Turkey (MNN) ― Turkey is at the crossroads of nationalism and globalization. The country is struggling for reform but is facing uncertainty. Christians have had long presence, but in some areas, they have to exercise caution.
Rex Rogers with SAT-7 says that's why Christian satellite television was so important. "There's a small Christian community, and when TURK7 was initiated and began broadcasting in 2003, it was the only Christian broadcast going into Turkey. It's still only one of a couple, so there's still a great limit in terms of the Christian broadcast, Christian witness and Christian truth being shared in the nation of Turkey."
Its purpose is to serve the needs of Christians in Turkey and to help the wider non-Christian Turkish population understand more about Christian beliefs and practices. The team produced many of its programs locally, and they aired on the SAT-7 PARS (Persian) channel.
For the last six years, the channel has operated as an independent ministry under the name "TURK-7." The two ministries have always shared a similar ethos: to be inter-denominational, affirming, and to be a source of Christian teaching, training and encouragement through which all viewers can experience God's love.
Eventually, it became clear that they could work more efficiently together. In early 2009, TURK-7's leadership sought to become part of the SAT-7 family to expand its operations.
On January 1, 2010, SAT-7 Turk begins its first broadcasts as a full member of SAT-7. Rogers explains, "We want to take the four hours of time to 24 hours per day of programming, which helps build an audience base, and then within the next year, we wish to take those hours of programming from SAT-7 PARS and put them out on their own Turkish language satellite platform so they have their own channel."
The excitement is building over the potential outreach and growth. David Middleton, SAT-7 TÜRK's Executive Director, agrees. "Being part of a larger organization provides us with great support that we didn't have before. With that support comes added confidence in what we can do now and what we'll be able to do in the future."
You can help. For more information about SAT-7 TÜRK or SAT-7, go to www.sat7usa.org.
