CHAPTER 89
Crossing Boundaries, Penetrating Barriers
Tony Ford
Tony Ford spent most of his working life with FEBA Radio, discovering how to grow audiences in Asian and African countries with Christian minorities by finding common ground and developing more personal relationships in follow-through activities. The media scene has changed worldwide, but the principles remain the same in media today. Now retired, Tony volunteers with One Challenge and still has a heart for global mission.
Adapted from Mission Frontiers (November–December 2000).
Even in the age of the internet, radio still has a role to play in the evangelization of the world and supporting isolated believers. Many of the poorest and least evangelized places still have limited access to cell phones and internet, but radios are widely used. In places with internet access, many people still enjoy listening to radio programs through various internet sites.
Radio crosses barriers of all kinds to reach places where missionaries cannot easily go. Many people separated from Christians by tradition, prejudice, or poverty have heard about the Savior through radio.
Those Who Are Illiterate
Radio can reach people who are illiterate, but does it? Paul lives in Bangalore, India. He is partially sighted and cannot read or write. He makes a living by selling pencils and erasers in schools. He also hands out program guides for a short-wave Christian station broadcasting in India. Paul listens to the Telugu language service. “I get spiritual blessings and happiness from listening to the programs,” he says. “Before I was a Christian I was unhappy.”
Those Who Are Isolated
One such person is Francis, who lived among a gang of street boys in Kenya at a young age. Francis says,
One night we were warming ourselves by a fire in an alley and listening to a small radio. Somehow, we had the radio tuned to a Christian program and we listened until the end. The following night we listened to the same program again and I decided I wanted to “get saved.”
That night a student from a nearby college came and talked to us about how to become a Christian. I remembered what I had heard on the radio, and I told him I wanted to invite Jesus into my heart. Since that night, I have continued to trust the Lord, and I have never regretted my decision. Now I am attending a church back in my hometown. Whenever I get the chance, I talk to street boys who are living the kind of life I used to live.
In Francis’s case, radio worked in conjunction with personal witness. At the human level there was no joint planning. The Holy Spirit coordinated these efforts.
Sometimes letters, emails, or texting are the only means by which seekers can learn more about Christ. Rafiq Iqbal is one such person. He had learned the Qur’an by heart. He did not know any believers in his community, but he began listening to Christian radio broadcasts. He wrote to the radio program several times and completed some correspondence courses about Christ. Rafiq came to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the only Savior. He found and began to follow “The Way” entirely through radio and written communication.
Sometimes letters, emails, or texting are the only means by which seekers can learn more about Christ.
Those Affected by Conflict
Somalia’s seven million people live in eight different regions, ruled by clan-based warlords. Years of civil war led millions of Somalis to flee to other countries. For many years the gospel has been broadcast in Somali, but in the last decades most Somali Christian radio listeners have been those who fled Somalia as refugees.
Somalis are very media conscious. Radio has been popular for a long time. Finding an entry point into the lives of people who say “to be Somali is to be Muslim” is the key challenge. Now, as Somalis struggle in their hope for peace, radio programs touch on family life, social concerns, development issues, peacemaking, and human rights. Starting where the listeners are, the programs lead them to the good news in Jesus Christ.
Afghanistan is another place where continuing warfare makes it difficult for messengers to convey the gospel. One Christian radio listener wrote, “When I finally heard your radio program it was like a ray of hope entering my life for which I had waited for years.” Newspapers in neighboring Pakistan report that Afghans have become Christians in places where no known missionary has gone. It seems likely that at least some of those new believers learned of Christ through the radio programs broadcast into the area.
A daily radio broadcast in Tibet is heard throughout India, where there are many Tibetan refugees. In one Tibetan Buddhist monastery four hundred monks were regular listeners. The radio production team visited responsive groups who contacted them, promoting the programs and distributing Bibles, Christian books, and comics. And what about Tibet itself? Access is a challenge, but in the first few years of the broadcasts a team traveled all across the vast plateau, discovering that the radio signal was strong and clear.
A Complementary Tool
Radio works best alongside other means of proclaiming the gospel. When those other means are difficult or impossible, radio has a documented role in touching the lives of people isolated by geographical, religious, political, or social barriers. 