“It was as if God had prepared us for this,” says Pastor Hikmat Kashouh of his congregation. He is recalling the time, almost eight years ago, when over a million Syrian refugees started pouring into Lebanon, fleeing civil war. Resurrection Church, Beirut, had already built strong connections with local Syrian workers. But what the church was less prepared for was […]
A message of forgiveness for so-called Islamic State (IS) given by a schoolgirl in a refugee camp “captured millions of hearts” when it went viral in 2014. Now a 30-minute SAT-7 film, Sequel of Hope, catches up with Myriam and her family as they celebrate their first Easter back in their Christian hometown of Qaraqosh. With World Refugee Day on […]
Iraqi girl who “captured millions of hearts” urges Christians to pray, bring hope to refugee children A refugee girl who fled so-called Islamic State (IS) but captured the hearts of millions on TV and social media with a message of hope and forgiveness is calling on Christians to take action on World Refugee Day, 20 June. “Please, please, don’t forget […]
“Nothing in the world could bring me any joy,” says Ladan*, a SAT-7 PARS viewer from Iran, as she shares her radical testimony. “I chased everything you can imagine, but instead of finding peace I found myself drowning in darkness.” Ladan was born to her father’s second wife. She grew up in an environment filled with hatred and conflict, resulting […]
Revenge is a theme that looms large in novels, plays and films. From the playground to the workplace it plays a major role in life – not least in the Persian-speaking world. Our Neighbourhood, a SAT-7 PARS series known for addressing everyday issues in Iran and beyond, tackled the topic in a recent episode. Pastor Reza Sotudeh, the featured guest […]
As Egypt’s Christians mourned a deadly gun attack on Coptic Christian pilgrims, SAT-7’s Arabic channels led believers in prayer and offered counselling through its live Speak Up programme. One of the viewers who called in to the Speak Up broadcast was affected directly: “The events caused pain for all of us and those who saw the pictures and saw the […]
Lindsay Shaw reflects on a visit to Egypt over Eastern Palm Sunday Last Saturday I stood on the spot where 18 people lost their lives to a suicide bomb just one year ago. I was in the gateway of St Mark’s Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria, with local SAT-7 colleagues and three UK journalists. We had come to see SAT-7’s work […]
Supporting women survivors Modern wars, like those in Syria and Iraq, take place, not on battlefields, but in narrow streets and densely populated cities. Airstrikes on buildings, car bombs in markets, snipers on rooftops – these don’t discriminate between fighter and civilian. Over the 20th century the proportion of civilian casualties in war climbed from 5 per cent to 90 […]
“For 800 years Christianity was destroyed in Afghanistan,” says Shoaib, co-presenter of SAT-7’s Dari language programme Secrets of Life (Raze Zendeghi). The channel is accessible on television in western Afghanistan and online throughout the country. “Now the church is growing rapidly. From a handful of Christians 20 years ago, today we have thousands. “Afghanistan doesn’t permit official churches. They meet […]
When over a hundred Christian families hastily fled killings and death threats in North Sinai, SAT-7 producer Andrew Gamal decided to devote the week’s live worship show to pray for them. The special edition of Keep on Singing (28 February) came after four days in which hundreds of Christians abandoned the town of El-Arish following a killing spree by so-called […]
