Religion and Spirituality

“Our House Was Converted into a Church”

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I have previously written about the amazing fact that Iran is home to the fastest growing Evangelical population in the world according to the extensive research of Operation World.  Considering that at the time of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, there were an estimated 500 total believers in Iran, compared with 1 million by conservative estimates today, it is not difficult to see the tangible expression of Operation World’s research.

Our Team Praying on the Set of Church 7
Our team praying on the set of Church 7

Due to the stifling persecution of Christians by the Iranian government and resulting reluctance of believers to trust the security of plugging into community with people they do not know, the most liberal estimates assume that 30,000 people are members of underground house churches inside Iran.

While this is worth celebrating, it is also merits noting that there are at least 970,000 believers inside Iran who have no connection to fellowship with other believers.  This is a staggering reality that must be addressed.

This June, we launched an initiative called Church 7, which is intended to concentrate on meeting the needs of these 97% of believers who desperately long for a church community.  Because of the power of Satellite TV safely and privately bring the Gospel into the homes of millions of Persians, we are able to create a church service for a nation.

Rather than broadcasting a service from an existing church with a congregation, where the viewer is simply an observer, we have a very simple set and let the viewers know that they are the church. Every Friday, which the the weekly holy day of Shia Islam and a holiday for all Iranians, we have church in Iran!

We are in the process of developing programming throughout the week that will meet the needs of the Body.  For example, on Wednesday nights, the youth will watch “gather” for youth group and watch a special program intended for their development, like any church with a Youth Ministry.  The same will be true throughout the week for Men’s and Women’s Ministry, Marriage, Singles, Children, etc…

This is a very exciting time to be engaged in Kingdom Building in Iran!

Below, I have copied a Facebook post from one of our newest Church 7 members.  I think you will be encouraged have a greater understanding of the potential of this opportunity:

Hello Dear Brother,

We thank God that after a long time we experienced being at Church.
 
Yesterday when your program started, we placed our chairs in front of the TV, put on our best clothes, brought our Bibles and sat in front of the TV. We worshiped, heard a sermon and took notes. Our house was converted into Church.
Dear brother, our spirits were lifted. I don’t know how to thank God for the fact that we now belong to a Church. Our prayers have been heard. The doors have opened. Thank you Father, thank you.
 
Please accept us as your members. 
Praise God for you. Praise for Christ who is alive.
Be strong and go forth. We are praying for you all.
We love you guys so much. I feel like we are old relatives. I feel like I have known you for many years.
 
His grace be with you now and for ever.

 

A Life Transformed: Roghiyeh’s Redemption

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Last October, I had the privilege of speaking live on the air with a troubled woman living inside Iran.  She had very recently attempted suicide and had plans to follow through with a successful bid to take her own life later that day.  She had spoken several times with one of our Counseling Center ministers over the course of few weeks, but felt that her life was worthless.  She was completely hopeless.  She called that day to apologize to our counselor and let her know that what she was about to do was not her fault.

As the Lord graciously laid out the timing, Roghiyeh called while we were broadcasting our live program.  Our counselor convinced her to speak with me on air before doing anything further.  She agreed.

What you will see is a shortened version of a 20 minute conversation, in which I struggled to convince Roghiyeh that death was not the answer.  She was actually more afraid of converting to Christianity, than death!  Islam feeds on controlling people through fear.  Roghiyeh felt trapped.

Through God’s endless grace and mercy, she was transformed before our eyes in that conversation from hopelessness, to joyful hope.

Following my conversation with Roghiyeh, you will get a very recent update on her life, which I think you will find very encouraging.