What We Can Learn from the Church in Iran

The church in Iran is widely believed to be the fastest growing church in the world.

You can read about the church here.

What can we learn from the church in Iran?

First, we need to emphasize making disciples. The article said the church in Iran grows from individual believers making disciples. It does not grow from buildings, budgets, or evangelistic meetings. We obviously need to recover our own responsibility to teach others “to observe all things I have commanded you.” One Christian leader said “converts” will run in the face of opposition but “disciples” would die for the Lord in persecution.

Second, we need to emphasize Scripture and its purpose. In Iran, people don’t read the Scripture to get information. They read it for transformation. They read the Bible to meet God. The church in Iran teaches obedience-based discipleship. “It is based on the authority of Scripture and every time you read the Scripture you must obey it. This is how people become conformed to the image of Christ and sanctified.”

Fourth, we need to emphasize prayer. We certainly don’t need to study other churches to know the primacy of prayer, but we need to emphasize what we already know. ” ‘Everything is foundational on prayer. We find people of peace through prayer. We even find locations through prayer,’ the Iranian church leader noted.”

Fifth, we need to emphasize the value and importance of every believer. We are all one in Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. God uses each of us according to our gifts. The article in the Christian Post mentioned that women make up about 55% of the disciple makers. It mentions that these are gentle, kind women who are fierce in their trust and belief.

Iran does not have “clergy;” it only has believers who are faithful to God. We need to get back to the New Testament teaching that we all are called to make disciples.

In summary, we can learn to be people of prayer and obedience who follow Christ and make Him known to the people around us. As we would say, “it’s not rocket science,” but it is obedience and faith.

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