Lausanne World Pulse – Five Reasons Indigenous Media Ministries Are Vital to Christian Witness in the Middle East
By Terence Ascott and David Harder
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Wherever he or she may live today, every Christian can trace his or her spiritual roots to the Middle East, to the land where the Church was birthed. Yet despite this great historical connection, the Church in the Middle East today is suffering and shrinking.
In many parts of the world, modern media—particularly radio, the Internet and satellite television—provide useful services which often complement information also readily available at a local church. In the Middle East and North Africa (ME/NA), however, these modern tools are not only helpful, they are indispensable and have become critically important to the very existence of the Church. Here are five reasons why indigenous media efforts in this turbulent region need and deserve our help.
1. Mass media is the only means to proclaim the gospel in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
The region, which is almost the entirety of the 10/40 Window and has a population of around 500 million people, receives the least amount of support in terms of direct funding and missions-related manpower when compared to any other part of the world. This disparity is in large part caused by the sheer difficulty of living as a Christian in the region. Many ME/NA countries have strict governmental or societal rules that either prohibit or severely restrict Christian activities ranging from church construction to evangelism. These prohibitions make it extremely difficult for either local churches or foreign missionaries to witness to their faith in Christ.
Mass media, however, is increasingly popular. Beginning in the early 1960s, radio stations typically based in Europe brought Christ’s message of salvation to many who otherwise would have no other means of meeting a single Christian or hearing a gospel presentation. By the mid-1990s, satellite television had become phenomenally successful in the region. Initially, the desire to watch satellite television was driven by Middle Eastern people wanting uncensored coverage of the First Gulf War. The instant popularity of these dishes led to the 1996 creation of Al Jazeera and several other stations, including the first Christian Arabic satellite television station, SAT-7. Today, hundreds of Arabic channels are broadcasting from satellites in geosynchronous orbit high above the Arab world.
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Terence Ascott is Chief Executive Officer for SAT-7. David Harder is communications manager for SAT-7. |