Summer 2020

WorldListening

Inside this issue Africa needs Jesus Region Focus: South Asia

TWR and Coronavirus Prayer Matters

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What strange days we live in! We are all having to learn how to cope in a world changed by the deadly coronavirus. As Christians, we endeavour to respond with faith not fear and to ask, ‘Lord, what do want me to learn through this? How are you seeking to change me?’ It’s a reminder not to take our lives on this earth for granted. ‘Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom’ (Ps. 90:12). And it’s a reminder that there is an even more fundamental issue! Jesus came to warn us of the presence of a far more lethal and widespread virus—one that has struck everyone. According to Jesus, we live in the grip of a pandemic outbreak called sin. The story of the Bible is the story of a God who entered a world infected with this virus. He lived among sick people, breathing the same air, eating the same food. He died in isolation on a cross, excluded from his people and even his Father - all that he might provide us with an antidote to the virus, that he might heal us and give us eternal life. It’s also a reminder that whatever challenging circumstances we face, God still has important work for us to do. For TWR that means serving as a voice of hope to a world of despair. Thank you for standing alongside us in this task – we couldn’t do it without your prayers and support. Yours in Christ,

From the Chief Executive Officer, Dr Russell Farnworth.

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TWR’s bank account for the UK is: CAF BANK Limited, PO Box 289, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4TA. Sort code 40-52-40, A/c number 00006887. Thank you for your ongoing support which makes it possible for us to continue reaching out and touching hearts with the Gospel. Our commitment to you: read TWR-UK’s Supporter Charter at www.twr.org.uk/charter. Trans World Radio Ltd. is a non-profit-making Limited Company No 782348 and a Registered Charity in England No 233363. Address: TWR, PO Box 606,

Altrincham, WA14 2YS Tel: 0161 923 0270 Email: info@twr.org.uk Web: www.twr.org.uk

190 countries

230 languages

One Hope

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New Oasıs for a Thirsty Land

The need is great and getting greater in African giant Nigeria as TWR’s newly installed Oasis transmitter began broadcasting on 1 February this year. Station Director Garth Kennedy has led the 17-month, £1.1 million work to expand the capacity of the ministry’s West African Transmitting Station, known as WATS. He’s held on to representative headlines such as these to remind him of the critical need in Nigeria: “Nigeria: the Deadliest Place to Be Christian,” “After Launching Deadly Attacks, Militants Vow to Keep Killing Christians.” Correspondence he received from a man in Nigeria read, “We hate you more than ever and can never love you because you are infidels.” With the largest economy and population on the continent, Nigeria is splintered between the predominantly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. Often making international news are abductions and deadly attacks, sometimes during church services, by northern groups such as Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. These hostile groups and many others desperately need to hear a clear, accurate presentation of the Gospel’s message of love, redemption and reconciliation. But many believers also need the broadcasts, whether it’s spiritual encouragement or trustworthy, biblically solid teaching. Some church leaders are not well-grounded in Scripture and a trend toward health-and-wealth-type theology can result in mass disillusionment, said

Abdoulaye Sangho, TWR international director for West and Central Africa. “It is our strong belief that Oasis, a wellspring of living waters given freely to all who thirst, will be a place of restoration to the languishing souls of this great nation,” Sangho said. “Through its transmission of the Word of God, not only will millions have the opportunity to hear God speak in their own heart languages, but also the disillusioned pilgrim will find hope again.” Adding the 200,000-watt AM Oasis transmitter at WATS is essential to meet the huge Gospel-broadcasting needs of Nigeria and surrounding areas. And the existing 100,000-watt AM transmitter is freed up to provide more hours of programming in the many other heart languages of West Africa. Other languages are already in the works, but Oasis is now broadcasting in Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Hausa, Kanuri and African English, said TWR Vice President for Africa Branko Bjelajac. Programming ranges widely from the classic Thru the Bible and Dorothy’s Daily Devotional, mainly for

believers seeking spiritual encouragement and teaching, to The Way of Righteousness and The Prophets, aimed at helping Muslims to understand the Gospel starting from their own perspective. “We are organising ministry coordination in the country that will promote our programmes but also work with audience members who respond via many existing platforms – from WhatsApp on mobile phones to Facebook, Instagram and others,” Bjelajac said. “We look forward to hearing from our listeners as we believe that lasting fruit will be produced in the lives of people and their communities throughout this beautiful nation of Nigeria.”

Nigeria

Niger

Chad

Cameroon

CentralAfricanRepublic

Benin

TogoGhana

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Projected coverage by the Oasis transmitter

ABOUT NIGERIA POPULATION: 200 millionLANGUAGE: English is the official language, but more than 500 are spokenRELIGION: Christianity and Islam predominate with roughly equal numbers of adherentsTOP EXPORTS: Oil, gas, cocoa beans, wood

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Region Focus: SOUTH ASIA For the last two years Listening World has been taking you on a round-the-world tour of TWR, showing how we take God’s Word to the world, applied to the local culture in the local language. In this edition we conclude the series by returning to the Asia region, focussing on South Asia. For information on North East and South East Asia please refer back to the July 2019 edition of Listening World.

A Potted History 1954 Dr Paul Freed began transmitting Gospel broadcasts from Tangier, Morocco

into Spain. 1978 The Sri Lanka transmitter began broadcasting to Sri Lanka and India 1993 The new Siberia transmitter began broadcasting to Northern India and the

surrounding area in 13 languages. In that year TWR India received over 50,000 letters every month. Each one got a personal response.

2014 PANI transmitter began broadcasting to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Northern India.

2015 19,889 telephone calls received from Afghan listeners.

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TWR’s Newest South Asia Ministry: Bangladesh Bangladesh has a population of over 160 million, of which less than 0.3 percent is Christian. Christian communities living in rural areas face a shortage of trained Bible teachers. Several churches may have to depend on a single pastor for all their spiritual needs, and very poor literacy rates make traditional written teaching materials less helpful than in other parts of the world. As a result, new believers in rural areas of Bangladesh were not growing spiritually because they lacked access to appropriate, systematic Bible teaching. After much prayer, TWR’s South Asia ministry launched in Bangladesh in 2017. The outreach is focussed on three rural areas, and aims to equip pastors and church leaders, as well as instruct believers in biblical truth and Christ-like living. To do this, TWR is partnering with local churches and Christian organisations to set up Listener Home Groups. These groups function

like a Bible study group, except the session is facilitated by listening to an audio programme presented in their heart languages. This is a model that has proven effective in other countries in South Asia. TWR organised four seminars for 127 leaders to equip them for the task ahead. By God's grace, a total of 110 Listener Home Groups – more than 900 adults – were set up across Bangladesh by the end of 2017. The feedback from leaders has been astonishing: "I started a group with 12 members who were non-believers. When we played the programme on the Gospel of Luke in my village, many people gathered to listen to it. Almost immediately, we are asked to stop the programme as many people were listening about Jesus. Even though this happened, eight people from the group received Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord." One church shared how they also wanted to implement Listener Home Groups in their community, but the programme was not available in their language. The church has indicated they are ready to translate the teaching materials so they can be a part of the project!

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Afghanistan and Pakistan Afghanistan, Pakistan and North India — or what TWR refers to as PANI — is a challenging place to share the Gospel. This reality means it takes months and years for people in these countries to clear their doubt and put their trust in Christ, said the international director of the South Asia region. Experience shows they have many questions, he said. To answer these questions, TWR is partnering with Christians who understand the Islamic worldview, in most cases because they lived in it. “When it comes to strategy in these three countries, we cannot work in this Islamic world in today’s context without partnering with like-minded ministries that will complement the overall objective of helping people to really understand and know Christ,” he said. “Our programmes are getting traction and people are starting to respond,” the director said.

Some responses are positive: “The only place I get my peace and hope is your radio programmes. I love to listen to your programmes, they are so different from local radio, where they talk about hate but you talk about love.” Some callers are threatening or abusive, the director said. “The most challenging thing for audience-relations staff is to deal with [the callers] with Christ-like love,” he said. “The blindness needs to be removed so that the light of the Gospel — the person of Christ and who he is — can be clearly understood, and the Spirit of God can convict them so there is a genuine transformation in the lives of the people.”

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“The media player helps me to share God’s Word with my community. The people want to hear the Bible message. When I play the programmes for my group, others from the community also gather to hear God’s Word — about 70 of them are listening.” From a radio home group leader

Postcard from… Bangladesh

Kulbir* from Nepal shared that his life was a total mess. He indulged in alcohol, smoking and other activities. “My life had reached a meaningless level,” he said. One day a TWR staff member shared about God and the radio programmes. “I began listening to the radio programmes regularly,” Kulbir said. “It was through these that I learned of the one true and living God and the eternal peace that he offers.” Kulbir corresponded with the team, who gave him Bible study materials. “I could declare that Jesus Christ was the only source of peace. I then received Christ as my personal Saviour and I joined a church too. I am eternally grateful for this good

news and the new life that I have received. I am restless if I do not listen to the radio programmes even for a day. It feeds my spiritual thirst and longing. I am extremely grateful for this radio programme. I wish the TWR Nepal programmes would reach every heart of my people.” *Not his real name

Nepal

SON-Lift Tells Gospel Tales in Native Tongues

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Storytelling is one of the best ways to convey truth. When exposed to stories, we often lower our defences and suspend our disbelief for the sake of experiencing the narrative. They make us more receptive to truth we might otherwise reject. The right story told in the right way can change minds, hearts, lives and eternities. But what if the most important story — the one about Jesus and his sacrificial love — didn’t exist in your language? That’s the case for over 100 million people of China’s unreached people groups. TWR is working to end that famine of the Word with the SON-Lift project. The name of the project is inspired by the words of God’s Son in John 12:32: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” SON-Lift aims to translate 60 dramatised Bible story programmes about Jesus and his ministry. These programmes are produced in each of the 15 languages spoken by China’s unreached people groups for internet, radio and handheld media platforms.

One of our Chinese distributors notes how vital these ministry tools are: “When we went to the Yao people, we had in mind to minister to them in Mandarin. However, they could only speak and understand basic Mandarin. Their heart language was Hakka. We were grateful because the audio players we gave them had the Bible stories in the Hakka language! We were pleased to be able to hand to them the audio players, while they were extremely pleased to hear the stories in their own heart language.”

TWR and Coronavirus

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MEDIA – NOW MORE THAN EVER As people self-isolate during this crisis, the media that keep us connected to other human beings and to what’s happening around the world will play a vital role in our lives. As they seek information, answers to life’s hardest questions and even diversion, they’ll turn to radio broadcasts, videos, the Internet and mobile apps as pipelines beyond their four walls. And for people in many countries, these technologies are the only ways to gain access – and often the confidential access needed to avoid persecution – to God’s Word. Serving as a voice of hope, strength and information in times of grave crisis isn’t new to TWR. Although our main priorities are proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples, we frequently leverage our global communication facilities to help people trapped in natural or man-made disasters. We’ve done so after hurricanes and earthquakes and during wars and civil turmoil. We’ve even reached out during Ebola epidemics, and we’ll do so now in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. SPECIAL TWR PROGRAMMING TWR is producing and airing special programmes responding to the pandemic. TWR Asia’s Chinese Ministry promptly created From Despair to Hope, a programme consisting of multiple short episodes offering encouragement and evangelistic messages to some of the

hardest-hit countries. Already going out in Mandarin, plans are in hand for the programme to be translated into other Chinese languages as well as Korean and Japanese. In English and Spanish, the 26-minute interview programme Coronavirus: What You Need to Know has been broadcast from the TWR Bonaire transmitter – the most powerful medium wave station in the Western Hemisphere. The programme has also been translated into Farsi for broadcast into Iran, another especially hard-hit country. Featuring an interview by TWR’s Andy Napier with internationally known Christian healthcare leader Dr. David Stevens, the programme opens with extensive information about the nature of the virus and preventive measures to take. It also includes an engaging discussion of spiritual perspectives on the COVID-19 outbreak. In the UK, we continue to bring our listeners vital information in our daily news programmes. Our staff are keeping safe, and we are committed to keeping them supported and protected to the highest degree possible so they can stay well and continue to serve you.

WE PRAISE GOD FOR PARTNERS LIKE YOU Our staff, our programming and our facilities will keep proclaiming the Gospel to 190 countries in more than 230 languages. But we readily admit

Followers of Jesus Christ aren’t providentially immune to the effects of COVID-19 or any other natural disaster. But we do have his assurance that he will walk with us every step of the way through the crisis and that God will ultimately bring great good out of what today appears only as great evil. Like the apostle Paul, however, we realise that whatever the challenging circumstances ahead, God still has important work for us to do. For TWR that means being a voice of hope in a world of despair – pressing on with our calling to reach the world for Christ so that lasting fruit is produced.

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that we can’t do this without you. We understand that you have lots of pressing issues on your mind, that the world seems like it has been turned upside down. Frankly, though, we count on your continued prayers and support. We are firmly convinced that God will continue using and blessing this ministry as long it remains sharply focused on its calling and relies on daily prayer. So this is our appeal to you today: Please make TWR a regular part of your personal prayer time. It is our goal to not merely survive this coronavirus ordeal but to truly be “more than conquerors through him who loves us.”

LISTENER STORIES Responses to our Cornavirus programmes in Arabic Many times, humanity thinks that it reached an ultimate scientific level and they consider God not useful anymore. Our achievements made us all arrogant. This tiny microscopic virus made us feel insignificant and left us scared. I just say, may Your will be done Lord. And may TWR Arabic ministries continue to spread hope during these special times while many are being locked down. Your messages send us hope and salvation. May they reach the hearts of those who let go of God.- Hsan from Iraq Dear friends at TWR, your encouraging message

came to us just in time at this era while fear is the common factor to all. Pray for our peace and safety. - Naeem from Jordan   Although I’m worried about tomorrow, I trust that our Lord is faithful to protect us and He is our fortress, He is the only one we can trust with our tomorrows! - Marwan from Iraq   I will not allow worry and fear to overcome my thoughts and feelings, and whenever this happens, I run to the Lord. I am not perfect, but I have a perfect God. The future is vague, God knows everything, and He is in control. - Hanadi from Jordan   Through this I’m learning to live day by day, cannot think about the future in whatsoever way. I need prayers, I’m worried. - Fatin from Lebanon

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TWR, PO Box 606, Altrincham, WA14 2YS. Tel: 0161 923 0270, E-mail: info@twr.org.uk, Web: www.twr.org.uk

Prayer is the backbone of TWR – and we are so grateful that you stand alongside us in intercession! God delights to change people’s lives and we are amazed and humbled that He allows TWR to be a part of it all.

Prayer Matters South Asia

MONDAYS

TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS

WEEKENDS

Please pray for the staff who answer calls from listeners in the PANI region. Pray for Christ-like attitudes and resilience in the face of difficult conversations.

Please pray for the ministry as it develops in Bangladesh. We ask God for his guidance and provision.

Praise the Lord for the way listeners are responding to programmes across the South Asia region.

Pray that believers will continue to grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord.

Pray for the security of staff who work in regions where it is risky to be a Christian.

Please pray for listeners across the South Asia region, that the Lord will continue to open hearts to the Gospel.

Please pray for TWR’s ongoing work in the UK.

Especially pray for those involved in programme content and production, that they will act as God’s servants to bring His Word to the nation with relevance and power.

Please pray for our listeners.

Pray that they will be challenged and encouraged by what they hear.

PRAYER DIARY

From July to September we invite you to join us in praying for TWR’s ministry in the South Asia region and (at the weekends) in the UK. You can read more about TWR’s work in the South Asia region on pages 5-8 of Listening World.