December
2004
Dear partners in the mission
Where
would you and I be if the Son of God had not come in the flesh in a mission to
save sinners from eternal death? As
we approach Christmas and prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord
Jesus-Christ, we may as well remember the following
words of His prayer to the Father in John 17:18: “As you sent me
into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
The Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to reveal Him
perfectly as a God of grace and justice; the
Son sent his disciples into the world for
a mission consisting in proclaiming this Gospel, empowered by the Spirit of God.
Christmas has everything to do with the
Mission
, of which you are our
dear partners. Don’t forget it!
And
how desperately the world needs to hear this Gospel!
News from various parts of the world, in particular African countries,
break my heart as I write to you. Turmoil
and warfare rage in
Ivory Coast
among others.
This beautiful country on the West coast of the continent is also the top
world producer of cocoa. Most of the
letters or e-mails which I receive come from
Ivory Coast
, in particular from
its huge metropolis
Abidjan
.
Reformed Faith and Life runs on a regular basis on Radio Fréquence-Vie,
a very popular Christian station broadcasting over
Abidjan
and its vicinity.
Even in time of turmoil, listeners keep writing and asking for books and
all kind of Reformed material. Unfortunately,
postal services being disrupted, we cannot do as much as we would like to.
But we make sure that the Gospel is preached in
Abidjan
, and we know that it touches people’s hearts
precisely in times of turmoil and trials.
How
do I know if the message is conveyed in a clear and straight way?
Listeners would not write and ask for the text of Reformed Faith and
Life’s messages if that was not the case.
Mrs L.R., from Antananrivo (
Madagascar
), recently wrote to
me:
“I
am one of the faithful listeners of the Sunday program which you broadcast on
the local station Radio Vaova Mahasoa. Your
explanations are not only clear, but also to the point, so that everyone can
easily understand it.”
In
my last newsletter, I was mentioning the prospect of coming on the air in
Cotonou
, the largest city of
Benin
, another
French-speaking country of
West Africa
(neighboring
Nigeria
).
With
Cotonou
, the network of FM
stations airing RFL on the strategic coastal line of the
Gulf
of
Guinea
would be significantly
strengthened. Well, the director of Radio Maranatha in
Cotonou
has just e-mailed to
me a proposal to starti our broadcasts in January.
Cost for one year (one weekly broadcast): a mere US$1040…
And still… Still to find
$1000 is not as easy as that, especially since Reformed Faith and Life’s
income has been drastically reduced because of
the exchange rate that keeps playing against us.
The constant weakening of the
US
$ on the international
financial market has caused us to lose almost 50% of our income during the past
three years. We already struggle to
maintain our range of programmes on the air, what about starting new ones where
there are such exciting and promising opportunities to preach the Gospel?
As
you prepare to celebrate Christmas, it is my fervent prayer that you will not
forget about the deeper meaning of this unique event in the history of the
world. May you find joy and peace in
the knowledge that Christ has been appointed King of kings; our goal and mission
on earth is to live out and proclaim everywhere the Kingdom He came to
inaugurate at
Bethlehem
!
In
His name
Rev.
Eric Kayayan