Training Iranian church leaders for ministry is not an easy task – there are at least three tight ropes that those involved have to overcome. First, there is the logistical tight rope, balancing the need for training with the need for security. On this rope if you get the ‘who to be trained and the where to be trained wrong’ there can be a nasty fall. Then there is the spiritual tight rope where new believers come...
The love of Christ for Iran and beyond.
Reaching Iran
Tuesday, November 03rd, 2009
When a Christian leader does not study, the congregation, whether in a house or building, is not well fed. And for study, there must be good books, but these cannot be published in Iran. The printing of all Christian literature in Persian, the language of the majority, is strictly illegal. So this responsibility falls to the wider church committed to reaching Iran. It is an expensive business that needs the eye of...
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Imagine you have been led to faith on the phone by a friend in another country and you have experienced the joy of Jesus in your heart and have a longing to read the Scriptures and hear more. But you have no Bible in the house and you have no idea where to buy one. All you know is that Bibles are banned. And you only know there are churches for Armenians and Assyrians who hold services in their own language which...
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
Though 25% of Iranians are Azeris – ethnically Turks - they are very well integrated into Iran and are represented in all walks of life. Indeed the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, is half Azeri. And though they have their own spoken language, Azeris have the same passion for the Persian language that all Iranians have. Persian is the only language they read. Due to this integration translating the Scriptures into...
Monday, October 05th, 2009
Such is the success of Satellite TV in giving people an opportunity to learn about Christianity that the government has made their own film which attempts to warn people of the danger of tuning in the Christian channels. It would seem the warning is not being heeded as Satellite TV agencies are growing – increasing their output, taking on more staff, and most crucially seeing an increase in the number of people...
Monday, September 28th, 2009
There are about five million Kurds in Iran, the rest of the 20 million are mainly either in Turkey or Iraq. In Iran there are some reports of Kurds coming to faith in Christ, but in terms of church growth, much more seems to have been happening in northern Iraq. It might well be that their faith will impact their kinsmen in Iran, as the Gospel in the East often moves along family networks. This is to be prayed for...
Friday, September 18th, 2009
There is a Christian book famine in Iran. The West has hundreds of thousands of titles; the Arabic world thousands; but for highly literate Iran, there are just a few hundred titles. Despite a chronic lack of investment by the wider church in this area, some agencies have managed to expand the list in recent years, so now for example Iranians can read some C.S. Lewis classics - over fifty years after their...
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
Bringing the Christian message to Iranians through the internet has had a major impact. However there are challenges, as Iran’s internet is one of the most tightly controlled in the world. All web traffic comes to the state owned Data Communication Company which means the government can virtually switch off the whole system, as happened in the immediate aftermath of the disputed June election. However the country’s...
Wednesday, September 02nd, 2009
When a country closes, churches in neighboring countries become more important, and their freedom, however limited, should not be taken for granted. This is certainly true for Iran, where most of the surrounding countries could become even more restrictive in the coming months. Afghanistan is still closed; Pakistan is fighting anti Christian militants; apart from Dubai, all the Gulf countries are very restrictive;...
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
The summer holidays are ending so this is the week when visitors to Iran from the Diaspora will be going back to mainly Europe and the USA and likewise visitors from Iran to the Diaspora will be returning home. There will be new members of Jesus’ family travelling in both directions; they now need to remain faithful at home. And some of the Christians visiting Europe and the USA will have been to conferences. They...
Monday, August 17th, 2009
Since the uproar over the election results last month, the government’s attempts to impose an information blackout have severely disrupted Christian ministries using satellite TV and the internet. There have been reports that some channels have been unavailable for weeks. But the DVD is, of course, unaffected, and these days thousands of DVD’s of the Jesus film are being made available and are a crucial tool for...
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
Diaspora Christians in the US and Europe are in the middle of Iranian church conference season. And they are great occasions. They tend to have a packed schedule, as believers are keen to make the most of their days together. Worship is fervent, fellowship intense, and the teaching nearly always challenging. Hundreds would testify to renewing their relationship with God through these conferences, some to starting...
Monday, July 27th, 2009
Tempting though it is for international Christians to speculate over the outcome of the ongoing political crisis in Iran, there is precious little they can do apart from praying – and making sure Iranians have access to the Bible, or at least the New Testament. This means sacrificially giving, and interceding for those involved in the dangerous job of getting Scriptures to Iran where the printing of the Bible and...
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
It has got easier to phone Iran, but the internet is still often down severly hampering outreach. This blackout is a good reminder that still the most important resource for the church is 'living letters'
of trained leaders, and Scriptures in the hands of the church.
Training Christians face to face is virtually impossible inside the country, but a number of ministries operate short term courses outside. It is...
Tuesday, July 07th, 2009
International phone lines and access to the internet have been severely restricted as the government tries to control the news leaving Iran while protests against the election results continue. This has impacted Christian agencies reaching out to Iran, especially satellite TV programmes that rely on the phone and the internet for follow up.
While viewers cannot now easily contact the counselors, the programmes are...
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