By Dr Wendi Lord, vice president of localization at Come and See, the nonprofit helping bring The Chosen to audiences globally in 600 languages
Imagine the shock. Thousands of people crowded into Jerusalem, drawn from every corner of the known world, from regions we now call Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Saudi Arabia. Then something impossible happened. As Peter preached, each person began hearing the message of Jesus not in the language of religious tradition or political power, but in the language their parents used to comfort them as children. Their mother tongue. Acts 2 describes the Pentecost moment as one of visceral awe and wonder, and it was only the beginning.
What the crowd experienced that day speaks into the very heart of our mission as translators. That day, each person heard the message of Jesus in their own language. Parthians heard Parthia, Egyptians heard Egyptian. The way God chose to communicate to those new believers in their mother tongue demonstrated the value He placed on them, the intimacy of the new relationship they could now experience through Christ. That sentiment ripples throughout the Gospel, God comes to find us where we are. In this moment, linguistic barriers were removed and people heard the life-changing truth declared directly to them.
Experiencing the message of Jesus in your own language is not just a cultural preference, it is about belonging. Documented research and countless testimonies bear witness to the profound difference of praying and worshipping in your heart language. The same is true for reading the Bible. When we share the Gospel in the native language of those we hope to reach, we echo what happened at Pentecost: people hear Jesus and the story stops feeling foreign.
This is what makes overseeing the translation team for The Chosen so exciting. The Chosen is a multi-season TV show bringing the life of Jesus to life on screen, and by bringing it to audiences in the language closest to their heart, we believe people can encounter Him in a way that feels genuinely real and personal.
Holy Spirit encounter
Not long ago, a linguist in the Middle East helped us bring The Chosen into another language. He was a professional, focused on lip sync and mouth movement, and a Muslim. As he worked through the scripts with our Christian theologian, absorbing the story deeply enough to carry it into his own language, he encountered the Holy Spirit. He and his family now follow Jesus.
I’ve seen multiple testimonies like this firsthand; when viewers read subtitles, they are watching the show with their heads. But when they hear Jesus speak in their own language, the language of their childhood, their prayers, their dreams, something shifts. The message finds its way into the heart.
As technology accelerates, doors are expanding our capabilities opening in unprecedented ways. AI-assisted translation tools are accelerating the work of translations, especially into lower-resourced languages. Using modern tools, these emerging technologies, some Bible translations are going four times to even 16 times faster than they were in 2022.
Despite these impressive advances, there are 3.4 billion people in the world who have still not heard the Gospel. Around one in five people are still waiting for the Bible in a language they fully understand. There are over 6 000 vital languages in the world, and more than half of them do not have a full Bible translation. This is the landscape of the world today.
In the midst of these cultural challenges, Come and See is finding profound opportunities to make the story of Jesus as accessible as possible. Through the TV series, doors are opening to faith conversations that are helping people to very personally experience Jesus.
One translator put it this way:
“Translation is essential to Pentecost because it signifies that the Gospel is meant for every culture, language, and nation, breaking down barriers to ensure the message of salvation is accessible to all.” – Paula Senekal (South Africa)
Just as the disciples spoke in many languages on Pentecost, our translators work tirelessly to ensure that everyone, whether in Columbia, Armenia, Kenya, Tanzania, or beyond, can experience Jesus in the language that speaks to them most deeply.
How might the Holy Spirit be stirring you to share Jesus in ways that truly connect with those around you?
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