Faint Beginnings... Far-reaching Consequences

by David Lundy
posted Tue, Apr 21, 2009, 10:23 a.m.
0 comments

From his dining room in Marrakesh, Morocco in 1959, Don Harris recorded an Arabic radio programme of uneven quality that was beamed over ELWA¹ in Liberia. Fifty years later, that amateurish beginning – to present Christ to all of North Africa – involves 55 adults working in four centers, focused on a website that attracts over 40,000 unique visitors each month.

Here’s an example of one of the 800 or so Arabic-speaking people who made contact with us last month after visiting the website.

I am a young Muslim and I want you to explain to me the Christian faith. Please let this be a secret between us. (Shokri*, Algeria)

Read more about what God is doing through our Media ministries 50 years later...

Yes, for 50 years Arab World Ministries has been involved in using media technologies to communicate the love of Christ to Muslims of the Arab world. Here are some highlights…

1962: Bible Correspondence Course (BCC) work is started in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. By 2006, over 250,000 people had studied these BCCs in Arabic and French.

1964: The ministry relocates to France and is renamed Radio School of the Bible with radio broadcasts aired regularly on Trans World Radio from 1965.

1965: An old cheese factory is purchased in the south of France and soon a multi-faceted ministry develops, involving 23 people from eight countries.

1970s: The ministry explodes with such things as Theological Education by Extension, and the printing and distribution of hundreds of thousands of pieces of evangelistic literature.

1985: The first computer is purchased to capitalize on new computer technology. This is done, little realizing that it will lead to Media’s current focal ministry based around its Arabic website – with 118,000 pages of material opened each month by its visitors.

1986: To develop the printing of literature for Muslims, a team moves from France to England, where it later becomes the hub of our web ministry and intra-company secure IT services.

1990s: The rapid expansion of satellite TV in the Arab world leads to a TV/DVD ministry being added to the radio one. Series produced by AWM Media are viewed by millions.

1999: An Arabic evangelistic website begins as an experiment. Radio and TV programme production continues. Most correspondence shifts to email by 2004, and then, by 2008, it includes texting, blogging, chat room visiting and instant messaging.

2006: AWM Media produces its first feature-length film in Arabic for distribution at the World Cup in Germany. Is It the End or Just the Beginning? is about an Arab soccer (football) player who suffers much to discover the joy of following Christ.

2007: The decision is made to make all AWM Media work web-based. Within the site there is material for seekers, new believers and older followers of Christ. This includes multi-media presentations with video, audio and interactive components. Most of the material is developed by our own staff with a Muslim cultural context in mind.

2009: With continuing growth in response, the Media team has expanded to 55 adults living on four continents.

Putting a face on the statistics

Meet Ali*. He lives in the Arabian Peninsula and works as a security guard. He recounts to our Media staff…

One day I decided to spend my long hours by learning the Internet. At the Internet cafe, I met an Indian worker who taught me how to open Google in Arabic, and I started to search. As my knowledge was very, very basic, I spent most of my time searching for games, but one day I read from the Internet the following sentence, ‘God loves you.’

Ali goes on to say…

It occupied my mind very much and on this site I found a phone number, which I called and a very respectable man answered. I discovered that he was from Egypt. We talked many times on the telephone over the next two months, and through him I started to understand how Christ could be my Saviour in my life. But one day when I phoned him, I was shocked to hear a lady’s voice at the other end. When I asked her where my friend was, she answered, ‘He died yesterday and I am here in his place to help you.’ I felt sad from this shock and I felt that I had lost the source of my knowledge.

Ali continues…

One day I remembered that I had found him on the Internet. Therefore, I went back to the Internet cafe and searched for another Christian website. It was then that I found [AWM Media's ministry website]. On this site I found another telephone number, through which I found a new friend, who is from the Middle East. He has helped me much through email; he has taught me how to search and read more on the Internet. Through the website, I have come to know more about the true Christian faith and the Holy Bible. I thank God so much because He truly loves me and He has saved me. My heart’s desire is to go back to my country one day and tell my family about Christ.

You, too, can celebrate AWM Media’s 50th anniversary by helping to make it possible for people like Ali and Shokri to hear the good news about Jesus through our Arabic Internet outreach.

Please choose one of the options below to give online toward this life-changing ministry.

To give in Canadian dollars, visit the Canada Helps website.

To giving in British Pound Sterling, visit the AWM UK giving site.

To give in US dollars, visit the AWM US giving site.

If you want to give in another way, choose a location from the top of this page and visit the Giving page on that site for more information.