Think church, think building - or so may begin a Westernised chain of thought. But what if:
- Your Christianity is persecuted or illegal?
- As a Christian you’re ostracised by family and community?
- There is no physical church?
church buildingIn areas of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, all of the above are factors that followers of Jesus contend with.
Our concept of church as a public gathering in a building is difficult to sustain, often inappropriate for the local culture - and the building becomes an obvious target. The Greek word for church ecclesia means ‘called out’ – it is people that are called out, not a place – people called out by God to be his people.
Programmes mirror local life
Through Feba’s programmes, such as Church in My Home, broadcast in Urdu, Dari and Pashto, new believers tune in, hear what it is to be church and are encouraged to meet in homes themselves.
Praise, prayer, teaching and fellowship are endemic and key elements to being church. The 30-minute scripted Church in My Home programme uses around a dozen worshippers to enact a service, using the different worship dimensions. The programmes lessen the sense of isolation that new believers can experience.
Recorded as if in believers’ homes, Church in My Home is structured and modified to be culturally appropriate using local musical instruments. Programme content dramatises the formation and growth of the group, the challenges faced, such as financial hardship of a church member, and other real-life issues.
Although some believers can’t get out and go to church, by listening to our programmes they are part of the love, support and fellowship found among gathered believers, and their call for sustained discipleship is answered. The series is warmly welcomed by an often growing but barely visible church of believers in a dangerous land. 
radio listeners
Meeting the faith challenge
Feba also produces and broadcasts Reality Church. This programme offers discipleship, but in a more spontaneous unscripted format. With just a central theme to guide them, broadcasting worshippers form their own programmes, as the Lord guides.
Reality Church demonstrates reality. Using colloquial language on air, believers willing to record gather in a studio around microphones and allow the Lord to lead them and worship to happen. Prayers are spoken and shared voices raised in song. The context and content are appropriate to the worshippers’ culture.
In the recording studio the participants are church, and their prayer is that those listening in learn to be church also.
‘For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them’ (Matthew 18:20).