Ministry Update 2021
Praise and prayer report from Christian History Institute
Even amid a year of incredible challenges, we find ourselves with much to celebrate! We may never again take for granted simple blessings like greeting family members with a warm hug, meeting a friend for a cup of coffee, or singing praises with other believers. We rejoice with the apostle Paul who wrote:
Isn’t it just like our God to do immeasurably more than we finite humans can imagine? When we restarted Christian History magazine as a donation-based publication, we could not have imagined we’d still be publishing ten years later, going on our 42nd issue! Thanks to support from faithful readers like you, many senior citizens on fixed incomes, college students with little or no income, and even people who are incarcerated receive Christian History for free.
In 2021 we’ve covered the Bible’s influence on America’s founding, the Christian origins of higher education, and the influential relationships in C. S. Lewis’s life. We’ll finish the year with a look at how Christians have sought to “live in the world but not of it” in civic and political affairs. And we’re already working on the first issue for 2022, a history of faith healings from the early church to today.
When the Christian film industry underwent seismic shifts that put the DVD market in peril, we could not imagine how our little non-profit would continue to share our vast collection of faith-based videos. But God provided a way. We launched Redeem TV in May 2020 as a response to the global pandemic lockdowns, not knowing if we could find enough interest and donors to sustain it.
I am humbled and encouraged that through Redeem TV our film ministry has expanded! Thanks to donations from faithful viewers, more than 2,000 films are now streaming for free worldwide. Nearly 150,000 Redeem TV subscribers have logged more than a million views in 200 countries! Imagine with me a family in Central America viewing Torchlighters in their own language or believers in Asia watching Hudson Taylor: Into the Heart of the Dragon. The animated feature The Pilgrim’s Progress is now available on Redeem TV in 28 different languages and reaching people worldwide!
Our animated Torchlighters collection now includes 21 heroes of the faith for children ages 8–12, including our newest episodes on Mary Slessor and John Newton. We’re hard at work on the story of Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, for release in 2022. Find them all on Redeem TV!
2022 also marks Christian History’s 40th anniversary. To celebrate, we’re planning a special, enlarged issue of our magazine that will overview 2000 years of Christian history in pictures.
If you have not donated yet this year, would you prayerfully consider supporting our work?
With your ongoing support, we at Christian History Institute look forward to God’s leading in 2022. We pray that God will also bless you beyond your imagination!
Many Blessings,
