June 2010

Dear friends

Does our Christian faith have anything to do with our political commitments and views?  For years, through its radio broadcasts, Reformed Faith and Life has pleaded in favor of such a carefully thought involvement, following the publication of a book which my father – the late Rev. A.R. Kayayan – and myself wrote together in 1995 (Le Chrétien dans la Cité - The Christian in the Civil Sphere - ) .  The effect of such a proclamation, namely that there is not a single domain of our existence which escapes the rule of our Lord Jesus-Christ, and that the ultimate politics - the politics of his Kingdom - should be reflected in national politics, could not but produce some result in the minds and hearts  of some listeners:  I recently received an e-mail from a young Cameroonian pastor indicating that following the reading of the above-mentioned book, he is eager to deepen his own thinking on these matters, and asks for further guidance.  He and several friends are starting a political movement in their country, and hope to achieve something one day in Cameroon. 

Guidance, in this respect, first means to encourage them to study a lot, to think of the long term and not to rush impulsively into actions which would  very soon disqualify their endeavors, as lofty as they may genuinely be.  They will have to convince specialists of economy, constitutional law, public administration, international relations, business management, social work etc.  to join them in a common reflexion nourished by serious literature, in order to grow together and be able one day to offer a solid platform of concrete proposals to their fellow Cameroonians.

From Timbuktu (Mali, West Africa) I received the following e-mail, written by the director of Radio Tanahint:  There are excellent reactions concerning the programmes of Reformed Faith and Life here in Timbuktu: people listen to the broadcasts and call the station to ask some questions.  Some even come to us or to one of the pastors in town in order to get further explanations.  So we notice many  changes in the mentality of the population, and little by little the radio is opening new avenues which so far were closed.  We can only pray that the Lord will keep blessing this ministry in our hands.  At the moment, our needs are of financial and material nature: we have at our disposal only one transmitter which has given us serious concerns lately.  Some of our machines must be replaced because they are getting quite old.  We also need money to pay our electricity bills (…)

As you clearly can see from this letter, the fruit of the proclamation of the Gospel via air waves in Mali (as elsewhere) are growing, while the means to continue this proclamation are in jeopardy.  We do not always know why an African Christian radio station closes its doors or stops corresponding with us.  There might be other reasons, like a civil war or some civil unrest.  At all rates material difficulties play a role in many instances.  That is why Reformed Faith and life has launched the  “Adopt a project” program (see our website: www.foi-vie.org.za): by directly sending a modest yearly contribution to a station which airs RFL’s programmes, you can contribute to the effective long term broadcasting of these messages, ensuring that the fruit of the proclamation described above will keep growing and not wither and eventually disappear.  If the congregation you belong to wants to know more about Reformed Faith and Life, you can also download a Power Point presentation of four and ‘n half minutes which we recently put up on our website. 

My trip to France in March-April was preceded by a blessed participation to the European Conference of Reformed Churches in Edinburgh, Scotland: there I met fellow European Reformed pastors and believers, planning to network further with some of them for  the sake of possible collaboration in France, my home country.  The stay in France allowed me to make some progress with regard to the distribution of the book “To Give an Account of Hope” published last year. A lot more needs to be done, but these first steps go in the right direction.  Two networks of Christian bookshops operating in France accepted to distribute it.  It was also exhibited at the stand of the publisher L’Age d’Homme at the widely attended yearly book fair of Paris.  Every year in France, there are about 60000 new books published, and only 2% of those are so-called “religious books”.  A religious best-seller  will sell a maximum of 30000 copies.  Whether my book reaches such levels or not is not the most important: what is important is its contents, and the fact that it should be available for anyone looking for it.    I have had a specific public in mind while writing it: the French Roman Catholics, who need to grow closer to Scripture, in the midst of the current scandals affecting the Roman church.   May those who will indeed read this book realize that beyond and above it, there is the Incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus-Christ, who is the only head of his Church and sent at Pentecost the Holy Spirit to illuminate those who search him exclusively where he is to be found: in the inspired and living testimony of the prophets and the apostles. 

Please keep praying for the ministry of Reformed Faith and Life, keep bringing your support faithfully, that the fruit of the Spirit may grow in the lives of those who will hear the Gospel in French through air waves.

In his Name

Rev. Eric Kayayan