After 59 years of broadcasts into the Middle East, Yemen was recently added to the group of countries being reached by Trans World Radio (TWR) with a programme called Hope for Yemen.
By far the poorest state in the Middle East, suffering from an ongoing civil war, a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions is adding to the turmoil in Yemen.
The broadcast aims to provide practical, psychological and spiritual help to the local population. It is a comprehensive media project focusing on Yemeni people, speaking to them in their mother-tongue dialect.
Content through various media includes devotions with an emphasis on God’s love. It shares spiritual hope and comfort through Scripture and prayer. It also provides practical, helpful information focusing on providing relief for their physical and emotional needs. It can be life-threatening for believers in Yemen to live out their Christian faith and even for seekers to ask questions about Jesus Christ.
For the most part, it is men who make contact through social media and the entire spectrum of responses and emotions is received.
Mahmoud sent all sorts of aggressive messages against Christ and Christianity. A follow-up contact explained, in a caring and understanding way, why people need a Saviour, sharing about the broken relationship between God and Adam, and how we are all sinners who require the grace of God. This respectful response resonated with Mahmoud who replied: ‘In God’s name, why has no one ever explained this to me like that! Why don’t we know in Yemen about this grace, hope and eternal life that we can have in Jesus? I’m eager to know more, I’m eager to really know the real God. I don’t want to be fooled again!’
Another listener, Jameel, wrote: ‘I am a new Christian; I’ve found your programme Hope for Yemen and felt so happy listening to a Christian programme in my own dialect! As in Yemen almost everyone is a Muslim, I’m not sure if there is anyone but me here. It feels lonely sometimes to not being able to declare my faith out loud and also difficult to grow, but with your programmes I feel so much better and I’m starting to understand how to really live as a Christian. Thank you so much’.
