BTGH Tour Visits Arabic Ministry Centers

It was a powerful mo-ment,” Corrie Mulder said. “We were all singing ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus,’ each in our own language.”

Mulder, church relations director for The Back to God Hour (BTGH), recalled a recent worship service she attended in the Middle East. She and her husband, Hans, hosted a “Tour with a Purpose” sponsored by BTGH and RACOM Associates, the fundraising arm of the CRC’s electronic media ministry.

A highlight of the tour was worshiping with Middle Eastern Christians in Cyprus and Egypt.

Sixteen people from Christian Reformed churches in Canada and the United States traveled to visit The Back to God Hour’s Arabic-language ministry centers.

“We met Arabic Christians from all over the world who come to study at the John Calvin Center in Larnaca, Cyprus,” Mulder said. “We gained such an appreciation of what it takes to be a Christian in the Middle East. We were meeting Christians who worship the same God but have gone through so much more to be Christians.”

The group lodged with the students at the John Calvin Center, a training facility for Arabic Christians serving as pastors, evangelists, elders, deacons, and Sunday school teachers. They also traveled to Egypt, where they met the BTGH broadcasters and follow-up team and worshiped with Christians there.

Rose Olthuis, a guest on the tour, said one of the most meaningful aspects was the daily devotions led by Rev. Victor Atallah, the BTGH’s Arabic-language ministry leader. “He told our group that his vision was that someday the minarets in Arabic lands will proclaim not Islam but Jesus Christ!”

Mulder said it was interesting to see some of the places reached by The Back to God Hour’s Arabic-language broadcasts. “You get an appreciation for how media can make a huge impact in the Muslim world. In a place where missionaries cannot speak freely, people can listen in their own homes.”

The next “Tour with a Purpose,” scheduled for April 2007, will visit China to see what God is doing there, followed by a trip to Russia in the fall of 2007. For more information, contact Corrie Mulder at mulderc@crcna.ca or call 1-888-588-3388.