Visuals can clarify

From SPARK

Brief Summary

Help readers understand scripture, develop reading skills, and evangelize neighbors.

Church leaders, of a local community in an isolated, mountainous region with limited logistics wanted to provide an impetus for further discipleship among a target population of old and very young believers who were illiterate. The church leaders also were interested in a second group--neighbors who spoke a related language with a few believers but mostly unevangelized and illiterate. A film was selected to expose the groups to a presentation of the gospel. The first group had viewed a portion of a previous film, and the resulting high interest and good response attracted the interest of the second group. Read below about the translator's concerns, what was done, and the positive results.

Introduction

The local church leaders felt that presenting a film would help to stimulate greater interest and understanding and provide an impetus for further discipleship among believers. There was also a large section of the primary target population among the old and very young who were still illiterate. An oral-visual presentation would be a more effective way to reach them. There was already a high interest in seeing a film among those closer to the site. This was because a portion of a film had been shown to a limited audience and their response to its educational, informational, and “spiritual impact” value was very good.

Key Factors:

• The target language group is in an isolated, mountainous region with very limited logistics (by airplane or walking).
• There was no electricity locally at the time of this event.
• There was a strong and growing church led by indigenous pastors, teachers, and elders.
• The overall functional literacy rate was reasonably good (about 35%) and growing. Prior to this time they had been almost exclusively oral communicators. Among this group a great many had only limited understanding of certain features of the Biblical culture. Expanded Key Factors

There was a ‘secondary’ target people group who were geographical neighbors and who spoke a fairly closely-related language. There were very few known believers among that people group. In addition, this neighboring language group was essentially unevangelized and so for them, this would be more like a pre-evangelism opportunity. The group was mostly illiterate, and thus to a very large extent a group dependent on oral communications. We knew that it would take something as unusual and exciting as a visual presentation to attract their notice and to be of high enough interest for them to walk the four hours across the valley to the showing site.

In the ‘primary’ target people group, while there were many believers, there were also many people who had not yet professed faith, but who were interested in or open to hearing about the gospel. Therefore, a key interest for using this presentation was to expose these two groups of people to an initial evangelical presentation of the gospel, and in a form that was of very high interest. As it turned out, there were hundreds of people from among the secondary target group and certainly dozens among the primary target group who ‘hosted’ this presentation who were exposed to the gospel message for nearly the first time via this film.

What was done

We arranged for the film to be shown by a partner agency in several strategically located and populous village sites. There were strong local churches already existing among the primary target people group. There would be a high likelihood of visitors coming from the neighboring language group to see it. In host villages, there was already a high level of interest expressed, and they were committed to follow-up with viewers for discipleship purposes. These showing sites needed to be very near an airstrip due to the amount and weight of equipment needed to run the film. Also there were no local people able to take the equipment overland and/or to operate it independently.

At the time, our agency was not allowed to show this film as it was then considered to be “too high profile” of a religious activity for our contractual arrangements. The partner agency had no such restrictions on their own contractural arrangements.

The partner agency flew the film and all equipment necessary, along with an operating team, to the target community sites and showed the film. The showing was made known or “advertised” verbally for several weeks prior to the event. Very large crowds came. The film was shown with vernacular language (VL) narration (not lip synced). There was also VL comment by local leaders (believers) at the showing, and follow up in the VL in the local village communities. Follow up was done mainly among the ‘primary’ people group, but there was also some limited opportunity for this in villages of the ‘secondary’ group who spoke the related language. There was a very enthusiastic reception of the film by all host villages and by members and leaders of both language groups who viewed it. In fact, the content and message of the film stimulated a strong interest in literacy among both groups, including the largely illiterate neighboring group. The film was shown outside after dark to allow time for people to arrive and to accommodate the crowd size. This also allowed time for people who needed to return home over challenging trails. It was shown on several consecutive nights for similar reasons.

Results

• educational and informational gains for the previously unknown and little understood cultural context of the NT story
• tremendous emotional and spiritual impact on people due to the visual presentation of the gospel story

From a translator in South East Asia