and bring them into reconciliation.

Samson Usmael is the head of the digital strategy team for GCME, Great Commission Ministry Ethiopia. GCME partnered with the Jesus Film Project to create the Mesqan and the Maro translations.

The team originally planned to only translate the film into the Marako language. But then the voice actors themselves spoke up.

USMAEL: This idea came from the Christians from the Marako people, they say, No, no, no, no, no. If the gospel is coming to us, we want it to come for them too… We didn't know about the conflict, but the people said, no, no, no, no, no. When we take the gospel to those people, because it came first to us, you know, it won’t be received well, so it's better if we do it together.

When the films were completed, missionaries played the movies for both tribes on the same day.

The dream of bringing the gospel to the Maro in their own language began over 50 years ago with one man.

SOUND: [ADELON URI SPEAKING]

This is Adelon Uri. Uri came to Christ and first saw the Jesus film over 40 years ago, which inspired him to bring the message to his own people, the Marako.

USMAEL: He was even working with several missionaries to show Jesus film shows in a lot of places: under the bush, under the tree, under the bridge, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the city.

At the time, the Jesus film had not even been translated into Amharic, the main language spoken in Ethiopia.

USMAEL: He used to translate from the English to Amharic then from Amharic to Marako. That was how he used to translate for his people to know, you know, to hear about the Jesus film.

Muslims in the area persecuted Uri. Five years ago, they burned down his home. When they found that he survived, they threw him in jail for three years. But as soon as Uri got out, he began working with the Jesus Film Project to fulfill his dream of bringing the gospel to his people in their heart language.

USMAEL: I'm so happy to see this happening while I'm alive. So it just it just makes me very joyful in my heart.

More than 2,000 people reportedly attended the Maro premiere. Marc Vergo is the global digital solutions director for the Jesus Film Project.

MARC VERGO: This is a 99.9% Muslim area. So to be watching what is clearly a Christian movie took bravery on their part.

No one was talking. They were all listening. You know, he said there was people lined there's trees behind the wall. So they couldn't see the film. But there are people everywhere, just leaning against the trees, just, you know, like pretending like they're just standing on the side.

After the film finished, over 300 Marako people prayed to accept Christ. The Musqan premiere had similar results. For both tribes, the Jesus film is the first movie to be translated into their own language, and people from both tribes hope that the message of Christianity will end the conflict between them.

During the production of the films, Marc Vergo had dinner with both groups of translators at the same time.

VERGO: It was like we were in the bush sitting and talking with these two sets of believers in these two people groups that had been warring and even one of the guys said he was he's he's always hesitant because of the history but they knew because of following Christ that they were at peace and they were they were comfortable being together so it was a really cool moment.

The film producers have already seen the gospel change lives in other tribes in Ethiopia.

SOUND: [SODO GURGA PEOPLE WORSHIPING IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE]

The Sodo Gurga tribe shares a border with the Maro people, and they received the Jesus film in their own language just two months ago. Before the film, there was only one Christian family in the community, but two more families became Christian after the film premiere. Today, the Sodo Gurga church has land, a building to meet in, and a pastor, trained by Jesus Film Project missionaries.

VERGO: That church is right next to the Maro people. and they were so excited that they could now reach out to their neighbors in their heart language.

The church in what you think would be the middle of nowhere in the world, right? They were doing digital missions, and they felt empowered to go reach their neighbors. That blows my mind.

Adelon Uri was instrumental in bringing the film to the Maro people, but he didn’t stick around to see the results. Vergo says Uri didn’t even stay for the premiere.

VERGO: He didn't stay for the premiere the next night. That, that blew my mind. Why is that? You know what they told me he said? He goes, “I'm taking it to my people. I'm ready to go. I have to go.”

There are people from his tribe that still hadn’t seen the film or heard the gospel. So, armed with nothing more than his phone and some USB sticks with copies of the film, Uri set out to bring them the good news, too.

SOUND: [SODO GURGA WORSHIP]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Tobin Jacobson in Southern Ethiopia.

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