Taking into considerations the various forces that will oppose the gospel, Jesus assured us that He will build His church and the gates of hell shall NOT prevail against it. That makes missions research and reports not to be stories of woes only. It is true that the devil fights so hard to stop the advance of the gospel but it is also true that the devil does not have the final say.
Missions research today have it that 29 countries have less than 1% of their population that are believers. A lot of them are closed to the gospel. Most of them They are not only close to the gospel but are dangerous to enter. Some includes: Algeria, Bhutan, Iran, Maldives, North Korea, Sahara and Somalia. There others where tent-making ministry are possible: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Comoros, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya and some others that are open to Christian witness. They include: Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Thailand and Turkey.
For some mission practitoners, there should be no phrase like closed doors since Jesus had decleared that the gate of hells cannot stand the advance of the gospel. We are trully beginning to see Jesus pronouncement coming to pass speedily in two of the most resistant countries Algeria and Iran. They are stories of Jesus building His church himself. In 1930, Raymond Lull, a French missionary went to Algeria for missionary work. He was killed. The church did not give. Many more persons were drafted into the land. They gave themselves to prayers. They also mobilised the church to pray. Today, the story is different. Many Algerians are turning to the Lord.
In the early 1960s, just two decades before Iran would become completely close to mission work, a team of American missionaries began a work among the Persian Armenian community in Tehran. Most of these Armenians were the descendants of a forced exile to Iran in 1604 under the Shah Abbas. Over the centuries they developed a unique culture, dialect and appearance as they assimilated with their host nation. The missionaries' recognized the potential for these Persian Armenians to serve as a “bridge-people” between Islam and Christianity, and so began work among them with this in mind. This spirit-led hunch turned out to be correct. One of the first five disciples of the Armenian missionary team was a man named Havik Hovespian.
In late 1960s he received a call from God to go as a missionary to the northern province of Mazandaran with the specific purpose of starting a work among Muslims. Though he was officially commissioned by the church in Tehran for this purpose, his burden for Muslims was one that few Persian Armenians shared or understood at that time. Most believed he was wasting his time. However, by 1976, after about eight years of labouring, five house churches had been established with around 20muslims background believers.
In the year 2000, Christian satellite broadcasting began beaming the gospel to almost every home in Iran. This was made possible by the fact that millions of satellite dishes have been illegally smuggled into Iran by corrupt members of the same government that had outlawed them. The Christian satellite programs became a lifeline for the church in Iran. This growth has happened so fast that the underground church can keep apace. In one example, a house church that began with two persons several years ago has now multiplied into over twenty groups. The Frontier Magazine reported:“Starting churches in Iran is easy! Everywhere you go to evangelize people are ready to receive the gospel, or they have already become believers through satellite broadcast” Training leaders is also easy remarks another Christian leader remarked a Christian leader.
The government has left the young people with nothing to do. So believers spend time with one another everyday. They are constantly gathering for prayer, bible study and evangelism. When a group reaches 25 people, they divide in half and begin again. Within two years a new believer is expected to become a leader of a new house fellowship and a disciple of new leaders. One lady who has personally distributed 20,000 bibles, says never once did anyone turn her down. Rather the vast majority received it as the greatest treasure they had ever been given. Without any doubt, the move of the Holy Spirit in Iran is evidence of that ultimate and enduring reality.
When Jesus build His Church, the gate of hells cannot prevail against it! Pray along with us that what God is doing in Algeria and Iran will be extended to all the closed countries, the 68 countries in the 10/40 window and the world over.
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