In Depth:  Lindsay Shaw

A second-hand television in a night watchman’s family shelter on a Cairo building site.

Who would have thought it could spark the vision for a Christian broadcast ministry that, 20 years later, would stretch right across the Middle East? But it was that sight, next to the apartment block where media missionary Terence Ascott was living, that led to the launch of SAT-7, a satellite TV network watched today by 15 million viewers from Casablanca to Kabul.

Turkish pastor Zekai Tanyar is a former chair of the Evangelical Alliance in his country. He spoke to Lindsay Shaw of SAT-7 about the current situation of Turkey’s Protestant Churches

LS: How are current events affecting the church in Turkey?
ZT:The problems in Syria and Iraq haven’t had negative effects on the church apart from seeing so much human suffering. There are 1.8 million refugees from Syria and Iraq in Turkey. Some of the churches in South Eastern Turkey – around Diyarbikir, Mardin and Van – took a very active role in channelling humanitarian aid to refugees, particularly Yazidis. There are only three to four churches in this vast area, so their efforts have been tremendous. They have left many church activities aside to help these desperate people.