Now in its third year of broadcast, ‘My Church’ in Algeria is reaching thousands of remote communities across North Africa, it was reported in early August.
A secluded Protestant church in the Algerian mountains has quickly grown to over 1,600 members. Daughter churches are now meeting to accommodate numbers.
Programme producer Samia Jallali Kessai is heartened by the commitment of many members: ‘In the winter, it is very difficult to find a way up to the mountains. People have to wake up at five o’clock to get transport. The church service starts at 9.30 am, but by 8 am you will find that the church is full and many cannot find a seat’.
Every Sunday SAT-7 broadcasts from the church, helps the church reach a wide audience and provides virtual fellowship for viewers. ‘My Church’ in Algeria is one of the few programmes broadcast in Berber on SAT-7 ARABIC. A viewer from Morocco said: ‘Before we start our cell-group church in my house on Sundays, we watch ‘My Church’ in Algeria because it is in Berber.’ Samia helps subtitle the recordings into Arabic: ‘We want to make it available to as many people as possible. It is particularly exciting as there are many communities in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Somalia where Berber is better understood than Arabic.’
