To a broadcaster, communication is the means, and connection is the goal. Our Chinese language service sets the goal to connect our listeners with God. In this report, I want to share with you how we communicate in order to help connect listeners with God in 2021.
How does God communicate with mankind? Most of you would say that today God communicates with us mainly through the Bible. To mankind in the twenty-first century, the Bible is the source we depend on to get to know God and to learn of his messages. The Bible as it is, in God’s eyes, is sufficient and effective in enabling readers and listeners to know him and know his will. In short, the Bible is God’s communication.
Therefore, first and foremost, the Chinese language service puts the audio Chinese Bible front and center in our radio program and on our website. During the ten hours of the daily Chinese broadcast, seven hours are allocated to read Chinese Bible in its sequence, about ninety chapters daily. In addition to the Bible program, we broadcast three hours of Chinese daily programs which are produced in magazine format.
World Christian Broadcasting is the only shortwave radio, if not the only international broadcaster, that broadcasts God’s word in Mandarin Chinese in such vast quantity daily. In less than two weeks, listeners get to hear the entire Bible on shortwave radio. Besides that, we live stream the Chinese Bible reading 24/7 on the internet. Every three days we read through the Bible one time. This service is available on our website.
We let God communicate with listeners himself. We are the voice of God for the Chinese-speaking people. We help secure for the Chinese-speaking people worldwide the accessibility to God’s communication by reading his entire word every day. This is the first thing we do to connect listeners with God.
The second thing, listeners first connect with God when they understand and appreciate God’s word. To facilitate that end we share Christian ministries’ understanding and commentary. In addition, our staff members facilitate realization of how relevant God’s word is by relating it to our personal lives and to what is happening around the world today. Some segments are studies by topics, some are word studies, some are reflections based on one Bible verse, others are series of studies such as Bible Books. In this category, Edward Short, Williams Chen, Edward Ho, and other guests have together produced a wealth of f biblical studies.
Secondly, listeners would want to connect with God even more intimately when they personally walk with God. To encourage such outcome, we invite individual Christians to share their walk with Jesus in writing or by interview. Their pursuit of a genuine relationship with God, prayerfully, would encourage desire among listeners to begin their pursuit of walking with God. Both Salina and Shumei produce Christian testimony which is a treasure of a loving relationship between individual Christians and God. This type of program proves to be most powerful and effective in shortening the distance between listeners and God.
We realize each person is in his or her own stage of life where the pace of each one’s interest in knowing God is different from others. For those casual and accidental listeners we just hope to retain them by providing information of personal improvement, prayers offered for their benefit, and music entertainment that might be pleasing to their ears. Hopefully, some of our program segments would occasionally touch their heart. About prayers for example, a series of prayers produced by Andy Baker and Edward Short is of this nature. In addition, an on-going prayer session is offered for various people, including the Chinese of different communities, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
To close this issue report, again, we thank you for your interest, encouragement, prayers, and support to our ministry. You are a vital part and strength of our humble efforts. We do appeal to your continuous prayers for our listeners and website visitors on a daily basis, that God will help make connection with each one as he or she listens to our radio program and reads scripts on the Chinese website. May God bring them back to him through our combined efforts. May God bless you and your family.
