RFE/RL - 15 July 2002
Posted 15 July 2002 on Religioscope

The first Russian-language, Christian-oriented satellite television channel began broadcasting on 15 July, RosBalt and other Russian news agencies reported the same day.

More information at end of the report...

The channel, called the New Life Channel (CNL), will initially broadcast for six hours each day and can be received in 74 countries including most of Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, as well as all of Russia and Europe.

"CNL is the first television channel that will transmit the good news of Jesus Christ by satellite in Russian," CNL Director Maksim Maksimov was quoted by RosBalt as saying. The project is not connected with the Russian Orthodox Church. (RC)

The First Free-to-air Christian Satellite Digital TV Channel is on air! And starting July 15, 2002 the Channel will be available daily from 18:00 to 24:00 Moscow time or from 16:00 to 22:00 CET. The footprint of the HotBird™ 13 deg. East satellite includes 74 countries of the world.

To reach 300 million Russian-speaking people of over 100 different nationalities throughout the world with the gospel through satellite and cable television broadcasting.

We chose to broadcast in Russian because in the world today there is no Christian satellite channel in the Russian language. Today there are 300 million people in the world who speak Russian, especially from the former Soviet Union, who are now living in Israel, Germany, Greece, the Czech Republic, Turkey and many other European and Middle Eastern countries. Some of these people profess Orthodox Christianity or Islam. Our desire is to lead them to Jesus.
How is it possible to realize our goal? Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, all of these people have one thing in common - they speak Russian. Today television is the most effective means for spreading the gospel. We have decided to unite these two things to reach millions of people with the Good News.

Our Asian office of CNL in Almaty is in the center of the Islamic world. If you look at a map you will see that Almaty is one hour by air from China, and at the doorstep of India, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia.

Our task is to support churches in the Islamic world and also to bring the Gospel into China.

Q: Which denomination is CNL associated with?
A: We don't give priority to any denomination and CNL itself is not associated with any one denomination. CNL has a Christian evangelical focus. The only purpose of our broadcasting is to fulfill God's Word: "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations…" (Matt. 24:14).

Q: When people inquire of CNL which church they should attend, what do you recommend?
A: First we will recommend going to the evangelistic churches that are partnering with CNL. If one of our partner churches does not exist in the inquirer's area, we will recommend evangelical churches that we know of that are located near the person.

Q: So if someone watches CNL, does he need to go to church?
A: Yes. CNL is not a substitute for church. We encourage people to attend their local church. Our goal is to help churches to grow. CNL will, however, also serve as a resource for those who are unable to attend church, because of serious disability or for those who live in an area of the world in which a church has not yet been established.