Silver Spring, March 3, 2014. [CD-EUDNews]. Every year, Adventist World Radio (AWR) receives thousands of letters, e-mails, and phone calls from listeners around the world. They describe their heartaches, their family challenges, their search for hope, and their joy in hearing of the love God offers them.
“Our broadcasts carry messages of comfort and salvation to the hardest-to-reach places of the world – through shortwave and AM/FM radio, podcasts, and on demand – in nearly 100 languages” says Dowell Chow, AWR President.
“March 8 has been chosen as the worldwide AWR day, in the Seventh-day Adventists (Adventist) context. Messages and testimonies have been prepared to inform the members about the wonderful work many volunteers are doing to share the message of the gospel,” says Corrado Cozzi, Communication Director at the Inter-European Region.
This year focus on China.
With 1.3 billion people – and only 400,000 or so Adventists – China is one of the church’s largest mission fields. For years, Adventist World Radio (AWR) has broadcast programs in Mandarin for 10 hours a day to China through shortwave radio. Programs for China are also produced in Uighur, Cantonese, Min Nam, and Tibetan.
The Chinese Union Mission reports that approximately half of their Adventist believers in China live in the countryside. Shortwave radio is critical for people in those remote areas. The Adventist media center in Hong Kong receives letters from people saying how they have listened to these programs and begun keeping the Sabbath, without knowing any Adventist church.
All of AWR’s programs – in nearly 100 languages – can also be heard on demand and as podcasts. The advantage of listening online is that people around the world can choose topics of interest from the archived programs and listen whenever they want. This has greatly expanded the influence of radio.
AWR’s voice of hope is bringing news of God’s love to those who need it most, such as this listener in China who wrote:
“The past years, I have counted on your prayers and your website to help me pass through much difficulties. Though we have not met, it was your prayers that led me to feel the love of the Lord, and I have felt it was the Lord helping me through you. As a single parent having a daughter with depression and suicidal inclination, I felt the sky was to collapse on me. You made me feel there is someone praying for me in some part of the world. The Lord has cared for my daughter time after time. May He bless our family as we work for Him.”
Another listener wrote:
“I’m a college freshman and love to listen to the radio,” read the letter from China. “I have experienced a lot of pain in life. My soul is troubled all the time. One night, I tuned in to Voice of Hope and was captivated by the Bible stories. I couldn’t put down the radio for a moment. Even though I’m not a Christian, I feel that your programs are wonderful! I want to read the Bible and listen to the Lord’s teachings.”
AWR’s broadcasts are able to bypass hostile governments and geographic barriers,
bringing the gospel directly into people’s homes and hearts. There are millions of people who have never heard the name of Jesus.
The generosity of the Adventists will allow the radio broadcasting to continue its mission and to let Jesus be known even more.