The Courageous Church in Iran

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Far from being weakened by intense Islamic persecution, the Iranian church is vibrant, resilient, and hopeful. This is how my recent guest on The Stand Radio, Lana Silk described the current situation among followers of Jesus in Iran. She was born to Iranian parents who left to begin the mission organization Transform Iran. Their goal was to strengthen the rising house church movement in Iran. Lana serves as president and CEO of Transform Iran.

“The underground church is still growing,” she said. “It is a suffering church, but also a thriving church that understands what it means to pick up the cross and follow Jesus.” These underground house churches scattered all over the country are made up of only a dozen or so people led by a pastor who is also likely a new believer.

Despite the threats that remain, these believers are overflowing with spiritual zeal. “They’re so excited!” she said. “Jesus has redeemed them and they’re experiencing this radical transformation, so they want to tell the world. They’ve already recognized this is an all-or-nothing kind of faith, and it could cost them their lives. And in that context, growth is very accelerated.” She told me that part of Transform Iran’s discipleship of these house churches involves guiding them in tempering their excitement and teaching them about using wise measures when discussing the gospel openly.

The ministry of Transform Iran is well equipped with mentors and senior pastors outside the country who take responsibility to disciple these new believers. “We meet with them regularly,” she said. “Sometimes it's on speaker with the whole group, sometimes it's with individuals. We want to make sure that we're resourcing them with discipleship tools, with teaching, and of course, just helping expound the Word of God to them. We want to help them understand what they're reading so they can be rooted in the Word.”

What about the reports that the U.S.-led war on Iran risks harming the Christians? A recent statement from the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need warned, “A new spiral of violence could push already fragile communities beyond the point of survival.” Lana Silk was surprised by that kind of sentiment. “I can’t imagine that being the case,” she said. “It is a very resilient church that has been persecuted actively for 47 years. People have been tortured, harassed, had business taken away, and martyred. If there was time for the church to back down, it would have happened by now.

You might expect that a church under persecution would be preoccupied with its own well-being. But that is far from the goal of the Iranian church. As Lana Silk explained, they have a much larger vision to be a blessing to the nations. “This has never been just about the welfare or comfort of the 90 million Iranians trapped within the borders of Iran. It's much bigger than that. We really have a sense of calling to be a sending country, to have missionaries come out of Iran, to bring the gospel to other nations, to bring peace back across that Middle Eastern region, and to restore our relationship with Israel. We’re excited to see what God will do in and through us when this regime is replaced.”

There is an enormous opportunity right now for the gospel to transform the Middle East. We need to pray diligently for the Christians in Iran that they would be comforted and strengthened in the face of opposition, and that peace would come not only to the whole country, but to Israel and the entire region as well.

In our conversation, Lana Silk mentioned one unexpected prayer need. “The Iranian church is particularly isolated right now because the government has been so much more aggressive. They pull people out randomly on streets, even raid homes, and look at the websites they've visited, what social media posts they've liked, all sorts of details to try to ascertain whether they have a leaning towards Christianity. So that's forced a lot of Christians to delete a lot of Christian content from their devices and to separate themselves from the Christian groups that they're part of.”

My interview with Lana gave me a great sense of thanksgiving for the way God is growing His church in Iran. It was also a humble reminder that the comforts of Western culture can leave us weak and apathetic. No one wants to be persecuted, but it comes with being a follower of Jesus. As He said,

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

Each of us must ask the question, ‘What am I doing with everything the Lord has entrusted to me?’ As ambassadors of Christ, we will one day give an account to Him for our stewardship and motives. That alone is a great incentive to be diligent in our discipleship and faithful ministers of His Word.

As we watch what God will do in Iran, we need to be reminded that if the very gates of hell won’t prevail against Jesus’ church, then wicked governments certainly don’t stand a chance. Like these brothers and sisters, let’s also take this opportunity to realign our vision to lay aside lesser goals and be a missionary sending church to bless the nations.

I encourage you to listen to the entire conversation with Lana Silk on the March 7^th edition of The Stand Radio.

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