Equipping Iranians with Bible training
In a small Middle Eastern country, OneWay team members recently gathered in secret with 15 Iranian believers to teach them a new way to hide the Scripture in their heart so they could share their faith without access to a physical Bible.
These Iranians, who live under the threat of arrest or even execution for professing Christ as Savior, owning a Bible or sharing their faith, traveled across the border for a rare in-person gathering where they could talk openly about Jesus.
“They received the teaching with such enthusiasm and hunger,” explained OneWay’s Equipping Evangelist*, who led the training. “It was wonderful.”
Equipping Evangelist has long desired to encourage Christians in Iran who have limited access to Christian community and teaching.
Three years ago, an Iranian friend of Equipping Evangelist, who lives as a refugee in Turkey, began reaching out on Instagram to other Iranians. As M* shared the gospel from afar, three women came to Christ inside Iran, and she began discipling them over video calls. Since 2020, M has led 300 people to Christ, and she and her husband, A*, meet weekly with more than 100 of them online.
With the support of generous OneWay partners who provided funding to do a training session, M and A selected 15 Iranians from their weekly group to participate.
Iran is surrounded by countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan — all perilously hostile to Christianity — but Equipping Evangelist was able to arrange a secret meeting somewhere safe. None of the Iranians had ever met in person before getting on the bus.
Equipping Evangelist took them through level one of Heart Bible for the Nations, an evangelism method built on Bible storytelling. They learned to tell and teach six stories from the book of Mark, which focus on Jesus as Lord. As they practice these stories, they will not only benefit spiritually but also gain tools for sharing the gospel with other Iranians.
When they left, they left their physical Heart Bible materials behind, knowing it would be too dangerous to take Bible content back into Iran.
“It’s perfect,” Equipping Evangelist explains, “because it’s meant to be in your heart.”
The encouragement of simply being with other believers was invaluable to them. One Iranian joked, “I’m not going back!” But we pray that God will strengthen these 15 believers and surround them with encouragement in the midst of persecution back home.
If they are able to put those six stories into practice, Equipping Evangelist will return in August, Lord willing, to walk them through a second level of Heart Bible training.
* Name changed for security
PRAY
Praise God that these 15 believers could receive training and fellowship with one another!
Ask God to strengthen and surround them with encouragement in the midst of persecution back home.
Pray that God deepens their understanding of the Bible stories now in their hearts and makes a way for future training.
Pray for God to move powerfully in Iran (https://www.prayercast.com/iran.html). Pray for current events in Iran (https://www.mnnonline.org/news/iranians-seek-other-as-islamic-oppression-persists/).
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