“We praise God because of you and we thank you for your quality programmes especially Reality Church. We pray that more people will listen and receive your programmes.”

Based on the listener response coming in since broadcasts began in December, the Reality Church programme is a hit. Programme producers plan to get together this summer to record further episodes of this discipleship series for Yemeni believers.

Last November, staff from Feba worked alongside producers born in various Middle Eastern countries to create 36 programmes. These demonstrate the biblical outline for "how to do church". Feba has been broadcasting in the Middle East since 1972 and began adding programmes in a Yemeni dialect in 2004.

(Listen to this using the audio icon at the top of the page.)

Jerry Wilson, Development Director, says: “The initiative of 'reality church' or trying to demonstrate church on radio is something that’s been in the back of my mind for quite some time. The initiative came from a mixture of people. There was a need from our listeners in Yemen. They said they wanted more in the way of discipleship.

“Something I found very exciting about when we recorded the first series. To have a real service is not something we are used to doing for hours and hours every day. And so we were aiming to get about 30 minutes of a service for broadcast. Now if you are doing scripted programming with scripts and actors, you can go into a studio and do 6-7 hours a day. But not with a series like ours that is unscripted. People had to be very open to the Spirit’s guidance.

“So I said before they went in the recording studio, I don’t expect more than 3 services a day. Even 2 a day would be wonderful. So I was quite excited when by the third day they did 5 of them and then the next and the next day. Some of the people involved did not know each other when they began. By the end of the series they were very firm friends. There was just no question that God showed up. He was glorified and people were touched.

“People sat in a circle. We had pictures of Yemeni people stuck up round the walls to make it feel much more like the country. At times you need to look at this and say this person is listening in. He doesn’t have a church. He wants to meet with others, but he doesn’t really know how to do it. And so to recognise that people would be listening but at the same time trying not to be too conscious of the microphones. I think it worked pretty well.

“Now we are reviewing. We are looking through what we are going to next. We’re listening to what partners on the ground are saying about it. We’re also listening to those who’ve been our listeners for a number of years who are encouraged by it.”

Read more:
Easter broadcasts to the Middle East
The Kanisa Project