New Fast-Tracked Bible Degrees

Abanoub Isaac with NBIC says the school, which follows the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, is growing. They are offering more classes and programs for Sudanese people in Egypt. One program with tremendous growth is a one-year Bible degree that offers coursework on church planting, missions, and understanding people from different backgrounds.

This streamlined Bible training is crucial for Sudanese churches which are exploding with new Christians but lack trained pastors.

(Image courtesy of Tima Miroshnichenko via Pexels)

Isaac says, “They have new believers every day. But they don’t have equipped ministries or pastors. They have to make [people] pastors in church without even reading the Bible one time. So, they don’t have any leadership skills, any biblical knowledge. So just he is good with people, knows the big message of Christ, but he can’t discipleship or make a Bible study, or anything else in the church – just worship.”

The one-year course begins with five months of studying in Egypt. This is followed by two months of practical ministry in Sudan and then a final five months back in Cairo. At the end of this intensive year, students are ready to go back to Sudan for good to lead their churches.

The program has been very successful. The first year they received 50-55 applications and the next year 90 people applied. During the first two-month practical training in Sudan, pastors were leaving their congregations in the hands of the students because they were so prepared.

However, even with the successes and growth of NBIC, they have had significant barriers to overcome.

Meeting Challenges Head-On

Isaac says one issue is that education has been poor in Sudan because of the war. Even identifying good candidates for leadership can be difficult. Many people just don’t have significant prior schooling.

Additionally, the war has continued to foster deep feelings of tribalism. The years of struggle make it difficult to get the church to come together over tribal lines.

“Actually, we faced a lot [the accusation] that we are racist against some tribes,” Isaac states. “Even we don’t know the tribes! We are not putting anything in our applications [about] which tribe you are from. But when we choose people to do something because we see that they have potential, they relate this to the tribe, not the potential of the people. So we faced a lot this accusation that we are racist [against some] tribes.”

NBIC is working to equip leaders from every tribe to combat these accusations in addition to their stated goal of training qualified leaders.

Join in Prayer

Training refugees to minister in war-torn areas is challenging work and Isaac asks for prayer. Unity among the tribes and Church at large is a major prayer request from NBIC.

“We [are] trying to give them lot of perspective. We have teachers from all over the places: Sudanese, Egyptians, some foreigners come. We give them retreats in Coptic places when they have worship nights and the Bible was read with like, six or seven different languages to make them know how important unity is.”

Please also pray for Sudanese Christians who are facing practical problems including racism, the cost of living in Egypt, and families who have been separated.

Header photo courtesy of Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.

Benita with the Nuba Mountains Bible Institute in Cairo (NBIC) says, “Now with the war, there’s huge increase in refugees, 900% in Cairo, and a lot of them are single moms with kids.”

Many husbands stayed behind to defend their land, were killed, or couldn’t escape. These women now face overwhelming needs — especially in education.

Cairo, Egypt (Photo courtesy of Ahmed Ezzat via Unsplash)

“They haven’t had almost any opportunities for education in Sudan beyond maybe basic elementary,” Benita explains.

To help, the ministry offers a one-year program for women, meeting one night a week. It focuses on psychological awareness, spiritual growth, theological training, and leadership development.

The goal, says Benita, is simple: “It equips Sudanese women to train others and to serve their community.”

However, many challenges stem from family struggles. “In Sudan,” explains Benita, “maybe only the man worked and the woman was able to stay home and focus on kids and household responsibilities.”

In Egypt, the situation is reversed. Refugees cannot legally work, so many take informal jobs. Women often find cleaning work more easily — and sometimes earn more than men. This shift disrupts traditional family roles. “That creates tension oftentimes in the marriage,” says Benita.

When husbands eventually reunite with their families after months or years apart, new strains appear. “Then if the husband can come to Egypt eventually, then he’s been estranged for a long time, and that takes a while to sort that out, and he hasn’t been involved really in raising the children.”

Moreover, amid war trauma, family conflict, and uncertainty, children often drift toward gangs or other dangerous lifestyles.

South Sudanese woman (Photo courtesy of Speak Media Uganda via Pexels)

That’s where the ministry steps in again, offering teaching and guidance to families and community leaders.

“We also have one of our staff teach about what’s the difference between what is our tribal practices around marriage and what’s actually the Bible, and help them to pick those apart,” Benita shares.

The ministry also educates women about their health and supports survivors of wartime rape — restoring dignity through God’s truth.

Pray for Sudanese people displaced from their homeland — that they find healing and hope in Christ’s love. Pray for the women to experience dignity, peace, and wisdom in the embrace of their Creator.

Header representative photo of two women (courtesy of Ab Pixels via Pexels).

Mary Joseph, a SAT-7 Communications Officer based in Cairo says, “It was a good thing to see all the leaders gather together in Egypt and discuss things. Maybe they have not reached the solution for every problem ecumenically. But it’s good to see them gathered here after a long time of not gathering. The MEC has not been gathering every year.”

The Egyptian president even addressed the assembly, saying he wanted to spread a culture of diversity and religious freedom in the country.

Violence against Christians

The statement comes after the stabbing of an Egyptian priest in Alexandria, Egypt. Joseph says, “Because it happened during Lent, it had a very special closeness. Lent is a very spiritual time here for Christians in Egypt. And it was very heartbreaking, of course, and there was a lot of indignation on social media.”

This isn’t the first incident of violence against Egyptian Christians, of course. Joseph says, “In 2016, there was a blast at a church in downtown Cairo that killed 29 people and left many disabled and injured. Two of the people killed were my aunt and her daughter.”

Joseph’s surviving cousin was recently invited onto the SAT-7 program Needle and New Thread, where she talked about her journey and her faith. “It was very encouraging for the viewers. Even the crew themselves were telling me (because I’m her cousin) how they were supported by her testimony.”

How to pray

Joseph says the Egyptian Church is facing a lot of division, often fueled by social media. Pray for unity among the believers.

And ask God to unify churches across the Middle East and North Africa.

Header photo courtesy of SAT-7. 

“PTEE [is] needed because there [are] no seminaries in Upper Egypt and in the south. The seminaries are, most of them, in Cairo,” says Abraham*, a believer serving with the Program for Theological Education by Extension (PTEE).

PTEE offers accredited theological courses for Gospel workers in the Arab world. Learn more about PTEE’s work here. By studying online, believers can avoid unwanted attention, which often leads to persecution.

“We teach them how to do discipleship for the new believer, how to do a lot of work inside the church, and also about evangelism outside the church,” Abraham says.

“[When] leaders cannot go to Cairo to study in Bible school, the program [goes] to the church.”
(Photo courtesy of Martin Widenka/Unsplash)

“We have more than 150 students studying from Egypt. [In] places where leaders cannot go to Cairo to study in Bible school, the program [goes] to the church.”

Plus, the training can be multiplied. This allows every PTEE graduate to develop more Egyptian Christian leaders. “We train a pastor or a church leader and he gives training to other people in the village,” Abraham says.

Equipping believers remotely furthers their “attempts to reach unreached villages and unreached (people) groups in the south of Egypt,” he adds.

Find critical prayer needs here. “Pray for leaders who suffer from some difficulties, and also for the families which have no chance to go to school,” Abraham requests.

“We have a lot of people who [do] not know how to read [or] write, and we try to teach this [through] discipleship groups.”

*Pseudonym

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Aaron Burden/Unsplash.

Bonita Dirk with Nuba Mountains Bible Institute in Cairo (NBIC) explains: “Officially, the laws of Egypt are you have to have nine or ten Egyptian employees for every foreign employee. On some rare occasions, [Sudanese refugees] are officially employed. But most of the time, they are working [in] unofficial employment. They don’t get much assistance from the government or even from the UN. There is very little official assistance. But they can survive. So it’s a little bit better [than Sudan], but it’s not at all what they were expecting.”

A mosque in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo courtesy of Pixabay)

Refugees started fleeing from Sudan to Egypt around 20 years ago when civil war overtook Sudan. Non-Arab and African tribal groups were targeted by the Muslim majority, especially in areas like Darfur. Because Egypt and Sudan used to be one kingdom a long time ago and still share a common language, some Sudanese see Egypt as the best place to escape.

Then, after Sudan and South Sudan split, Sudan placed a tax on the Nuba Mountains region. As a result, more people fled.

“There is estimated to be between one and three million Sudanese in Cairo,” Dirk explains. “Most of them are refugees, not all. But Cairo is a city of 25 million, so that means almost one in ten or ten percent are Sudanese.”

Today, refugees in Egypt are torn. They could go back home to Sudan if they save enough money, but the social and economic climate in Sudan has not improved. However, staying in Egypt is not ideal either, since Sudanese often suffer discrimination and public harassment.

Some Egyptians don’t even realize the Sudanese among them are refugees. Since the two countries share a border, Egyptians view Sudanese as simply coming and going, and they would rather the Sudanese stay in their own country.

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Dirk says the lack of awareness and aid is “partly because people have no idea of what has happened and is happening in Sudan. There were a lot of foreigners that were pushed out of Sudan a couple years ago and so it is very difficult to actually find out what is going on in Sudan itself. People have no idea that the conflict and the issues are ongoing in Sudan.

“Then, Egypt is a developing country on its own. The Egyptian government can’t afford to help the Sudanese very much because they are trying to help their own population. There are more visible issues in [global] news, and Sudan is not one of them.”

For Sudanese Christians living in Egypt, life is even harder. Being Sudanese already makes them a second-class citizen, but being Christian makes them a third-class citizen, ostracized by both Egyptians and majority-Muslims alike.

This is where the local Church in Egypt is stepping in when they can. Some Christian groups provide refugee services, operate medical clinics, and help Sudanese refugees find jobs.

However, Dirk says there is only so much they can do. “There are different ministries, but they are mostly small, local churches doing little bits and pieces.”

NBIC sees the value of a growing and thriving Church among the Sudanese diaspora in Cairo. That’s why NBIC trains Sudanese Christian leaders to spiritually encourage and instruct the Sudanese Church there.

(Photo courtesy of Prayercast)

“I really believe that God cares about the least, the last, and the lost and the people that are forgotten,” Dirk reflects. “The Bible talks a lot about widows and orphans, and there are a lot of those amongst the Sudanese refugee population. I feel privileged that I get to work amongst a people group that is kind of a bit forgotten in the world, but [which] God has not forgotten. I think that’s a real clear Gospel opportunity to love our Christian brothers and sisters and our non-Christian brothers and sisters that are often forgotten.”

Dirk says raising awareness and standing in solidarity with our Christian Sudanese brothers and sisters in Egypt goes a long way.

“Try to find bits of news on Sudan. There are really good websites like Nuba Reports. There is an amazing hospital in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan where there is only one doctor for a population of a million people.”

Finally, she asks, “Pray, pray, pray. Remember them. Remember that you have Christian brothers and sisters all over the world and a lot of them are suffering, but they still love God and are pursuing Him. Lift them up in your prayers. Seek out opportunities to encourage and support and give to good organizations.”

Header photo courtesy of Open Doors USA.

The World Watch List reveals the top 50 countries with the worst Christian persecution, and Egypt ranked 17th this year — up from its position as 21st in 2017.

The 2018 World Watch List naming the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. (Image and header photo courtesy of Open Doors)

Egypt is home to approximately half of all believers in the Middle East. Over the last year, 128 Coptic Christians were killed for their faith and 200 were forced to flee their homes. What they’re experiencing in Egypt are ‘unprecedented levels of persecution and suppression’ according to Open Doors.

This uptick in attacks and murders led a Cairo priest to call it “the most aggressive campaign against them in the history of modern Egypt”. The Islamic State has even announced they intend to “wipe out” Egypt’s Copts and “liberate Cairo”.

We spoke with *Sarah, an Egyptian ministry correspondent. She says, as a Christian who grew up in Egypt, the recent uptick in attacks is evident to her. “The attacks increased and the last attack, if you were following, was the Helwan attack. They attacked a church in Helwan in greater Cairo just before our Christmas, just by the end of 2017. That was another church and another hurt in our hearts.”

The issue of persecution is especially pronounced for women in Egypt. Their lack of a hijab makes Coptic Christian women stand out even more than their male counterparts.

“Do you know that most of the women [in Egypt] have their hair covered? But Christians do not. So if I am walking the streets, it’s very well known [that I am a Christian]. So I myself, I can’t move without using my car. I’m using my car everywhere. I just go down from where I live, I take my car to where I want to go, and just come back to stay at home. That is the way we live.”

Sarah shares, “I had several bad situations because I’m a Christian, because my hair is not covered. One time, I was driving my car and someone was driving a big car and he just came on the wrong side just to hit me. He came down and kept shouting at me. I couldn’t do anything and it was Ramadan time. That is the worst month in the year. The people, they become crazy because they feel that your hair is not covered so you are a Christian so they have to deal with you in a bad way.

“One other time, someone just spit at my face on the street. For me, it’s really very painful and I feel like I do not want to stay here anymore. But I’m just waiting for the Lord to do something.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Although Coptic Christians are suffering more vitriol and danger, Sarah says they are not strangers to oppression.

“Persecution for Christians in Egypt, that’s nothing new with it. It’s old and it’s been a long time. This is how the Church grew up and how I grew up knowing that we are persecuted. And we’re not only persecuted, but people deal with us as if we are a second-class of people, as if we are not Egyptian, even though we are Egyptian.”

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has shown support for the country’s religious minorities and condemned terrorist groups. But radical Muslims view the president as favoring Christians and other minorities over Islam.

“Our president is trying to build a new culture that we are all Egyptian. But he can’t change it all of a sudden…. So that makes the fanatic Muslims become more aggressive against us,” Sarah explains.

“We are trying to ask the government, our security people to take care of the churches. To be honest, they are trying to do their best. But sometimes they got attacked as well. I remember that last year they were trying to attack the Pope and two of the security policemen were killed in front of the church during the Palm Sunday celebration. That was last year.”

Every time another bombing or shooting at a church is reported, every time another Egyptian believer is attacked, every time another Christian child is bullied at school, Sarah says it hits very close to home for her.

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

“Honestly, it is very painful. It breaks our hearts and we’ve learned just to pray and just leave it to the Lord and lift it to the Lord. This is what we learn as a Church, that we are praying for [our attackers]. We would like them to come and know Jesus Christ. We have nothing against them.”

Our Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt need to know the whole Body of Christ is hurting with them. And praying with them.

“We need a lot of prayer. We need the global Body of Christ to pray for the churches, for the Lord to protect us and to guide us wisely how to deal with our security and with our government and with everything.”

If you’d like to give in support of outreaches encouraging the Body of Christ and witnessing to others in Egypt, there are several impactful ministries you can support.

Learn more about Christian Aid Mission and their ministry in Egypt.

Check out Voice of the Martyrs and read about their work with persecuted Christians in Egypt.

Go to Open Doors’ website and learn more about their outreach to Egyptian believers.

“If one part suffers, every part suffers with it….”  1 Corinthians 12:26a NIV

*Name changed for security purposes.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7, Cairo, Egypt)

The facts surrounding the investigation differ, depending on whether the information is coming from the militant group or if it’s coming from the government, but the impact of the attack has left the Christian community shaken to its core.

Copts are the biggest group within Egypt’s Christian minority, which makes up about five percent of the total population, according to the numbers from Pew Research.  The last notable attack on a Christian Church was on January 1, 2011 in Alexandria, which was considered the deadliest act of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christians in a decade.

SAT-7 founder and CEO, Dr. Terry Ascott says, “I think it’s become a pattern, that at a time of celebration, this is a sort of spoiler.  It’s also a time when attackers know there are large numbers of people assembled together in a confined space.  There were tactical and psychological reasons for such an attack being carried out at the beginning of Advent season.”

SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa, has an audience of 5.5 million in Egypt.  A press release noted that within an hour of the tragedy, a SAT-7 camera crew had arrived at the scene to give a voice to shocked worshippers and relatives.

“Really, to stand with the Christians, to express sympathy, and to just show that we’re there and we’re encouraging other brothers and sisters across the Arab world to pray for the Church at this time,” he explained.  “The production team also produced special programs to offer support and comfort to the Christians in their grief.”

Ascott mentioned that the Cairo team produced a special edition of SAT-7’s Bridges current affairs show, featuring interviewed church leaders and other commentators on the events and how Egypt can address the causes of sectarianism and terrorism.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7, Cairo, Egypt)

SAT-7 broadcast live the packed funeral service on Monday as it was conducted by the Coptic Orthodox Pope, Tawadros ll.  The Coptic Church leader said, “We are in so much pain over the evil that surrendered all the humanity and feelings that God entrusted in man.”  He also stressed that it is not only Christians but the whole of Egyptian society that is threatened by terrorism.

Even though the State promised protection, the nature of this attack created uncertainty, especially when it comes down to justice.  Ascott says,“It was very personal.  At least one of our staff lost an auntie and a niece in the killing.  I think it was something that resonated with everybody — all of the Christian community across Egypt.”

Since 2014, when Egypt’s new constitution was passed, it seems extremists who attacked Christian communities were allowed to act with impunity.  As a religious minority, Christians often feel like they’re treated as second-class citizens.

The question they want answered is “why?”  It’s an impossible question to answer satisfactorily when so much hatred is involved.

In this time of Advent, the answer comes in waiting well.  Waiting for justice.  Waiting for healing.  The hardest thing about waiting is not knowing when it’s going to end, if it is going to end.  Waiting brings questions without easy answers.

Ascott says, “The power of prayer is always underestimated in these kinds of situations.  We can stand with the Church as it seeks to provide aid and support to the victims of this tragedy.”  This is a time when the Church gets to show its loving and forgiving side, he explains, adding, “It does have a profound impact on society, in general, when Christians pray for their enemies, and forgive their enemies in public, as has happened in many instances in the past.  We do pray that this will also add to the weight of witness.”

Ask God to comfort these believers today, not only in their loss, but also in the fear that must surely be present.  Pray for peace to be restored in this land and for a great turning to the Gospel of Christ.  Pray God will strengthen and embolden Christians in this time and give them new opportunities to share the Gospel.

So far, no groups have claimed responsibility for the bombing. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs, USA says this is unusual.

(Image courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs, USA via Facebook)

“Usually within hours somebody is stepping forward saying, ‘Yes, that was us. We’re making the infidels pay.’ But that hasn’t happened in this case. So we’ll wait to see even later today and into this week when or at what point somebody does step forward, or if nobody does.”

If nobody claims the bombing, it raises a lot of question marks. But there’s no debate that the attack itself bears the marks of terror.

“This would be the kind of attack the Islamic State would like to inspire. They would like to create animosity between Christians and Muslims in Egypt.”

Only about 10 percent of the Egyptian population is comprised of Coptic Christians. Conflict between portions of the Muslim population and their Christian neighbors is not a new feature in Egypt, especially since Muslims accused Christians of supporting former President Mohammed Morsi’s overthrow in 2013.

Nettleton says the bombing seemed to specifically target the most vulnerable in the congregation.

“The bomb…was planted apparently by a women [who] came in with a bag, sat down in the section of the church where the women and children sat, subsequently got up and left the church, then the bomb in the bag exploded…. So, overwhelmingly, the victims were women and children.

“The police were on-site within just a few minutes after the bombing. They are now going through the painstaking process of trying to put back together what exactly happened. Also, those who are injured are being treated in, as I understand it, military hospitals. So the government is providing for their treatment, and we pray that those who are injured will recover quickly and that God will work healing for them as well.”

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has condemned the attack and declared three-days of national mourning. And there have been messages of solidarity and compassion from other Egyptian and Muslim sources.

“It is heartening to see…the attack has been condemned by the Egyptian government. It’s also been condemned by the head of Cairo’s Al-Azaar Mosque, which is the seed of Sunni Islamic learning in Egypt. So, as you say, this is something where the government is not painting a picture that Christians have no place in Egypt.”

(Photo courtesy of Jan Pieter Meijer/ Open Doors USA)

In the wake of this catastrophe, Coptic Christians in Egypt may be on edge as they head into Christmas celebrations over the next few weeks.

“It is a concern, particularly as we head into the Christmas season, extra worship services, extra times of gathering become extra targets. The Christians in Egypt, and really throughout the Muslim world, are very aware of that…during the Christmas season.”

Nettleton says, “I don’t think it will dampen their enthusiasm to meet together and to worship together, but they are rattled. This was a very large church. If you’re a little tiny church, you look at this and say, ‘Wait a minute, if they can be targeted, if somebody could go in there and plant a bomb, how could we protect ourselves?’”

As you head to your own Christmas church services, please remember to pray for our Egyptian brothers and sisters in Christ.

“I think the way we can stand with them is simply to pray that God will protect them, pray that they’ll be encouraged, and that they won’t shy away from worshipping and sharing the Gospel message during this Christmas season — even though they know, yes, there are threats; yes, there could be attacks, it could be dangerous. But our calling is not to only worship if it’s safe, our calling is to worship Jesus whenever.”

Click here to get prayer updates from around the world with Voice of the Martyrs, USA.

(Photo courtesy SAT-7)

Egypt (MNN/SAT7) — Egypt: a country trying to keep the lid on turmoil threatening to boil over at any second.

Given the anticipated uproar surrounding the 5^th anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising, the government began cracking down months ago on anyone they perceived to be dissenters: raiding offices, collecting equipment, and arresting people.

On October 10, 2015, the SAT-7 Cairo studios were raided. The question: was this connected to the official crackdown? As it is with any speculation, suggested theories could be debunked but then resurface as different conjecture. SAT-7 USA president Dr. Rex Rogers demurred on the subject, redirecting to the facts at hand.

In the October raid, censorship police removed much of the studio’s production equipment, including cameras and all of the computers used for editing. Executive Director Farid Samir was also temporarily detained over “licensing” issues. Rogers says, “They issued three legal challenges, all of which we’ve been able to demonstrate are not valid.”

The problem is that when authorities took the equipment, they made it so the SAT-7 team couldn’t function. “We’ve had to shut down our live programming,” says Rogers. “We had $100,000 worth of equipment that was not central to it [live programming], and I might add, along with the equipment, on…one of those drives were unedited programs that had been filmed but were not backed up because they were still in the editing phase.” However, the SAT-7 ARABIC and SAT-7 KIDS channels screened live programs from the SAT-7 Lebanon studio and programs produced by SAT-7 partners as normal.

(Photo courtesy SAT-7)

After three months of downtime, police returned all confiscated equipment to the SAT-7 studio in Cairo. It’s a relief, but there are still concerns, says Rogers. First, “We’re still in the process of trying to determine just what shape it’s in [the equipment]: is it all okay? Is it accessible? Can it be rebooted?”

Second, the case “has not been completely dismissed, so what remains open is actually the charge against the executive director.” The latest on that, says Rogers: “Just to boil it down and say that his name was confused with someone in the southern part of the country. Whatever the crime supposedly was had nothing to do with our man. But whether that was invented, or that was a mistake somehow (bureaucracy), we don’t know. Thankfully, that’s been demonstrated to be erroneous.”

As the team regathers to get things moving toward full function, the chilling effect could come into play. A chilling effect describes a situation in which rights, like free speech, are threatened by the possible negative results of exercising these rights. The effect is to silence free speech. Rogers agrees. “Sometimes it’s not what is done, but the threat of what could be done. So, something like this happens, and it’s really never followed through with, but it’s the implied statement [from the government] that ‘We could do more.’”

(Photo courtesy SAT-7/Executive Director SAT-7 Cairo, Farid Samir)

To that end, pray for wisdom, creativity, and boldness, Rogers urges. “We’re still not certain that we can do live program filming in our studios as we’ve done before, so that’s a prayer request. Another prayer request, of course, is to have all of the charges that are erroneous completely dismissed against our executive director, and then be able to return to full functioning.”

Samir, in a press release, said, “During the last few weeks, our spiritual muscles were stretched. But the support of the worldwide Church kept us encouraged.”

SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa. The ministry has five channels (SAT-7 ARABIC, SAT-7 PARS, SAT-7 KIDS, SAT-7 PLUS and SAT-7 TÜRK). Their goal is to show viewers God’s love, give local churches a satellite TV platform to educate and encourage their communities, and to build bridges with the non-Christian majority without compromising the truth of God’s Word.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

Egypt (MNN/SAT-7) — Children seem to be in charge of the television. If parents aren’t watching something as compelling as Dora, then children feel the need to expose parents to their world of color and helping dogs find clues.

For Fady and Marian, a couple in Tanta, Egypt, they think their son, Fares, seems to have the television bug for SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry to the Middle East and North Africa.

Last year, the couple showed their two-and-a-half-year-old son the SAT-7 KIDS channel, and ever since, if the channel wasn’t set on SAT-7 KIDS, Fares would switch it to the correct channel.

After becoming so enthusiastic about the show, the family drove 52 miles to Cairo to speak with SAT-7.

Fady and Marian told the station they are so pleased that they became supporters and even have regular contact with some of the SAT-7 presenters.

“In our culture, we teach children from a very young age,” Fady explained. “We give children the freedom to make their own choices at 20 or 30, but at a young age we want to give them the foundations.” SAT-7 KIDS fits the bill perfectly, they said, “because it’s safe, there are no bad words or actions” and because they wanted Fares to know about Christ from a young age.

SAT-7 also ministers to adults, giving them hope in God and faith in prayer. During the post-revolution turmoil of the last three days, Marian recalls, “All the prayers on SAT-7 were saying not to fear or worry about what happened. They first encouraged the adults and then they encouraged the kids.”

“We are used to living with these pressures,” Fady said, but watching SAT-7 KIDS has “been a way to run away from all the noise around us.”

Pray that SAT-7 will continue ministering to families all across the Middle East and North Africa, giving them hope.