Twice a week for fifteen minutes people all across North Africa who have their short wave radios tuned to the frequency used by TWR for Arabic language programming can listen to a program that is produced by North Africa Venture.

The program is written in a dialect of Arabic that can be understood by listeners across a broad area of Western North Africa.  In order to ensure a more effective communication of the message all of the programs are written and voiced by a North African national who was born and raised in a small North African town.

The messages presented on the program are topical and are intended to give a Biblical perspective to current events and areas of felt needs in the lives of young people in North Africa.  To reinforce the message presented a Christian song in Arabic is included in each program.

The intended audience of the radio programs are young adults who are searching for meaning, hope and truth in life.  The topics presented are of common interest to both men and women.

During the course of the program a postal address is provided for those listeners who desire to receive additional information or materials.  When possible a phone number is also provided for people to call.

There is no way of knowing for sure how many people are listening to the programs each week but estimates by TWR put the number in the thousands.  Regardless of exactly how many are listening we do know that many lives are being impacted.  Each week letters come in to the North Africa Venture correspondence center from radio listeners.

Here is an example of one such letter… "My dear friends, I want to tell you that I have had many problems from many people who saw me receiving your Bible courses and these friends told me to cut these courses and throw them away.
"But God revealed to me through your radio programs that Jesus Christ came to save and I opened my heart to receive Jesus. I am still listening to your radio programs. I am 46 years old and I am happy with Jesus, thank you.”

Printing press, Radio, Television, World Wide Web – technological advances that have extended the reach of information.  All of these have also be instrumental in further advancing the gospel and helping grow the church.  The World Wide Web, or just Web for short, combines the written word of the printing press, the audio of the radio and the visual image of television into the most influential medium now in existence.  

Even though it is practically indispensable, the Web has not really been around all that long.  Here is a basic timeline of the World Wide Webs short history…

1990    World Wide Web comes into existence

1993    First graphical browser (Mosaic) is launched

1994    Yahoo launched

1995    Amazon, Ebay and Craigslists launched

1998    Google starts

2001    Wikipedia´s first post

2002    Blogs start becoming popular

2003    Skype beta launched

2004    Beta versions of Yahoo mail and Gmail released

2004    Facebook started

2005    Podcasts emerge

2005    YouTube created

2005    Google Earth

2006    Mobile Web for cell phones

I got most of these dates from an article on MSN…

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=5586501&page=1

The rest came from Wikipedia articles.

These technological advances are having a significant impact on the spread of Christian “Information” in places where access to such information is restricted.  Books can be outlawed, radio frequencies can be jammed but the internet is practically impossible to control.

More than ever before the world is experiencing the free flow of information.  Of course the percentage of people with access to the internet is much higher in developed countries but the developing countries are also moving into the cyberage at a rapid pace.  It is now quite common for immigrants in Europe to video conference with their families back home over Skype at a cybercafe.

For a number of years now Christian groups and individuals have been taking advantage of each of these new technologies as they have appeared (as have other religious movements).  These sites are being used to provide education, discipleship, personal enrichment, friendship, match making, etc. and to bring the message of the gospel to those who are not Christians.

Since 2005 North Africa Venture has been developing several Arabic language websites.  Content such as Bible study lessons, audio messages, articles and surveys in Arabic are being made available to any Arabic speaker in the world with access to the Web.

North Africa Venture is an outreach ministry based in Spain but focused primarily on reaching out to the 84 million Arabic speakers that live in Western North Africa and Europe.  Spain’s historical connection and geographical proximity to North Africa make it a strategic place from which to operate.

While Arabic is not the original language of North Africa it is, and has been for many centuries, the predominant language.  It was introduced in the eighth century by the Arab invaders who swept across North Africa on a wave or religious conquest that was not turned back until well into Southern France.  Today very few North Africans remain who cannot at least get by in Arabic.  Approximately half of the population of North Africa has Arabic as its mother tongue.  The remaining half is divided up into different native languages often referred to as “Berber”. These people groups are exposed to Arabic in the school systems, the media and by everyday dealings with Arabic speakers.



Since 2005 North Africa Venture has been developing ways to make the message of the Bible available to North African Arabic speakers.  Radio programs that were written, voiced and produced by North Africans was the first venture to be employed as a large scale outreach tool.  Broadcast over a powerful medium wave transmitter the programs can be heard over a very large area.



For those who responded to the radio broadcasts a series of basic Bible study lessons where chosen to be used as a correspondence course.  In addition to radio listeners other means were used to make the study program more widely known throughout North Africa.

In time requests for courses and other resources began coming in to correspondence center from North Africans and other Arabic speakers from a number of countries.  To better handle the increased demand a website was set up to offer the radio programs, Bible lessons and other resources online.  Like all the other ventures, this too was done in the Arabic language.



North Africa Venture has also participated in summer outreach projects that have as their primary goal the distribution of New Testaments and related materials to the three million North Africans who travel through Spain each summer.

The latest ministry venture to be developed by North Africa Venture is a community center for immigrants.  The center was set up to provide practical help to those immigrants who are in need.  The center provides language classes in Spanish, English and Arabic.  Computer literacy and job skills are also offered as well as periodic seminars relating to culture, health, education etc.

Through all of these efforts North Africa Venture strives to serve the national believers in Northern Africa and to partner with them in fulfilling the Great Commission.