And the good news is...

Acts isn't the only book in the New Testament to provide insight into what life was like for the early followers of Jesus. Look at the stories documented by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who could be considered the first Christian reporters. The fact that each of them tells the same story from a different angle, with different emphases and even slightly different quotes from our Lord, is helpful in a profession where balance, honesty and objectivity are paramount.

The truth is that we all look at life through our own filters. We hear things through our own ears, and what we hear, or see, might be different from what another person hears or sees. It's true in every-day, private life, and it's true in a very public way in journalism.

Society changed

The reason we have Christian newspapers and magazines in Canada is that there is woefully inadequate coverage of the church, and the church's issues, in the secular media. A century ago, Toronto's daily newspaper had front-page headlines about missionary meetings, conversions and sermons. As society changed, becoming more multi-cultural, more pluralistic and more secular, so did the media. Although the church still has a prominent role in many Canadian communities, we can no longer expect the media to pay a lot of attention to it.

That was clear almost 30 years ago when a special Senate committee headed by Keith Davey reported on mass media in Canada. In The Uncertain Mirror the committee noted that: The church editors believe also that the need for a religious press is greater now, in a world of rapidly changing values, than it was in a former age of stability and security. They have scant admiration for the lay press which in their view deals with basic religious issues in superficial terms. Dr. [A.C.] Forrest [then editor of The United Church Observer] told an interviewer that if the newspapers covered religion as effectively as they cover sports, "they'd run us out of business. And I'd like to see that happen."

Obviously, it hasn't happened yet.

So we in the faith-based media carry on, telling the story of the church in Canada, its travels and trials, people, events and issues. We have the ears to hear those stories; we see the stories through the filter of those who recognize the importance of a relationship with Christ.

And the good news is . . .

1. We have the freedom to do this in Canada. We are allowed to write, publish, print, and in other ways tell Canadians how God is working in our church.

2. Our news is based on The Good News. The Good News is that Christ died for each of us in order to give us life. The Good News-the gospel-is a story that involves violence and suffering, betrayal and death, as well as resurrection, redemption and joy. So if we tell the story of the church, we have to portray it as fully and honestly as we know how, with suffering and betrayal as well as redemption and joy.

Back in early 1981 I was concluding a year of publicity work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Darwin, Australia, when a prayer request came for a young American Wycliffe missionary, Chet Bitterman, who had been kidnapped by guerrillas in Colombia.

Wycliffe's policy was not to give in to terrorist demands, and so, just after I returned to Canada, I watched the news on TV that Bitterman had been killed. The next morning I went to church in Vancouver, where we sang a song from Romans 10:15-"How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!"

It was a song I loved, but I puzzled at it that morning. What loveliness? What good news? Eventually I came to realize that there is beauty in the faithfulness of those who take the Good News-the best news of all-to people in the mountains and on the prairies and in the cities. Even when it's at great cost.

A report from Philip Wood of WEC International describes a summer visit to Turkey, where Wood and others were handing out copies of the "In¨il" (New Testament). While there, the group studied the book of Acts, noticing "the striking parallel between the land in Paul's time and Turkey today."

Wood says a small but growing church is showing signs of life despite opposition. "Its leaders have been beaten and imprisoned as in apostolic times, and just as Paul's jailer realized he was the one who had broken the law in chaining a Roman citizen, so court cases today have proven that Christians in Turkey have not broken the law in presenting Christ as they have."

Wood points out that Paul's missionary journeys "resulted in an explosive growth of the church in Turkey, and there were enormous numbers of churches up until the Middle Ages." The arrival of Islam changed that, the churches declined and Christians were massacred at the beginning of this century.

"But now one sees an exciting new era of church growth," Wood writes. "Life has returned to at least three of the seven churches of Revelation-three towns where small groups of believers and seekers have started to meet together regularly."

Now that's good news: I can feel it in my bones.

Debra Fieguth
Associate editor