A golden opportunity for our churches
June 2016The heartfelt plea of a pastor in Lebanon The leader of a Lebanese church which has been sharing the love of Christ with refugees from Syria wrote this letter to churches in the West. Dear pastors in Europe, Greetings in Christ. We are at a very critical period of time concerning the refugees flooding into your countries. You have a […]
Breaking free of the straitjacket
June 2016A system designed partly to protect the region’s Christians has become a straitjacket inviting persecution and preventing greater equality and participation in Middle East societies. Since the time of the Ottoman Empire (1300-1922), the relationship of Christians in the Middle East with the politics and society of their countries has followed a similar trajectory. The Ottoman “millet system” was a […]
The pastor to Germany’s Arab migrants
May 2016At German railway stations last autumn, cheering crowds welcomed trainloads of refugees after its government opened the doors to hundreds of thousands of migrants who had become stranded in Eastern Europe. The public mood may have shifted since then, but one German pastor who won’t be withdrawing his support is Revd Hanna Yeshou. Yeshou, who was the subject of a […]
World press freedom day 3 May
May 2016Freedom to think, freedom to believe “If ‘truth is the first casualty of war’ then it is amazing that there are any media channels left in the Middle East that still purvey truth!” SAT-7 founder, Dr Terence Ascott (pictured below), made this comment in the light of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. “SAT-7 is proud to be one […]
Finding God with the refugee
April 2016When Lindsay Shaw visited a church in a Middle East city suburb he found local Christians and newly arrived refugees both encountering God in new ways As the taxi sped me to the church, I was thinking of two things. One was the information that large numbers of Syrian refugees had been welcomed and were attending this church. The other […]
The moral conundrum of the Syrian refugee problem
March 2016As European Union leaders meet again with Turkey in their struggle for a humanitarian and comprehensive policy to stem the incoming flow of migrants, there are a number of moral issues that need to be better understood and addressed, says SAT-7 International Executive Director Terence Ascott. Europe seems to have settled on a simplistic division of those coming to its […]
Religious freedom amendment welcomed in Algeria
February 2016Freedom to practise one’s religion has been granted in a package of constitutional reforms in Algeria. The change could bring significant benefits to Christians in a country where Evangelical churches are seeing an explosion in numbers among Kabyle-speaking Berber people. Hundreds can be seen each week engaged in worship and listening to challenging biblical preaching on SAT-7’s My Church in […]
The search for a breakthrough in Syria
A long-awaited ceasefire between Syrian government forces and many rebel groups began on Saturday (27 February). Despite reported breaches on both sides, it appears largely to have held in the first 48 hours. But the peace is fragile, reports indicate that some rebel areas believe it is a trick before the regime resumes violence, and jihadist groups Islamic State and […]