givengain.org

 
April 2009

IN THIS ISSUE:

• AWM Media Hits Half a Century
• SOS Sudan
• What's the Story?

AWM Media Hits Half a Century

When AWM missionary Don Harris initiated the first secret radio broadcast in Arabic from his living room in Marrakech, Morocco, he surely did not anticipate the ripples of those first Bible readings across the airwaves. Even when he and his wife Mary moved to France to help establish a more long-term radio ministry from the AWM Media Centre there, he could not have foreseen the media explosion that would take place at the turn of the twenty-first century.The year 2009 marks a celebration of 50 years of God's faithfulness to us in AWM Media. Today, we witness around 40,000 visitors to our Maarifa web portal in a single month. These visitors come from all over the globe and especially from some of the most closed countries of the Arab Muslim world.Let us praise God together and raise a shout of joy for every individual who has been transformed by the love of Christ expressed through AWM Media.Let us pray that God will continue to call and equip His servants to proclaim the glorious Gospel by means of old and new media.

SOS Sudan

Sudan is on the brink of a crisis again. After three years of relative calm in the Darfur area, Sudan's President Omer el-Bashir has ordered the humanitarian groups that run the Darfur refugee camps to leave the country. This decision was made only hours after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague issued an arrest warrant indicting the Sudanese President for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. This is a region in the west of the country where 300,000 have died and nearly three million have been made homeless.Last year, Mokhlis* and Rafik* made the first-ever PALM (Preparing Active Learners for Ministry) Bible training visit to Khartoum, Sudan. Since then, a group of zealous students have taken the Bible study training to the far corners of Sudan including the area of Darfur.Pray for grace for the Christians of Sudan to stand firm in the fires of persecution.Pray that the Gospel will prosper and that practical help will be given to the people of this vast and needy country.

What's the Story?

In Arab countries, a common way of enquiring after a person's welfare is to say What's the story? Of course, there is a story behind every circumstance in life. Storytelling is a key element in Arabic culture and has been for centuries. Our AWM radio producer Nadia has just begun recording a ground-breaking new programme that will take our North African listeners through the whole Gospel of Mark in dramatized story format. John Mark, the Gospel writer, has a special place in the history of North Africa. In particular, tradition links him to Egypt, as her first evangelist and Libya, since he came from Cyrene.Pray for Nadia and the team as they prepare this important resource for the many people of North Africa who prefer an oral style of communication.Pray that thousands will access these messages via the Maarifa portal and other appropriate media.

* Names have been changed

'Please help me to become a believer in God. Please save me from the darkness.'
Fahed*, Saudi Arabia

'Greetings in the name of Jesus. I would like to tell you that I am free now from all the Islamic teachings based on fear. In addition to that, my wife received our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'
Aziz*, Morocco