How can we accomplish the goal of reaching 4 million people in Bangladesh with the message of Jesus Christ, when we can only visit radio listeners one by one in their rural villages? This time last year Sayed, our Project Coordinator of the radio programming to Bangladesh, had recently attended the Global Church Planting Network meeting in Delhi and a CPM training workshop in the UK.
Multiplying simple churches by radio
“Wow, this is something great,” said Sayed. “I must revisit my project goals because now I can see that through the concept of CPM, God will do even more through our programmes.” Beginning this March the House of Peace programme has extended its time from 15 to 30 minutes each morning. In a significant programme format shift, this daily drama series of Bible stories is now filled with practical explanations of CPM/DBS* concepts for new believers, mostly from a Muslim background.
So you’re probably thinking, what does this mean? For example in one village Sayed and his team know new believers who meet regularly in a house church. They have good knowledge of the Bible, but they still have difficulties knowing which activities/habits they should stop. The new format of House of Peace encourages them to read God’s Word, discover what it means and then obey what it says. This programme helps them with practical, culturally-appropriate examples on air.
*CPM (church planting movement) and DBS (Discovery Bible Study), www.davidlwatson.org
Listeners celebrating 5 years
The Lighthouse and House of Peace programmes in the rural Bangla dialect have been on air for 5 years this autumn. The radio staff in Bangladesh are celebrating this 5th anniversary with a 4-day conference. “Our plan is to organise a listener conference with mature listeners,” says Sayed. “Our goal is to gather 20 people who listen to Lighthouse and House of Peace, and are very positive and want to know more about Jesus Christ. Two long-time listeners will share their life stories with the others.”
Radio Light** website by the numbers
Having celebrated its 1st anniversary this summer, Radio Light, the radio website for urban youth in Bangladesh, is well on its way towards its goal of reaching 30,000 students by 2019. Through the interactive website, Facebook groups and local events, students can regularly study values based on God’s Word, challenging their own attitudes and behaviours to positively influence their society.
• Staff: 1 office relations officer, 2 producers, 1 studio technician, 1 media consultant (Feba’s Joelle Morris)
• Topics: 43 [Football, Eve teasing, Life of street children, Life and occupation, New artist songs, Meaning of life, Mobile crime, Birthday greetings, Anger, Drug addiction, Depression, Family relationships...]
• Programmes uploaded: 58
**Name changed for security
Reflecting on the year’s progress, Joelle says: “Our network of fans is growing quite well and the radio production quality has developed a lot. Team spirit is growing. With Feba’s help an updated website is being designed for easier access to topics and making comments.
Also before the end of the year, we have at least one FM station ready to broadcast a daily 2-minute advert with a values-based message to lead young people to the website. And to keep up with audience follow-up we will be integrating RDS software, and networking with churches to train volunteers to run Radio Light fan groups.”
NOTE: These are excerpts from the November Hope newsletter. Contact us if you would like to sign up to receive this newsletter by post.
You can also read previous stories:
On air by mobile, http://www.feba.org.uk/blog/air-mobile-phone