Turkey (MNN) — Turkey is at the crossroads of nationalism
and globalization. The country is
struggling for reform but is facing uncertainty. Christians have had long presence, but in
some areas, they have to exercise caution.
Rex Rogers with
SAT-7 says that's why Christian satellite
television was so important. "There's a small Christian community, and when TURK7 was initiated
and began broadcasting in 2003, it was the only Christian broadcast going into
Turkey. It's still only one of a couple, so there's still a great limit in
terms of the Christian broadcast, Christian witness and Christian truth being
shared in the nation of Turkey."
Its purpose is to serve the needs of Christians in Turkey and
to help the wider non-Christian Turkish population understand more about
Christian beliefs and practices. The team produced many of its programs
locally, and they aired on the SAT-7
PARS (Persian) channel.
For the last six years, the channel has operated as an
independent ministry under the name "TURK-7." The two ministries have always shared
a similar ethos: to be
inter-denominational, affirming, and to be a source of Christian teaching,
training and encouragement through which all viewers can experience God's love.
Eventually, it became clear that they could work more
efficiently together. In early 2009,
TURK-7's leadership sought to become part of the SAT-7 family to expand its
operations.
On January 1, 2010, SAT-7 Turk begins its first broadcasts
as a full member of SAT-7. Rogers explains, "We want to take the four
hours of time to 24 hours per day of programming, which helps build an audience
base, and then within the next year, we wish to take those hours of programming
from SAT-7 PARS and put them out on their own Turkish language satellite
platform so they have their own channel."
The excitement is building over the potential outreach and
growth. David Middleton, SAT-7 TÜRK's
Executive Director, agrees. "Being part
of a larger organization provides us with great support that we didn't have
before. With that support comes added
confidence in what we can do now and what we'll be able to do in the future."
You can help. For more information about SAT-7 TÜRK or
SAT-7, go to www.sat7usa.org.
