SAT-7 broadcasts Christian programming across the Middle East and North Africa in Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. Its Farsi-language channel, SAT-7 PARS, continues reaching viewers inside Iran — even when internet access and other communication channels are blocked by the government.

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

Joe Willey with SAT-7 says, “We know that satellite television is virtually uncensorable, and so we can broadcast even programs we have — and we’ve done this. Programs that are created to be online, we can actually broadcast those programs on satellite television. So we can still reach people with the Gospel and with the support that the people of Iran need.”

Willey recently spoke with an Iranian man who has been able to communicate with contacts inside the country. According to those reports, protests are not fading.

“Instead of these protests dwindling, the numbers are increasing,” Willey says.

“It’s a desperate situation, and of course, the information coming out of Iran is filtered through government channels, because the government has throttled digital communication. The internet — and anything that uses the internet — is really blacked out.”

While the sharp drop in the Iranian rial sparked the unrest on December 28, dissatisfaction with the Islamist authoritarian regime has been building for years amid strict Sharia law and ongoing human rights abuses.

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

“The shopkeepers started with economic protest because of a devalued currency and financial difficulty in the country,” Willey says. “That has spread to freedom and wanting a different lifestyle.”

That pressure is also driving deeper spiritual questions.

“Younger people and even older people have questioned the harshness and severity of life under this regime,” says Willey. “They will say, ‘Well, if this is religion, if this is God, I don’t want this. I’m oppressed.'”

But when they encounter the message of Christ, Willey says the response is striking.

“They say, ‘Wait, are you telling me that because of Christ, I can be free?’ It is a completely different message. It is the true hope of Scripture, and Iranians are eager to hear that because of what they’ve been through. So SAT-7 can still broadcast the message of freedom that ultimately is eternal in Christ.”

As Iranian Christians navigate this tense moment, Willey says their witness matters deeply.

“The difficult thing is for believers in Iran right now to be salt and light,” he says. “This is an opportunity, and it’s easy for me to say, but they have an opportunity to show the hope they have in Christ…. I honestly pray that a great awakening would happen in Iran.”

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

A Christian woman inside Iran recently shared a prayer request with SAT-7: “Please pray for freedom for Iran and for us Christians in the country. The conditions are very hard, and I’ve not been able to get my medicines for several weeks. Food is not easier to find, and the state of education is unsatisfactory, with children feeling discouraged and young people struggling with hopelessness. Please keep Iran in your prayers.”

Header photo: Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

Demonstrations broke out after the Nepali government blocked several social media platforms. The platforms had allegedly failed to register with the government.

“Gen Z [is] just frustrated with corruption. It started with an anti-corruption movement,” Joe Handley with A3 says. “Their main means of communication with each other and with the world is social media. So they’re protesting against [corruption], but you add to it that their communication channels are shut down. So the tension rises within them.”

Clashes on Monday between protesters and police killed at least 19 people. On Monday night, the government lifted the social media ban, but that did not stop the riots.

Photo in the Ason Bazar, Kathmandu, Nepal (Photo courtesy of Aayush Lama Tamang via Unsplash)

“This is the generation, at least there in Nepal, [that is] looking for a better future. They feel like this government has not provided that for them,” says Handley. 

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday over the unrest, but young demonstrators still set the parliament building and other structures in Kathmandu on fire.

Handley says that after the ban lifted on Monday, reports from their partners began to increase. “If you’re on social media, you’re seeing smoke rising in Kathmandu, all over different parts of the town.” (See a collection of pictures here.) 

The government is calling for restraint and dialogue. A3’s network of alumni is calling for prayer. 

“They’re trying to be agents of peace in the midst of the chaos — and having to be careful too, because there [are] guns being shot and fire billowing in the capital,” Handley says. 

“My colleagues are begging the global Church to pray for peace, to pray that they could be agents of hope and good news, and that the gospel would shine.”

Header photo courtesy of Samrat Khadka via Unsplash.

Rob Myers with DOOR International is excited about what God has been doing among Deaf communities in South Sudan. 

“DOOR’s work in general really has two main emphases,” Myers says. “One of them is training local Deaf leaders to share the gospel—to disciple other Deaf people—and to plant Deaf churches. We call that our two-by-two program. And then right on the heels of that, and really key and integral to that too, is helping local communities do Bible translation in their own sign languages.”

One member of the Deaf community in South Sudan whose life was changed due to the work of DOOR is a man named Keij Worro.  

Worro, originally from northern Sudan, fled south with his family when civil war broke out, in order to find a better life. 

His family struggled, losing many family members due to illness and the war. But Worro especially struggled as his family knew almost no sign language and were unable to communicate with their Deaf son. 

“And that is the case for too many Deaf people around the world,” Myers says. “They might not have access to a Deaf school. Their family doesn’t have resources. This wasn’t the case with Worro’s family, but in some cases, the family is viewed as cursed because they have a Deaf child, or somehow the Deaf child is a shame.”

All this led Worro down a path of alcohol addiction. That is until Worro encountered a group of Deaf people conversing in sign language, including Morris Yanga, one of DOOR’s Deaf church planters in South Sudan.

Though Worro was initially skeptical of the group, he was welcomed instantly. 

“For many, many Deaf people that I talk to who come to Christ, really one of the first turning points is encountering another Deaf believer,” Myers says. “But when they encounter another Deaf person, there’s an immediate connection and it’s just, it’s an instantaneous connection that happens because you’re now talking to someone who understands all of the frustration, who understands the isolation.” 

Myers says God uses that connection to train up and send Deaf leaders into the field, to use a shared culture and language to connect with other Deaf people and bring them to Christ. 

One question that often comes up in DOOR’s work is how the Gospel can be brought to someone, like Worro, who grew up with little to no language in his life.  

In Worro’s case, like in many others, he met a group of Deaf people, was welcomed, and began to build one-on-one relationships with the people in the group, giving him the opportunity to learn more of the language, specifically South Sudanese Sign Language. 

“Worro told Morris, ‘I’m so glad that I’m a part of this group now. Something’s happening inside of my heart that I can’t even describe,’” Myers said. 

Worro hasn’t yet come to Christ, but God has been doing transformative things in his life.

Pray for Worro and others like him who are in similar situations, that they might feel connection to believers and learn of the transformative power of Christ in the process. 

“There’s really four key elements that come into play here,” Myers said. “Access to connection with Deaf people, access to language. So the gospel in their own language, a group praying for these individuals, and God’s word available in their heart language. And when you bring those four forces together, something very, very powerful happens. We praise God for that.”

Learn more about DOOR International and other stories like Worro’s by visiting doorinternational.org.

Header photo courtesy of DOOR International

At least 11,300 people are confirmed dead, but that number could be as high as 20,000 with many still missing. Now there is also a fear of disease with contaminated water in the streets.

There is still no electricity in Derna and communication is severely hampered. Local media calls it catastrophic. The situation is making it difficult for family and friends to contact missing loved ones if they are still alive.

Libyan flag (Photo courtesy of Prayercast)

Riadh Jaballah, Vice President of International Ministry and Operations with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada, says they are working to connect with their Libyan Christian contacts in the area through social media channels.

“Most of our friends live far from the affected area in Derna. One of our sisters who lives abroad, all her family lives in Derna. She lost one of her relatives families and the rest of the family members lost their homes.”

Even under normal circumstances, communication between Christians in Libya is difficult. Jaballah says, “It’s not easy at all to connect between each other for the security reasons. Christians in Libya, they are an underground church.”

As VOM Canada makes contact with more Libyan believers affected by the flooding, Jaballah asks for your prayers.

(Photo courtesy of Prayercast)

“Pray for our brothers and sisters in Libya who are suffering from fear and trauma due to these devastating disasters…but also wisdom and strength to the believers to be light and salt during these very difficult times.”

Also, please pray for improved communications and for Libyan flood survivors to soon get in touch with family and friends searching for them.

Header photo courtesy of Prayercast.

Bill Passons, COO of International Ministries with AMG International notes that rapid changes in technology necessitate changes in missions strategies.

“Truthfully it affects every aspect of an organization,” he says. “And we try to use technology and leverage technology to stretch our resources, to be better stewards, from the stuff we do in the home office all the way to the field office.”

New software, changes to social media platforms, updated audio technologies, all effect missions work.

Technology and Media Evangelism

One of the areas most impacted by technological change is media evangelism. From its start, AMG utilized media outlets to share the Gospel, but now those formats are changing.

Passions explains, “Back in the day, 50 years ago, AMG was really famous for putting newspaper ads in the newspaper and then getting a whole bunch of responses by mail, filling out and starting a correspondence that way, and eventually leading people to get engaged in a local church through those ongoing correspondence.”

(Image courtesy of AMG International)

The letters were personal and answered questions each individual had about the Gospel. By the nature of the tool, the communication was deeply personal and required concerted effort. However, times have changed and while AMG still uses newspaper correspondence to answer questions about Christ, they have broadened their approach.

Keeping a Personal Connection

The reach of physical newspapers is decreasing. Now people worldwide use social media and online news sites to get information. So AMG reaches out on those platforms while still offering a tailored experience to people seeking Christ.

“Technology now has made that communication so much easier, but one of the things that can be lost is that personal connection. So [we’re] trying to figure out ways in which we can use technology, leverage technology, to deliver things more effective, in ways people want to get it and easier for them to respond, but not lose that personal connection.”

The goal of salvation and connection to the local body of Christ is the same, but AMG is updating their approach to reach more people. Passons explains that this isn’t the only area of their outreach that technology has changed, but it is an example of how the world is changing.

Same Goal, New Format

However, not everything can change. Passons emphasizes that in media outreach as in other areas, the format of Gospel presentation may be modified, but the Gospel must remain the same.

“It doesn’t really change the heart. The heart is still to be able to share the message of the good news of the Gospel and to have people hear and respond. But you have to do that in ways that actually are applicable to the times.”

(Image courtesy of AMG International)

Technology continues to broaden its reach. Around the world people are becoming more and more connected through the internet. People from every walk of life and almost every community are impacted by the connectedness of technology.

For AMG this is exciting. Newspapers, online forums, and social media can go where traditional Christian workers cannot. However, the implications of far-reaching technology mean there is a lot to consider and steward wisely.

Passons asks for prayer for leadership at AMG. “We would love for people to be praying for AMG. One, that we would continue to see all the data that’s out there and see all the trends and be able to be good stewards of the relationships, the finances and the opportunities that God has placed in front of us.”

Please pray for AMG as they bring God’s Word to new places through technology. Pray that God would give their leadership wisdom as they evaluate new means of communication. Please pray also that AMG would continue to know how to bring personal touches to each conversation about Christ.

Learn more about the ministries of AMG here.

Header image courtesy of AMG International

Political and Cultural Division

First of all, Sudan is split geographically and politically.

“Sudan you kind of have to think of as a North and a South,” Smith says. “The North is run by, think of it as Arabic. They fit more into an Egypt to the north kind of mindset. The South? Black African. The government are Arabic in the North, and they’re very oppressive.”

Rising conflict means distrust and division throughout the region. Furthermore, Sudan’s tribal nature means it has more people groups than any other country according to some charts.

“The government now of Sudan has declared that Sudanese Arabic is the national language, and so if you speak a tribal language, and there are dozens and dozens of them there, you’re not supposed to do that. People are surviving by not communicating.”

Religious Persecution

But when it comes to the Church, the heart of the issue is the distrust caused by rising persecution, especially in the northern part of Sudan.

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers USA)

“Because the government has put spies in many of the churches to find out what’s going on, there’s a lot of mistrust amongst churches, and because of the political situation, a lot of the underground churches don’t share with anybody what’s going on.”

There’s little to no communication within the Sudanese Church, let alone with outsiders. Smith says there are few believers in Sudan, and the few that do live there don’t associate or communicate with one another.

Smith even knows three believers who live in the same small village and have intentionally never met one another.

“They’re unreached for a reason,” he says. “It’s just hard to do work there. Even the people you go into a room with, if you don’t already know each other, people are not going to share.”

Creative Access

As if it wasn’t bad enough within Sudan, Smith says it’s incredibly difficult for Christians to access the country. Believers can’t get into the country as Christian workers, and even if they could, they can’t go tribe to tribe. Local believers say you can’t trust anyone unless you already know them, and a misstep could mean losing your life.

“They assume if I go there today, either ‘Oh, he’s a missionary’ or ‘He’s CIA.’ That’s the way the government will see it until proven differently,” Smith says.

Bringing the Harvest to the Harvesters

The upside of the Sudanese struggle is how much easier it is to reach refugees where they are with the Gospel.

There are two major times in someone’s life when they’re most open to the Gospel,” Smith says. “One’s in trouble, and one’s in transition. If you’re a refugee from Sudan, you’ve got both going on.”

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers USA)

That means believers can reach people in the places they’ve been forced to go to rather than the hostility of the Sudanese situation.

Want to help? You don’t have to go to Sudan because Sudanese refugees are likely coming to your area. Your work could multiply to touch countless people with the Gospel message.

“This is a dangerous prayer, to say ‘God, who will you connect me with? I’m ready. I don’t know what that means, but please open that door to find a felt need of somebody who I haven’t connected with yet.’”

That kind of prayer might put you in places that make you uncomfortable, but Smith thinks that’s what makes it so potent.

“How do we not only help them through the crisis of landing in a new place, but now beyond the relief is the development part of it. How do we help them live here?”

Find out how you can help right here.

Header photo courtesy of Frontiers USA

Effective exchanges between Deaf and hearing individuals can and do occur in written form, but it’s not the same “heart level” as what would occur in a signed conversation. Linda Thiessen with Deaf Bible Society says prayer is an easy way to bridge the gap. “I think it’s a key area that brings us together as brothers and sisters in Christ,” she notes.

“Even though we may not understand everything about the culture in the Deaf community, or how everything works… still, it can bring us together in praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Crossing the divide

(Photo courtesy Deaf Bible Society)

There are 70 million Deaf people worldwide, many of whom struggle to read. Not only does this limit their communication with hearing people, but it cuts them off from God’s Word. Less than 50 of the world’s 300+ sign languages have any Scripture.

No sign language has a complete Bible. “Even in the United States, the Bible that we have is mostly just the New Testament,” shares Thiessen.

Deaf Bible Society is working to change this, but they need YOUR help.

Together with its partners, Deaf Bible Society reaches Deaf with God’s Word in sign language. The ministry provides free, unlimited access to sign language Bible translations on its Deaf Bible app, and distributes SD cards pre-loaded with Scripture to Deaf believers around the world. Visit Deaf Bible Society’s website to learn more.

Prayer is absolutely critical to those efforts, Thiessen says.

“It is just key to have prayer partners behind us as Deaf Bible Society, as well as praying for translation groups in other countries.”

Uniting in prayer

Get a FREE 14-Day Prayer Guide if you sign up to become a prayer partner today! Text the word PRAY to 444999.
(Photo, caption courtesy Deaf Bible Society via Facebook)

Deaf Bible Society hopes 200 new prayer partners will join their efforts in 2019. Right now, approximately 800 prayer warriors are interceding for the work of sign language Bible translation.

“If you text the word PRAY to the number 444999, you’ll automatically be signed up to receive a short prayer text,” explains Thiessen.

“Pray that God’s Word would spread in the Deaf communities … not just in the Americas and the United States, but around the world.”

More about Deaf Bible Society’s prayer initiative here.

Header image courtesy aitoff via Pixabay. 

Orality is essentially the reliance on non-written communication. This can involve visual arts, performing arts, and various forms of storytelling.

Jerry Wiles, the North America Regional Director with International Orality Network and a consultant for Living Water International, explains, “When we’re dealing with leaders, pastors, and mission people in the North American context or the Western world, we’ve been trained in our seminaries with a certain model and it’s more of a text-based or literacy-based training and instruction model.”

This reliance on text or literacy-based biblical communication affected how missions were even carried out. Wiles says, in the past, “If you go to an unreached people group or a language group that has no written script, you would reduce the language to writing, translate the Bible into their language or portions of it, teach them to read, and then introduce them to Jesus. Well, we know now you can introduce them to Jesus whether they ever learn to read or if they ever have a Scripture in their language.”

(Photo courtesy of Living Water International)

But even today, orality is still not commonly used in Western churches. Wiles suggests there is an undervaluing of orality in the West because there is a misunderstanding of orality.

For one, there are concerns that orality methods are not as accurate and that there is too much room for error to slip in with storytelling.

However, Wiles shares, “It’s because we’ve not been trained in the Western world and in American academic training to understand oral traditions and oral cultures. For example, we think about the telephone game; so one person tells one person who tells another person and it loses the accuracy of the story.

“But oral cultures don’t learn that way. They learn in community so you have the collective memory of the group. In many oral cultures, they have their stories that have been passed on from generation to generation. But it’s not just in one person’s mind. It is in a community or a tribal group. It might be 50 or 100 people or might be a few thousand people.”

There is also a misunderstanding about how and when orality is useful.

“People who have a little bit of understanding about orality, they might say, ‘Well, that’s good for illiterate people. That’s good for foreign missions. But my people in my church are readers; they’re literate.’ So pastors have been trained with verse-by-verse expository preaching and they feel like that is the most effective way to communicate biblical truth — and it is for about 20 percent of the population in the world. But most people don’t learn that way. Even in our culture, most people learn better by participatory, communal experiences.”

Even if you are a reader and love engaging with the written Word, God has given his people multiple, creative modes of communication — drama, parables, art, poetry, storying, dance, and more.

“If people understand the power of the Word of God in stories and in oral form, they will be more highly motivated to read it in their own language,” Wiles says.

For many Christian leaders, orality is better experienced than explained. Ministries like ION and Living Waters invite pastors and teachers to see what orality method training is about. The training is based on demonstration, participation, and explanation to engage people with the stories.

“Once people see that and they see how people respond to it, it changes everything,” says Wiles.

“With Living Water International, we have trained several thousand people all over the world. The people we have trained have reproduced that training. So now we have more churches and ministries in the United States that are getting interested initially because they are sending people on short-term missions trips. But once they go through the training, they see how it will work here.”

Churches have started orality-based Sunday school programs and orality Vacation Bible Schools using storytelling, dance, and drama to communicate biblical truths.

“They see how it works better than a text-based, fill-in-the-blank reading assignment — as good as those are. We say orality is not to take the place of anything else you are doing that is working. It is just another tool for your ministry and mission toolbox. But once people go through the training, they will say something like, ‘This is better than what we’ve been doing.’”

Learn more about the International Orality Network here!

Click here if you would like to know more about Living Water International!

World Radio Day

Haven’t heard of World Radio Day? Well, that’s probably because February 13th wasn’t established as World Radio Day until 2011 by UNESCO. And it’s a great time to recognize radio’s powerful presence and the fact that it’s still a major media force across the globe.

“You get into Africa, you get into Latin America, you go into Asia; radio is a primary source of information, of encouragement, of help,” Trans World Radio’s Lauren Libby shares.

“In Africa, it teaches farmers how to farm better… Globally, radio provides information and content that you couldn’t get in other forms. And it provides it to people in an accessible way, that they don’t even have to be able to read, but they can just listen.”

Benefits of Radio

What many may not realize is how radio is used to reach people with information who are poor, illiterate, disabled, young, and old– and without discrimination. Radio isn’t limited by these things or by conditions like remoteness or education levels.

(Logo courtesy of Trans World Radio)

And in the United States, radio is still an important part of everyday life. Libby says recent surveys show about 93 percent of the audio consumed in the U.S. and Western Europe is from on-the-air sources, primarily radio.

“Radio’s still a very viable force in the [world] today and it shapes public opinion and that’s why I think people are saying, well, I think we need to acknowledge the fact that radio is viable. It’s cheap, it’s accessible, and it’s understandable,” Libby says.

Radio also crosses borders into closed countries and reaches people in areas where others may not be able to travel. And, in a sense, radio levels the playing field for who has access to information.

Now TWR’s footprint in radio is to share the most important information of all, the Gospel. TWR’s goal “is to proclaim the good news of the Gospel to the whole world by mass media so that lasting fruit is produced.” Radio is a major way TWR is able to accomplish this goal.

Growing, Reaching, Preaching

In fact, Libby shares that TWR has actually been building broadcast facilities and just signed on a larger facility on Bonaire. The ministry is also preparing to beam another radio signal into Africa. TWR feels that radio is a way to reach mass numbers of people and prepare the way in these people’s hearts for the missionaries ministering to them.

“We currently touch, with our broadcast facilities, 190 countries every day in 235 languages. And on our digital facilities, we’re approaching 60 languages and we have about 50,000 people a day on our digital platforms. So, audio, radio—very, very important for the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Libby says.

Impact in India

Just under two weeks ago, Libby returned from India. While in the country Libby attended a conference where people host radio homes. About 2,000 TWR listeners in the country traveled to attend this same conference. One man traveled so far that his journey included two-days of walking, a train ride, and then two busses before he reached his destination. In all, it took a week of traveling one way for this man to reach the conference.

(Photo courtesy of TWR)

“He said, ‘Radio is the way that I grow in my spiritual life. It’s what connects me to Jesus,’” Libby shares. “I could tell you stories of Africa, I could tell you stories of Latin America, I could tell you stories of the rest of Asia, but that is something that is very important to people, who again, don’t have all the resources in the world.”

For an example, when Libby was in India he couldn’t access his email or download it because of the lack of resources. So, what may be an easy way to communicate or access information in the West is at times just not an option in other parts of the world.

Needs and Help

But, the radio is only a useful tool when there’s information to share. One of the hardest things to raise money for, Libby says, is programming for TWR radio.

“Whether it be into the Islamic world, whether it be into the animistic world, whether it be into a secular world—programming is important because it is repetitive,” Libby explains. “It needs to be there every day to give people a continuing awareness and building step, on step, on step.”

Would you consider giving to TWR’s ministry, to help build awareness amongst people throughout the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and wants to redeem them? Also, pray for TWR’s ministry to have the necessary resources. Pray that there would be Gospel impact through radio.

For ways to give, click here!

(Photo courtesy of Bert Heymans under Creative Commons via Flickr: https://goo.gl/M8qmhU)

For example, the American Sign Language interpreter at a news conference was supposed to communicate the announced mandatory evacuation for part of Manatee County, Florida. However, Jason Hurdich, a Clemson University professor and ASL interpreter, says he couldn’t understand 95 percent of what the interpreter was saying. Many were shocked at the lack of care taken to get a qualified ASL interpreter for such an important announcement. The failure in ASL communication for the Manatee County residents who are deaf or hard of hearing was a dire mistake that jeopardized their safety and their lives.

Deaf Bible Society is based in Arlington, Texas and says when Hurricane Harvey struck the state, Deaf residents faced additional hurdles that their hearing neighbors didn’t have to deal with.

Jason Suhr with Deaf Bible Society explains, “We have needs in the Deaf community, but we struggle most of the time with communication. We tend to depend on technology or, if we need to, paper and pencil. But you know the question is, with paper, if you can find it and find a dry one in that situation. So we feel that the issue is really preventing a lot of good communication.”

Texas National Guard soldiers respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. (Caption courtesy of The National Guard. Photos by Ssg. Tim Pruitt via Flickr: https://goo.gl/EgWCVG)

The struggle to communicate in disaster situations is a big one. It makes the difference in how easy or hard it is for the Deaf to get food, water, safety announcements, shelter, spiritual encouragement, and legal assistance – just to name a few.

That’s why Deaf Bible Society is stepping up to provide aid and relief for Deaf Texans who have been affected by Hurricane Harvey.

“We’re working with local churches in the Houston, Texas area. There’s one, Woodhaven Church of the Deaf and the other one is Champion Forest Baptist Church. We’ve been in touch with them to get in touch with the local Deaf community about their needs.”

Suhr says that some specific needs in the Deaf community right now are “access to communication,…water, food, places to move to, or after everything is done, to help with some of the building costs as well. And of course, with local churches getting together, we can really serve the spirit of support and encouragement in this time of chaos.”

Deaf Bible Society has set up a GoFundMe to raise support for the needs of the Deaf community in Texas’ hurricane-hit areas. Their funding goal is to raise $20,000 and currently they have nearly one-quarter of the funds collected.

Click here to donate and support the Deaf impacted by Hurricane Harvey through the Deaf Bible Society!

Even if you can’t give, Suhr asks, “Pray that people would be touched to donate to that as well, and pray for the Deaf community to find groups that they can connect with and that can help them as well with their situation.”