Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | I | International Review of Mission

An ecumenical miracle--an Arabic satellite channel devoted to Christian unity in a torn region.

Article Excerpt
On the last day of May 1996, an Egyptian Christian sat down in front of his television set and saw something he had never seen on Arabic TV before; it was an Arab female presenter with a cross around her neck. To see a representative of the almost invisible Arab Christian minority on screen was such a shock to the man that he called the station to say, "Mish Ma'oul!" ("This is unbelievable!"). What this viewer had seen was the first broadcast of the Christian Arabic satellite TV station, SAT-7.

For more than 11 years now, this unique satellite channel has been a living contradiction of the commonly held prejudice in the Middle East that Christianity is a Western import, and that it is not possible to be an Arab and a Christian at the same time. Here, in the lands of the church fathers, Arab Christians are producing and broadcasting high quality television programmes that are in harmony with the cultural values of the region. In the words of the Rev. Dr Habib Badr from the National Evangelical Church of Beirut and Chairman of the SAT-7 international board:

SAT-7 has changed the image of Christianity in the Arab world. People have discovered that Christianity is not as ugly as they believed. For the Christians, SAT-7 is a means to strengthen their faith. It introduces them to one another and helps them live through difficult times in the Middle East.

Not your average Christian television station

SAT-7 is very different from the stereotype that many Westerners have of Christian television. The station is more like a European public service channel, and it has a holistic approach to its programming: This is television for the...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!