New SAT-7 iPhone and Android Apps Allow Middle Eastern Viewers to Watch on the Move
January 2014More Middle Eastern viewers than ever before can now watch SAT-7’s Christian television channels on the go thanks to new iOS apps released in January for Apple iPhones. The new apps come fast on the heels of similar ones launched in August 2013 for Android phones. SAT-7’s four main channels – SAT-7 ARABIC, KIDS, PARS (for Farsi speakers) and TÜRK […]
Hopes and dreams – January 2014
January 2014It was the penultimate day before Near Years’ Eve and people had already started posting their greetings and comments on Facebook: “Happy new year!” “A few hours till 2014” and “What a terrible year this has been!” someone moaned. Others were posting advertisements encouraging people to listen to a radio programme hosting an astrologer. Presumably he would try to answer […]
Relating to the persecuted Church
Article 1 in a new series: The Ethics of Global Engagement A Middle East contributor highlights some of the issues we need to be mindful of as we engage with the church in the Middle East and North Africa. The Body of Christ is not simply a local church that meets on Sundays, but a global body of all those […]
Three years after the Arab Spring
2011 began with high expectations for new freedoms and prosperity across much of the Arab World. Three years on there is a palpable sense of disappointment and frustration. SAT-7 CEO, Dr Terence Ascott, offers a country-by-country overview of what has happened since and untangles a confusing picture. Beginning in January 2011, a wave of uprisings swept away dictators in Tunisia, […]
SAT-7 to Broadcast United States From Damascus on Christmas Day
December 2013A united Christian service of prayer in Damascus will be broadcast on satellite television across the Middle East on Christmas Day, 25th December. Christian broadcaster SAT-7 will transmit the two-hour programme from the event at 9pm Damascus time on the SAT-7 ARABIC channel (on Nilesat/AB7 at 7 degrees West, Txp 8, 11,353 GHz, Vertical and online in the UK at http://www.sat7.org/tv2/TV2_arabic.html) […]
Celebrating Christmas in Iran
December 2013An arduous journey and close surveillance faced the wise men who came seeking the birth of Jesus. Traditionally thought to be Persians, their challenges are echoed in the monitoring and risks faced by Iranians who celebrate Christ’s birth today. Everyone who has ever watched or taken part in a Nativity play knows that some of the first people to recognise […]
Christmas prayer – December 2013
Grace will write her next blog for January, but sent us some quick emails (and a photograph!) which we thought we’d share with you: 9/12: Bethlehem is seeing lots and lots of visitors! Unbelievable! Great atmosphere! Most visitors are from abroad, things are quiet at the moment so more and more people are visiting which is really good! May the […]
Lesson from the olive harvest – November 2013
November 2013Thousands of years ago David made this striking assertion: “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” (Psalm 52: 8) The tabernacle (“house of God”) might seem a strange place to plant a tree, but David’s point is the source of his vigour and energy. […]