If you want to know how it is possible for the Church of Christ to grow in a strong Muslim country like Iran then this is a book that seeks to provide an answer.
As implied by its subtitle, ‘Open Hearts in a Closed Land’, the book is in two sections. In the first part, the author deals with three ‘hostility factors’ that have made it a closed land: the glory of Islam, the return of Mahdi (as emphasised in Shi’ite Islam) and anger at the ‘Christian’ West. He goes on to show how a combination of these factors has impacted the Church in different ways, leading to restrictions and opposition.
While the first part of the book raises the question, “How come there are now many new Christians in this closed country?” the second part of the book provides the answer. The author mentions three reasons, explaining that: Iranians are deeply disillusioned with Islamic government, have a strong awareness of their non-Islamic identity, and have been attracted by the witness of the Church. These factors and others, such as the impact of satellite television, have helped to bring about church growth.
This book is a powerful demonstration of how our sovereign God overrules in the affairs of a country, doing so even in the time following the departure of missions from Iran at the time of the Revolution in 1979. The spiritual blessings and church growth taking place during this period were certainly not evident during the relative freedom of the Shah’s time and are perhaps almost unparalleled in the Middle East. Reading this book will encourage us to pray that the impact of the Gospel will continue in Iran and also to pray that we may see God working with the same power elsewhere in the Muslim World.
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