Dear Friends

The impact of the faithful proclamation of the Gospel through the radio is sometimes quite different than what you would expect. I was recently notified that after a few months of broadcasting Reformed Faith and Life on a powerful station in the Kasai region (Democratic Republic of the Congo), the director of programming decided to suspend other supposedly Christian religious broadcasts: their content, compared to the messages of RFL, was deemed to be utterly unbiblical. It was not the fruit of my own meddling in the internal affairs of this station, which compelled them to do this, but a decision of their own. By itself, the light of the Gospel dispels the darkness of false prophets and of false gospels... Praise the Lord for the fact that RFL is used by the Lord to help people testing the spirits as I John 4:1 puts it: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

From a much different location comes a letter with encouraging words: in Perpignan (South of France-a Protestant radio station) has been a faithful partner of RFL for years. A family of listeners writes the following: "We have been regularly listening to your broadcasts-Reformed Faith and Life. We are very pleased to hear them and we hope that you will continue producing new programs. We also hope that this letter will be for you an encouragement just as your programs have been an encouragement to us."

France and its moral and spiritual condition remains a central focus for the ministry of RFL. Many people, in this country marked by the "enlightenment" philosophy of the 18th century, believe that religious faith is a purely private matter that should never come out into the public sphere. If it does, it has the potential to become a dangerous factor of oppression and intolerance (and they inevitably refer to the religious wars which devastated France and other countries in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries). A large majority of French people is very concerned, if not upset, by the visible rise of Islam, which has now become the second largest religious group. New mosques are being erected on French soil and mark urban landscapes in an unmistakable way.

In the meantime, laws are being promulgated which forbid the wearing by Muslim women of the integral veil (niqab, or hijab), deemed to be contrary to the French culture of human (and in particular women's) rights. Reading what Internet bloggers write when they comment on newspaper articles, it is also clear that people are desperate to find moral norms which could give direction to a society having progressively lost its bearings. Where to find these moral norms, how to restore or rebuild crumbling foundations, that is the question. The traditional secular ideology cherished by the French does not seem to have much to offer, while Christianity is still being confined to the private sphere of individuals. Preaching the Word in season and out of season remains, as far as I am concerned, the only way to bring light in a situation marked by a lack of hope and liberating perspectives.

In March I will be traveling to France in order to work on the promotion of my book published last year (To Give an Account of Hope) and also to develop contacts with Christian radio stations likely to broadcast RFL's messages. Pray that this visit will be blessed and that it will open new doors for the light of the Gospel to shine on a country which needs it no less than Africa.

Does our Christian faith have anything to do with our political commitments and views? For years, through its radio broadcasts, Reformed Faith and Life has pleaded in favor of such a carefully thought out involvement, following the publication of a book which my father-the late Rev. A.R. Kayayan-and I wrote together in 1995, "The Christian in the Civil Sphere." The effect of such a proclamation-that there is not a single domain of our existence which escapes the rule of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the ultimate politics-the politics of Christ's Kingdom-should be reflected in national politics. This could not but produce some result in the minds and hearts of some listeners. I recently received an e‑mail from a young Cameroonian pastor indicating that following the reading of the above‑mentioned book, he is eager to deepen his own thinking on these matters, and asks for further guidance. He and several friends are starting a political movement in their country, and hope to achieve something one day in Cameroon.

Guidance, in this respect, first must encourage them to study a lot, to think of the long term and not to rush impulsively into actions which would very soon disqualify their endeavors, as lofty as they may genuinely be. They will have to convince the specialists of economy, constitutional law, public administration, international relations, business management, social work etc., to join them in a common reflection, nourished by serious literature, in order to grow together and be able one day to offer a solid platform of concrete proposals to their fellow Cameroonians.

From Timbuktu (Mali, West Africa) I received the following e‑mail, written by the director of Radio Tanahint: "There are excellent reactions concerning the programs of Reformed Faith and Life here in Timbuktu: people listen to the broadcasts and call the station to ask some questions. Some even come to us or to one of the pastors in town in order to get further explanations. So we notice many changes in the mentality of the population, and little by little the radio is opening new avenues which so far were closed. We can only pray that the Lord will keep blessing this ministry in our hands. At the moment, our needs are of financial and material nature: we have at our disposal only one transmitter which has given us serious concerns lately. Some of our machines must be replaced because they are getting quite old. We also need money to pay our electricity bills. There are excellent reactions concerning the programs of Reformed Faith and Life here in Timbuktu . . . little by little the radio is opening new avenues which so far were closed."

As you clearly can see from this letter, the fruits of the proclamation of the Gospel via air waves in Mali (as elsewhere) are growing, while the means to continue this proclamation are in jeopardy. We do not always know why an African Christian radio station closes its doors or stops corresponding with us. There might be other reasons, like a civil war or some civil unrest. Material difficulties play a role in many instances. That is why Reformed Faith and Life has launched the "Adopt a Project" program (see our website: www.foi‑vie.org.za). By directly sending a modest yearly contribution to a station which airs RFL's programs, you can contribute to the effective long term broadcasting of these messages, ensuring that the fruit of the proclamation described above will keep growing and not wither or eventually disappear. If the congregation you belong to wants to know more about Reformed Faith and Life, you can also download a Power Point presentation of four and a half minutes which we recently put up on our website.

Other News from the Mission

My trip to France in March‑April was preceded by a blessed participation in the European Conference of Reformed Churches in Edinburgh, Scotland. There I met fellow European Reformed pastors and believers, and planning to network further with some of them for the sake of possible collaboration in France, my home country. The stay in France allowed me to make some progress with regard to the distribution of the book "To Give an Account of Hope" published last year.

A lot more needs to be done, but these first steps go in the right direction. Two networks of Christian bookshops operating in France agreed to distribute it. It was also exhibited at the stand of the publisher, L'Age d'Homme, at the widely attended yearly book fair of Paris. Every year in France, about 60,000 books are published, while only 2 percent of those are so‑called religious books. A religious best‑seller will sell a maximum of 30,000 copies. Whether my book reaches such levels or not is not most important: what is important is its contents, and the fact that it should be available for anyone looking for it. I have had a specific public in mind while writing it-the French Roman Catholics, who need to grow closer to Scripture in the midst of the current scandals affecting the Roman church. May those who will read this book realize that beyond and above it, there is the Incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only head of His Church and who sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to illuminate those who search for Him exclusively where He is to be found: in the inspired and living testimony of the prophets and the apostles.

Please keep praying for the ministry of Reformed Faith and Life, and keep bringing your support faithfully, that the fruit of the Spirit may grow in the lives of those who will hear the Gospel in French.

Would you like to know what kinds of questions African listeners of the Reformed Faith and Life broadcast ask when they write to me? Here are some of them:

If chance does not exist, why does the Bible use that word?

Was the garden of Eden the paradise? If so, why did it disappear?

REFORMED FAITH AND LIFE FRENCH RADIO BROADCAST

I think you will like to read the following feedback coming from the western part of Mali in West Africa, close to the border with Senegal (See below). My correspondent is a remarkable Christian leader, a convert from Islam, who heads the local Christian radio station and studies theology via a South African university (he is fluent in English as he serves as translator for a South African electricity corporation in Mali). Remember that the population of Mali is predominantly Muslim (90 to 95%). The work of the radio to bring people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is vital there as it is elsewhere in Africa.