(Photo courtesy of The JESUS Film Project)

International (JFP) — [EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an article taken from The JESUS Film Project’s 2015-2016 ministry advance report. Click here to learn more about how this ministry is using a film to spread Christ throughout the world.]

It happened often in 2015: partner organizations, denominations, and churches offered themselves, saying, “If you can equip and train us, we’ll do the work of church planting.”

In Guinea-Bissau, 23 denominations united as one, responding to the advance of an aggressive religion from the North. Together, they offered to partner with The JESUS Film Project® and plant hundreds of new churches using the film, JESUS.

In Thailand, many churches united to distribute 50,000 DVDs of JESUS. Pastors who were trained then mobilized and equipped their own church members to give out the DVDs. Thai churches plan to give out 350,000 DVDs, reaching tens of thousands of people with the gospel by 2017!

Guinea-Bissau and Thailand are models: nationals doing the ground work of evangelizing, discipling and church planting—partners who use JESUS.

As 2015 comes to a close, would you seek His heart? Ask if God would make a way for you to touch more people with His Word on film in their heart language. Whatever you can do, by praying, giving or going, it makes a difference.

USA (MNN) — How often have you thought about reaching out to those in your community, especially people who don’t speak your language?

Flip Amon with The JESUS Film Project has a campaign going on this season called Our Family to Your Family. Flip Amon from JFP explains, “The campaign is designed for Christmas outreach, specifically to neighbors. So a church might make the DVDs available to their church members to hand to a family friend or neighbor. And particularly we are interested in reaching the ‘nations among us;’ we call them immigrants here in the United States.”

Specifically geared to reach people whose main language is not English, the DVD is translated into 24 languages. Amon says, “People are most open to the gospel at Christmas time more so than any other time during the year, including Easter.”

Amon says, “We find that the majority of people personally handed a gift like that will watch the DVD for two reasons. One, because it’s Christmas time and this is a Christmas story. And secondly because it’s in their language.”

This Christmas campaign is not just confined to the United States. “We have all the languages available. So whether it’s this particular DVD or a custom DVD we need to make, we can use this in any country, anywhere around the world,” Amon states.

Amon is happy with the amounts of DVDs being sent out. “There are already 141,000 DVDs that have been shipped out, and they tell us that they are being ordered at about 20,000 per week right now.”

You and your church can join the campaign on reaching out to the “nations among us.” Giving the DVD presents opportunity this Christmas season, and you’ll have a chance to evangelize those who don’t know Christ. To get involved, click here.

Pray that this campaign will catch like wildfire here in the United States and continue around the world. Pray that Christ will be known to many more this Christmas season as we celebrate His coming into this world.

That's true of Peggy, a 77-year-old grandmother from Canada. She participated on a JESUS Film^TM summer mission trip to London and distributed JESUS Film DVDs to a group of North Africans.

Whatever her assumptions were beforehand, Peggy said that her views of North Africans changed during the week. God showed her how He sees them. Sharing about a conversation with one veiled woman, she said, "I found out she was a woman just like me! I saw warmth and kindness." Peggy went on to say, "I could have been one of those ladies saying 'No' to the packet. I never want to go back to life as it was before this trip."

Upon returning home, Peggy was so excited that she ordered 800 DVDs to distribute to those in her city. While shopping one day, she met an Asian woman and learned she was from Japan. Peggy gave her a DVD.

Later, she met a woman from the Philippines. "So I gave her one," Peggy stated. Next, Peggy gave one to a Vietnamese bagger at a grocery store. "She gave me a big hug and was so excited [saying,] 'I will listen to it tonight.'"

Another day Peggy visited an ill man and met his caregiver. "I asked where she was from. 'France,' was her reply." She was delighted to receive a DVD and said she would look at it tonight. I have taken DVDs to our Sunday school [class] twice and people have taken them to share with others. We distributed the DVDs at our Good News Club in an elementary school as most of the [students] are from Spanish speaking homes."

Based on the Gospel of Luke, the "JESUS" film has now been translated into more than 1,160 languages, with new languages being added every month. This allows God's Word to speak to people in more than 200 countries in languages they know and understand. By God's grace, it is yielding a spiritual harvest of unprecedented results.

Not only is the story of the "JESUS" film one of effective evangelism, but also a powerful tool for expanding the church worldwide. Hundreds of churches, missions groups and denominational agencies, both indigenous and global, are also seeing this tool ignite the launch and growth of thousands of new churches.
Want to help? Or do you want to know more about the "JESUS" film? Just start clicking on the highlighted links. Take the first step toward the rest of your life.

The unrest in Syria is making a growing food shortage worse, and prices are beginning to skyrocket. People are having a hard time buying food, so they're leaving, adding to the numbers fleeing the violence.

The JESUS Film Project sent out an alert to supporters informing them of the critical needs and of the opportunities. They also partnered with the humanitarian arm of Campus Crusade for Christ International called Global Aid Network (GAiN), Josh McDowell Ministries, and churches in Lebanon and Jordan.

Lay workers and staff workers began concentrating aid on the border areas, in proximity to the largest concentration of refugees. There, Christians have been giving the people food, blankets, providing help with medical supplies and hospital costs…whatever aid they can provide. And they have been giving them DVDs of "JESUS," "Magdalena: Released From Shame," and other media tools donors provided.

Over the last three months, people have been watching the DVDs in the homes of their Lebanese or Jordanian hosts (who typically are also not believers). There, they see, hear, and understand the Gospel and begin to grasp why Christians love them.

There are reports of these non-Christians watching "JESUS" multiple times, and sharing the DVD with others. When the fighting is over, JFP teams pray that these refugees will return home safely, having been transformed by the power of God.

The JESUS Film Project asked the Director of Humanitarian Assistance in the region for his thoughts:

"Tell the friends of the film ‘JESUS' — thank you! In spite of death and the horrendous things we are seeing and hearing, God is at work. He is loving people who have never had a chance to hear His name before. Now we can reach them and love them.

"In Matthew 24, Jesus said that there would be wars, rumors of war, earthquakes and famines…but then He said, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.'

"It's beautiful to me how people around the world and in the U.S. are giving so we can love these people during their most desperate hour, during this war. Tell the friends of the film ‘JESUS' that they are helping to change lives now and for eternity. This is the way the Kingdom is supposed to work. Thank you every one!"

If you would like to help, DVDs are still needed. You can also keep praying for Gospel opportunities. Check our Featured Links Section for details.

While the 90-minute animated film has been out over a year, VOM currently has a goal, says Todd Nettleton. "We have a program going on right now where we're offering the film to every church in America. We want to send you a DVD. It actually has both English and Spanish on the DVD. And it's a tool."

The goal isn't to get the church to buy more copies, Nettleton says. "We are working to make it so churches can duplicate it, they can make copies of it, they can use it in their evangelism program, they can use it in their Sunday school."

While the DVD is already produced in English and Spanish, according to Nettleton, "We are translating it into the languages of restricted nations. We already have it in Spanish for countries like Colombia. We have just completed Arabic and Farsi and Chinese, which will include the entire Middle East as well as Iran and China."

VOM is currently working on Russian, Bengali, and Turkish.

The story is an encouragement to believers from a persecuted church perspective. "Even when Jesus was around, it was dangerous to follow Him. You were an enemy of the authorities if you were a follower of Christ. That message really rings true with Christians in restricted nations, but it's also a powerful tool for Christians in the United States, as well."

If you'd like to get a copy for your church or ministry, go to FreeJesusMovie.com.

President and founder of Vision Beyond Borders Patrick Klein likens the situation to a genocide. "We're hearing reports that 500,000 to 600,000 Karen people have been wiped out by the government. They're just going in and slaughtering whole villages. Some think it's worse than what's happening in Darfur."

Klein says the Karen people feel isolated and alone. Because of that, Vision Beyond Borders has taken up their cause. Even VBB has been ignored, especially by the international media. "They say, 'Oh no, American people don't want to hear about this. They're not interested.' So there seems to be a media blockade to keep the world from knowing what's really happening with these Karen people."

That's why Vision Beyond Borders has produced a documentary DVD hosted by actor Kirk Cameron. "Jesus said, 'If one part of the body suffers, we all suffer.' Part of our body is suffering in Burma, and yet nobody knows."

This information blockade is even perpetuated by governments. "We've heard even in Thailand that some of the ministries have been told that they're not to report on this. If they do, the ministries will be kicked out of Thailand."

Klein says that may be an economic reaction to their plight. "A lot of countries…are getting their natural resources from Burma. They're working with the Burmese military. As long as they can get their natural resources, we don't care."

The DVD features testimonies of villagers about the atrocities. It also focuses on what God is doing in the refugee camps.

While the DVD is an important resource, VBB also has a prayer guide to go with it. "We want to call the church to pray," Klein explains. "So we've put together this 30-Day Prayer Guide. I think when we see this DVD, it really touches our hearts. But then when we take it to prayer, it goes from our head to our heart and we start to get a heart for these people. We realize that these are our brothers and sisters suffering for their faith."

Despite the unspeakable violence, people are coming to Christ — especially children — many of whom have watched their parents slaughtered.

VBB is making this DVD and 30-Day Prayer Guide available to you FREE. Klein would like you to watch it, share it with your Sunday school class, church or other groups to help them understand the situation.

To get your DVD and Prayer Guide, click here.