Lil Rel Howery, Rotimi, and Aspen Kennedy Headline Powerful Faith-Based Feature’ God With Us’

Throughout its 2,000-plus-year history, Christianity has been a beautifully cosmopolitan and all-inclusive faith, giving the much-maligned (in non-Christian circles) Christian film industry an unlimited wealth of cultures and perspectives from which to tell stories. “God With Us,” a forthcoming Christian film that has recently finished filming, promises to showcase a faith-based perspective in a culture that is not often represented in the genre. Its cast is a rich mix of established actors and new faces, and it boasts a truly unconventional premise. 

A Black, Christian, Alternate-History Film

“God With Us,” which is written and directed by Jimmy Jenkins (whose previous credits include 2018’s Christian film “Sinners Wanted” and this year’s football movie “Nothing But a Winner”), will tell a faith-based story set in a Black American urban neighborhood. Jenkins is notably very proud of his upcoming film’s representation, saying to Deadline, “There haven’t been many faith-based films that authentically speak to urban America, and I’m thrilled to bring this modern-day Nativity story to life in a way that I pray feels real and relatable.”

And don’t be fooled by its very generic title: “God With Us” is based on a premise so subversive that it deconstructs the very history of Christianity. It takes place in an alternate twenty-first century (if indeed this century is still so numbered in such an alternative reality) in which humankind’s Christian Lord and Savior has not yet come to Earth.

The first clue as to the nature of “God With Us”‘s faith-based plot is the fact that the urban neighborhood in which it takes place is located in Maryland. The second clue is that one of its principal characters (Ashley Olivia Fisher), whose name matches the first four letters of “Maryland,” is a virgin who abruptly finds herself pregnant. The love between her and her boyfriend Joseph will, as stated in the film’s official description (also per Deadline), be “tested in a community desperate for hope.”

A Talented Cast, Mixing the Well-Known and the Unfamiliar

In addition to Fisher, who is best known for her supporting role in the dramedy TV series “Average Joe,” the actors in “God With Us” include Aspen Kennedy and Ashley Rios. Kennedy had a prominent role in the 2024 Christian film “The Forge” and a supporting one in the 2022 Bruce Willis action flick “A Day to Die.” Rios’s previous work includes a supporting role in the 2021 TV movie “Dear Best Friend” and four episodes of the James Patterson TV-series adaptation “Cross.”

The cast of “God With Us” also has more than its share of actors who’ve made a splash in mainstream Hollywood. Lil Rel Howery, best known as Chris Washington’s (Daniel Kaluuya) TSA-agent best friend and ace comic relief in Jordan Peele’s much-acclaimed debut thriller “Get Out,” will star alongside Rotimi, a singer-songwriter-actor who is prominent in the casts of the TV series “Boss” and “Power.” “God With Us” will also feature the NAACP Image Award-nominated talents of Clifton Powell (“Ray”).

Rounding out the cast list are Gregory Alan Williams, who played recurring police officer Garner Ellerbee on the ’90s hit TV series “Baywatch,” and Roger Guenveur Smith, who was a staple of Spike Lee’s filmography (including “School Daze,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and “Get on the Bus”) in the 1980s and ’90s. It is not known at this time whom these actors will be portraying.

No release date has yet been announced for “God With Us.” Jenkins, who created the story with his brother Joshua Jenkins and his Pastor father John K. Jenkins Sr., has expressed high hopes for the project via Deadline: “With the support of my father, our First Baptist Church of Glenarden family, and our incredible church partners around the globe, I truly believe this film will reach people across the world and bring glory to Jesus Christ.”