M. and I sit in the lobby of a church in Belfast. He recounts to me the many ways in which God has helped him in his journey from Iran to Northern Ireland - he knows God is with him even today. I tell him this is wonderful and ask him how he came to faith. He thinks for a moment and then says, ‘no no, I’m not a Christian, I’m not good enough yet!’ One hour later, with tears in his eyes, he finally calls himself a Christian. What changed? John 1:12 shows that all who receive Jesus are children of God. And a child does nothing to earn the title of ‘child’. He was persuaded. But the story is not over…

Our theme in this edition is ‘Multiply’. Well, the following week we agreed to meet and start a discipleship course together. The time came to begin, but we had a problem. There were two other Iranian young men we could not get rid of! They just wouldn’t leave so we could start our discipleship session. I was resigned to the fact that we would have to reschedule. But then something strange happened. I watched as M. started to teach these two men how to read the Bible and spend time with God. He shared the Gospel with them, and they were so captivated they texted him later scolding him for never having invited them to do this before.

I got to share the Gospel with M., M. got to share it with the two young men, and we trust in time they will each begin sharing with others. In the space of a week, we got to see a really exciting example of disciples multiplying.

Multiplication is a very fitting word to describe the Iranian Church and work with Iranians. There is an unprecedented growth in the underground church movement within Iran as well as among the Iranian diaspora. There is a multiplication of seekers, disciples, evangelists, teachers, pastors and churches. And with this there is a multiplication of opportunities; opportunities for evangelism and discipleship but also opportunities for Iranian believers to teach us, bless us and mould us more into the image of Jesus Christ.

To read this and more exciting stories in our latest magazine - click here

To find out more about Suzi and Noah Bartlett, who wrote this article, click here