Bringing the Gospels to Life: 4 Films About Jesus Now Translated into More Than 1,100 Languages

A multi-language biblical resource created to transform the way in which people can study the life of Jesus through the four Gospels has reached an unprecedented milestone in record time. 

In less than a decade, The Lumo Project, a series of four films that chronologically cover the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John has been made available in more than 1,100 languages.

The films are produced by Big Book Media and in partnership with Toy Gun Films.

Hannah Leader, the creator of the Lumo Project, said she produced the four films so that anyone, anywhere in the world could fully experience the gospels.

"Over ten years ago, I dreamt of producing a filmed version of the Gospels that would be accessible and transformative for people throughout the world by the simple expedient of using the Bible translations as the soundtrack so everyone can see and hear the Gospels in their mother tongue," Leader said. "I dreamt that we could reach 1,000 languages – with a lot of help and a lot of faith and in God's good time we have achieved that goal – I am overwhelmed with joy."

The Lumo Project is distributed by Bible Media Group (BMG) to resource ministries seeking to promote global biblical literacy. 

The project's website explains the films were produced for an international audience but can be shown to churches, small groups, and large outreach events. The films were designed to be used by churches, ministries, and individuals to create compelling engagement programs that bring the Gospels to life for people. 

Reading plans and group studies are also available. 

"We believe what we do is by the Kingdom for the Kingdom. We know that to accomplish our mission and vision, we need to walk side by side with like-minded ministries. And we would not have been able to fulfill Hannah's dream without our partnership with Faith Comes By Hearing," said Tessie DeVore, president of BMG.

"It is through this amazing partnership that millions of people can engage with Scripture by watching God's Word unfold in their own language," she added

The translations were produced in partnership with the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based ministry Faith Comes By Hearing.  

"We rejoice with LUMO and translation partners in reaching this milestone so quickly," said Jonathan Huguenin, vice president of Global Partnerships and Language Recording for FCBH. "I am continually amazed at the power of partnership. By combining FCBH Audio Bibles with LUMO visuals, together we were able to go from a few dozen languages to more than 1,000!"

In an email to CBN News, Bible Media Group's T.J. Orisma said the group's next film would concern the Old Testament. It will be released this summer. 

"It is called The Covenant, a 110-minute visual masterpiece based on the Torah," Orisma said. "Produced with the same commitment to Scripture-based, word-for-word narration, The Covenant is told through the eyes of Ezra and brings to film the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Joseph, Moses, Miriam, Aaron, and more."

"We plan to dub and distribute this film using a similar model that we used for LUMO, " he added. 

The Lumo Project is available through Amazon, iTunes, YouVersion, and YouTube.  For more information, click here. 

Watch the Lumo video below on Filming the Gospels:

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As CBN News has reported, films and TV series concerning the life of Jesus Christ have met with great success in recent years. 

For example, The Chosen, a multi-season look at the life of Jesus, continues to grow in popularity and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Season one of The Chosen, which was released in 2019, is now available in 90 languages. Season two premiered last Easter and is able to be viewed in 30 languages. 

Executive Producer Derral Eves said his goal is for one billion people to view the show.

"We're going to get it out to a billion people, and we won't stop at anything until Jesus comes," Eves told Christian Headlines. "That's the only thing that will stop us – if Jesus comes." 

But Eves says to reach one billion viewers, translations are "vital."

"From day one, when we realized that we wanted to get this out to a billion people, we had to figure out an international play," Eves explained. "And the best way to go international is to make the app available for anyone in the world from any country to download. And it is available in almost every country."