Turkiye (MNN) — In Turkiye (formerly Turkey), around six million new voters will participate in the upcoming national elections on Sunday, May 14. This young voter bloc has several traits that differentiate it from previous generations, but it will take some time to see how young Turks reinforce or change the face of Turkish society.
For one, Turkiye has one of the youngest populations in Europe, but also one of the highest rates of youth unemployment — hovering around 20%.
Also, many young Turks are walking away from the dominant Muslim religion. However, they don’t know where to go for truth and hope.
This is where ministries like SAT-7 TURK come in. Joe Willey with SAT-7 says, “SAT-7 broadcasts in the three major languages of the region — there’s Arabic, there is Farsi (which is a Persian language), and there is Turkish. SAT-7 TURK is the first and only Christian channel that is allowed to be broadcast on the government-regulated satellite called Turksat.
SAT-7 TURK (Photo courtesy of SAT-7)
“SAT-7 TURK is broadcast specifically in the Turkish language to over 50 million people that have satellite television and then also anyone with internet access, which is roughly at last count about 70% of people in the country of Turkiye.”
Turkiye’s elections may be this weekend, but young people have already seen how politics only go so far.
No matter how the nation votes, SAT-7 TURK is continually pointing the Turkish people to the Gospel.
Willey says, “SAT-7 TURK is filling a void…. This is a free channel that is available to people who are, let’s face it, disillusioned. They would say, ‘What is this? What is this about Christianity that’s different? What exactly is this Gospel? Why is it such good news?’ SAT-7 is reaching into that void and explaining the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Pray for young people across Turkiye to embrace Gospel hope! Ask the Lord to infuse the nation with wisdom as they go to the voting polls this weekend and to trust the Lord with the results. Thank God for the ways He is working in Turkiye through a small but growing Church community.
To get involved and learn more about SAT-7’s ministry, Willey says, “You certainly can go to sat7usa.org and look at our work and where we serve.
“Learn more about not only Turkiye, but other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. You can get an idea of how SAT-7 is making God’s love visible, and also the difficulties that people in those nations have to overcome to be a Christian.”
Header photo courtesy of Meg Jerrard/Unsplash.
