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St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 Organization Response Address # Courses Offered (*) # of Persons Enrolled % Muslims # Persons finished a course % Muslims Evangelistic Center Beirut 1 600 200 Fellowship Baptist Church Tripoli 1 2,000 The Conversion Center Beirut 1 1,900 Anonymous Beirut 1 Radio School of the Bible Marseille 5 (1) 80,600 95% 11,170 95% Gospel Missionary Union Malaga 6 (5) 43,000 100% Mideast Baptist Mission Alexandria 2 2,400 Operation Mobilization Amman 8 (2) 500 10% (*) the figure in brackets signifies the number of courses specially designed for Muslims Figure 1. BCC’s in the Arab world in 1969 In 1970, RSB received 9,722 new requests for BCC’s. Most people who enrolled did not finish the course, and from many the first lesson was never received. That is clear as RSB reported that 4,384 students returned lessons in 1970. During that year, 2,813 courses were completed. Between January and October 1970, RSB faced a reduction of 50 percent in student enrollment ‘because of the censoring of mail’ in North Africa. In November and December enrollment picked up again, as ‘envelopes were now hand addressed and mailed from several different post offices. Reports have come from North Africa of arrest, destruction of Bibles and all manner of persecution,’ RSB reported. 159 In its news magazine in 1972, RSB reported that about 600 new students began with BCC every month, but that the same number also discontinued. The average student was in touch with RSB for about 5 months in this period. 160 The situation must have been confusing for RSB. The fact that it received no mail back from some students did not mean students had not filled in their lessons and returned the mail. ‘BCC students are called to police stations for questioning and find that officials have regularly been reading their letters. They are warned not to continue. Some wish to continue but no longer get any mail,’ RSB wrote in 1973. Active student enrollment dropped from a peak of 4,300 in 1969 to 2,000 by January 1973. 161 During Ramadān 1972, RSB received 101 letters from North Africa based on its radio broadcasts. RSB was glad with that response. From Morocco it received 31 letters, from Algeria 11, from Tunisia 45, and from Libya 14. The response from Tunisia made RSB speak about a ‘revival of interest,’ as Tunisia had a much smaller population than Algeria and Morocco. The response from Libya was also considered high. 162 1975 was ‘one of the best years for radio response,’ RSB wrote. Until October 1,200 letters were received. Assuming that from October to December the ratio was similar, it is safe to assume RSB received 1,500 letters based on its radio programs in 1975. 163 An interesting conclusion regarding the BCC’s in 1975 was that there was an ‘unmistakable shift toward Arabic as the preferred language 159 RSB No. 1 (1971). 160 RSB News No. 2 (1972). 161 ‘Radio– Todays open doors’, in RSB News No. 1 (1973). 162 Ibid. 163 ‘F.W.M. Regional Superintendent’s Report to Field Council (November 1975)’, p. 1, St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 23
St Francis Magazine Vol 9, No 4 | August 2013 for those enrolling.’ 164 This was a reversal of the situation at the beginning of the BCC’s of NAM. RSB had always offered its BCC’s in MSA and French. The shift to MSA in 1975 showed how, after decolonization, students were now more Arabized. In Tunisia and Morocco two generations had now gone through Arabic public education since independence, while in Algeria one generation had finished. French was no longer the first language of instruction in schools. When during 1975 some financial cutbacks were discussed, it was decided unwise to save money by doing fewer broadcasts over TWR. ‘Such a measure would probably reduce listener response to almost zero since most of our response comes from [those].’ 165 This means that NAM knew that it received hardly any response for its SW broadcast on ELWA, Family Radio and IBRA. 5.2 Years of Increase: 1978-1982 In September 1977, RSB began its new broadcasts over TWR, with three programs of 30 minutes each week instead of six programs of 15 minutes. Since the beginning of those broadcasts, RSB noted an increase in audience response. During the whole year, a total of 1,055 letters were received. In May 1978, 196 letters were received: 174 from North Africa, 6 from the Middle East, 16 from Europe. 166 RSB also saw how in Europe and the USA telephone was used for audience relationships. ‘The members of the radio department [of RSB] desire to have this kind of contact with listeners throughout the Arab world, but circumstances are such that direct contact through telephone is not possible’, NAM published in its Frontline magazine. 167 A comparison between the figures as given by RSB and those of MMC show how carefully all interpretation should be made. As all mail received for the common series of programs went to Marseille, and MMC received roughly 50 percent of that, the figures of both organizations should be about equal. Both were convinced that almost all response they received came through the common TWR broadcasts. It seems that RSB used the total number of letters it received, both for its own and for MMC’s programs, for reporting purposes. That is likely as RSB figures are, roughly speaking, twice as high as the figures given by MMC. It may also mean that RSB included its repeat response, while MMC maybe only reported unique response. It has not been possible to clarify this matter. Because of this, not too much attention ought to be paid to the finer details of the figures. It is more important to use them for understanding general trends. In 1978 RSB received 2,061 letters. Vishnanoff assumed that the magazine format program he had started had ‘hundreds of thousands of listeners’. That was impossible to know, however. In 1979 2,748 letters were received. Hundreds of those writers wanted to meet with a Christian, NAM wrote. The nightly Arabic programs over TWR on RMC-MC were seen as ‘almost too successful.’ NAM reported that there were not enough people to follow up these enquirers in North Africa. 168 It seems that the increased response to these programs compared with the response to the six programs of 15 minutes that RSB had had before, was due to the switch from SW to MW broadcasting in prime time with TWR. Maybe the new format was also better at eliciting response. 169 In 1980 3,813 letters were received. Most response came from Algeria, closely followed by Morocco then Tunisia, few from Libya, Egypt, France and Europe. Some letters came from the Middle East. The letters were mainly from young men between 16 and 25 years old. Only 5 percent came from women. 170 In 1980, RSB published that, since it began with BCC’s in the early 1960s, it had received 160,000 applications for enrollment in its BCC’s in MSA. RSB had 1,150 ‘active students’ in Arabic and 240 in French in 1980. Every month 250-300 students applied, but many of those never became ‘active 164 Ibid. 165 Ibid., p. 2. 166 ‘They said it!’, in Frontline (September 1978), p. 11. 167 Ibid. 168 ‘Radio School of the Bible’, in Cross & Crescent (Winter 1981), p. 12. William Bell, ‘Radio! From small beginnings…’, in Frontline (September 1978), p. 5. 169 Francis Rue Steele, ‘Breakthrough in Radio’, in The Cross and the Crescent (Fall 1977). 170 Mary Harris, ‘But Who Hears Us’, in Frontline (September 1980), pp. 6-7. St Francis Magazine is published by Arab Vision and Interserve 24
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