Christian broadcaster SAT-7 is offering UK Christians the chance to bring a Middle Eastern perspective to their journey through Lent this year.
Better known in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) than in the UK, SAT-7 is a network of four satellite TV channels produced by Christians in the MENA region and watched by over 25 million Arabic, Persian and Turkish speakers.
SAT-7’s ‘This is Love’ Lent campaign aims to increase awareness of this important ministry and connect UK churchgoers with the experiences of their Middle East counterparts.
It includes
- A prayer guide to use throughout Lent
- A campaign booklet to inspire people to take action
- A special appeal
- Weekly emails to guide people through the campaign
- Weekly texts for reminders to pray on the go
Each week, ‘This is Love’ will look at one of six different groups of people and their everyday relationships as they live in the MENA: women, men, married couples, parents, young people, and the Church.
Background context and statistics, testimonies, a personal reflection from someone from the region, and accompanying daily Bible verses and prayer points, will help readers understand their lives and find inspiration for their own.
Challenging abuse
SAT-7 UK Executive Director, Rachel Fadipe, says, “The title was inspired by a campaign, ‘Love is not’ on a popular SAT-7 women’s programme from Egypt. This challenged the abusive relationships many young women were entering into under the illusion that these would bring them love.
“‘This is Love’ – with its examples of how SAT-7 tackles these and many other issues – will help us see how the lives of Middle Eastern people can be transformed as they grow in understanding of God’s values and love.”
The ‘This is Love’ prayer guide uses blogs from Christians in the region, including SAT-7 presenters, to open eyes to the pressures and opportunities they and others in their countries face. Some are very different from ours – like the Christian woman who went on TV with a friend from another faith the weekend after a church was bombed to share how friendship and trust can cross religious difference. Other stories sound more familiar – like the Egyptian father or the Lebanese couple who speak of the pressure of unrealistic expectations.
Woven through all of these blogs are examples of God’s grace, enabling us to live with greater freedom, love and compassion, as well as meditations on the Easter story itself.
To join the ‘This is Love’ campaign, sign up at www.sat7uk.org/thisislove or text PRAYLOVE to 60777