Standing Room Only At Remote Algerian Church
August 2015How early would you be willing to get out of bed to go to church on a Sunday morning? New believers in remote communities in Algeria have to get up at 5am to get transport up to the mountains for their weekly service – but that is not putting them off! SAT-7 producer Samia Jallali Kessai said: “The church service […]
Christ of the Abyss and drowning asylum seekers
August 2015In ignoring thousands of migrants who risk drowning at sea, are UK Christians also refusing Christ? A Middle Eastern Christian asks the question. There is a strange and powerful image that has often come to mind in the last 12 months. It is of a submerged bronze statue of Christ – His barnacle-encrusted hands upraised in blessing – in the […]
Touching the Heart of a Refugee
July 2015In the fall-out of war, the need for food, shelter and other basic needs is obvious to all. But refugees’ “spirits also need care”. Dr Kathryn Kraft describes how Lebanese churches are doing this and how we can learn from them. A few weeks ago, I was sharing with a friend at my church in London about my research with […]
Elections in Turkey and the implications for Turkey's Christians
June 2015Analysis: Turkey’s surprise election result could be good news for democracy and has sent four Christians to parliament The outcome of Turkey’s 7 June parliamentary elections was startling. Most analysts foresaw a fall in election share for the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party), and the possibility of the pro-Kurdish HDP (People’s Democratic Party) obtaining the necessary 10 per cent […]
Iraqi Christians' prayer one year after fall of Mosul
Iraqi Christians have requested prayer for their country, as they continue to suffer the consequences of the seizure of Mosul last June. A year ago Daesh (so-called ‘Islamic State’ or ‘I.S.’) captured the Mosul area and gave Christians three choices: convert to Islam; abandon their property and leave the city; or be killed. IS later attacked Christian villages and towns […]
Former militia base is now a Christian home for children at risk
May 2015A Christian children’s home nestled in the Chouf mountains outside Beirut and close to one of the country’s famous Cedars of Lebanon reserves is today aptly named Beit El Safa – “The House of Serenity”. But it wasn’t always this way. Originally donated to the Beirut Free Evangelical Church for summer youth camps, the site was twice occupied by different […]
Seeking Christ in Turkey
Turkish pastor Zekai Tanyar is a former chair of the Evangelical Alliance in his country. In the second half of a two-part interview he describes how churches seek to support new believers in Christ through the pain and disruption this often brings to families. Can you describe the journeys of people in your church to overcome these stigmas in coming […]
Evangelical in Turkey
April 2015Turkish pastor Zekai Tanyar is a former chair of the Evangelical Alliance in his country. In the first half of a two-part interview he offers SAT-7 an update on the life of the Protestant Church in Turkey. How are current events affecting the Church in Turkey? The situation in Syria and Iraq hasn’t had negative effects on the Church apart from […]