(April 8, 2011 - by Harold Goerzen) It seemed only natural that the Africa by Radio (ABR) executive committee would meet in Ethiopia in late March. Ethiopia is home to 85 indigenous groups, some of which still don't have any Christian broadcasts in their native languages.

ABR is an association of international Christian broadcasting organizations committed to giving all Africans the opportunity to turn on their radios and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in languages they can understand and to become responsible members of His church.

At least five Christian recording studios in the capital, Addis Ababa, are being used to produce programs in more than 10 languages (such as Somali, Amharic, Tigrinya, Gurage, Oromo and Afar) that air on government stations and on various shortwave outlets. Three languages are also broadcast via the Internet to Ethiopians around the world, said Lee Sonius, director of HCJB Global's Sub-Saharan Africa Region.

Staff members at one of the recording studios "receive literally thousands of handwritten letters per month," he added. "The letters are asking questions about the Bible and many of them are asking for prayer."

While Ethiopian authorities allow "toned-down Christian programming" to air on government stations, this is expensive, and they still won't issue permits for Christian radio stations.

"There are no Christian radio stations in Ethiopia and only five stations on the FM band in Addis Ababa-all owned or controlled by the government," explained Sonius. "There's a real desire among the people we met with to have a Christian FM radio station but for now, that is not possible."

ABR committee members also spent two days with media associates from Ethiopia and Kenya, looking to add broadcasts in additional languages spoken in the region. "We spent a few hours going over the list of languages in Ethiopia trying to figure out where the greatest needs are and what is being done in those languages," he said.

Sonius said he was impressed to see some of the same staff members serving at the studios in Ethiopia as in 1998 when he first visited the country along with former HCJB Global presidents Ron Cline and Dave Johnson as well as Dave Pasechnik, currently one of the mission's vice presidents of international ministries.

"At that time 13 years ago we met two men who were working in recording studios," Sonius related. "I was very happy to see these two men last week at the meetings. They are still going strong in the ministry!"

Some of the key organizations involved in the recording and radio outreach are SIM, the International Mission Board (Southern Baptist Convention), FEBA Radio, IBRA and TWR. HCJB Global is partnering with the SIM recording studio.

Sources: HCJB Global, Operation World (2010 edition)