Through the worldwide media ministry of The Back to God Hour, the Christian Reformed Church broadcasts the gospel in nine languages to people in more than 170 countries.
Internet ministries have increased our ability to reach people on every continent, including regions otherwise closed to the gospel. Thanks to your support, BTGH radio, television, telephone, and print ministries continue to spread God’s Word and nurture the faith of Christians worldwide.
What’s New
Broadcast via the radio and the Internet, new children’s programs were created in Arabic, Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish during the past year. The Back to God Hour also continued to produce children’s television programs that could be dubbed into other languages, ensuring good stewardship of time and resources.
The English Kids Corner program was heard worldwide via the Internet and on nearly 500 radio stations in North America, thanks to new partnerships with HisKids.net Alliance and the Moody Broadcast Network.
“The Back to God Hour” radio program continued to reach English-speaking people in 108 countries this past year. A new radio program, “Spotlight,” produced in partnership with Far East Broadcasting Association (FEBA) and Words of Hope, targeted those who speak English as a second language. An average of 21,600 listeners who respond to this program are contacted each month.
Helping Christians grow in their faith is crucial to the mission of The Back to God Hour. In Africa alone, nearly 13,000 listeners per month visit one of eight follow-up centers. More than 33,600 individuals signed up for Bible study correspondence courses, while nearly 4,000 individuals have graduated from a study program.
Via radio, The Back to God Hour can reach those living even on the remotest of Indonesia’s 12,000 islands. Through a new “Listener Community” initiative in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, we are training individuals to go back into their communities to lead follow-up ministry, worship, and Bible study.
Radio is also crucial for reaching people living in remote Russian regions, where there are no churches or pastors. Now a new program broadcast over government-run Radio Mayak will reach the entire population of this vast country.
Website: www.btgh.org
United States: 800-879-6555; 708-371-8700
Canada: 800-730-3490; 905-336-2920
E-mail: btgh@crcna.org
Quick Facts
- In 2006, the BTGH was in contact with 1.7 million people through the Internet, by phone, by letter, or through visits to our follow-up centers around the world.
- With the addition of several new ministry websites, that number grew to 2.6 million contacts in just the first five months of 2007.
- In the Middle East, a new text-messaging system allows an average of 440 people each month to contact BTGH in secret with questions about the Christian faith.
- In Indonesia, 700 people have subscribed to a private daily devotional text-message system, while 9,000 individuals subscribe to a similar program in Japan.
- In Chile and Mexico, leaders who have a passion to share the gospel through media are receiving training in preaching and technical skills.
