Missouri Baptist and Southern Baptist leaders alike have called for prayer amid rising conflicts in the Middle East. God has been moving in Iran for many years, and He is continuing to work for the salvation of men and women in the region.
Last year, as tensions with Iran began to rise, I spoke with my friend Ayman Ibrahim, who serves as a professor of Islamic Studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Christianity is expanding in the region, he told me.
“I know that Christians are growing in number in Iran, but we have no real significant statistics,” he said. “We don’t know if it is 5 million,”—a high estimate according to some—”or more, or less. I don’t know. However, we know that Muslims in Iran are abandoning Islam in droves. Some of those … are running to Christ. There is no doubt about that. And I know that the church in Iran, even if it’s persecuted and it’s marginalized, they are doing a very good job.”
Screenshot of IMB map
In 2022, Ibrahim wrote an article for The Gospel Coalition that may help us get a picture of the spiritual state in Iran—and, potentially, of the opportunity for gospel impact in the region:
“Consider Iran’s Muslims: In September 2020, findings from an academic study of Iran’s secular shift appeared in The Conversation. Droves of Iranians are abandoning Islam. While Iran’s official census claims 99.5 percent of the population is Muslim, the survey found only 40 percent of Iranians identified as Muslim. If true, this suggests Iran may no longer be a Muslim-majority country.”
Another friend of mine, who is also a Missouri Baptist church member, leads Concilium, Inc. (I won’t name him here for security reasons.) This organization provides training for missionary efforts across the globe—with particular focus on building “sustainability and longevity into global mission,” even amid the chaotic circumstances that sometimes arise around the globe. The Concilium team has been active in the aftermath of the Iran conflict.
On social media, he testified to the challenges and opportunities that may arise in days and years to come: “The situation in the Middle East is complex with high stakes. But in the midst of the chaos there is a unity as Great Commission agencies work together to support their people in the field, coordinate evacuations, and make plans to capitalize on future opportunities.”
Another colleague and friend, Martin Winslow, Missions Mobilization team leader for the Missouri Baptist Convention, shared with me about believers who have labored to share Christ with the people of Iran in the United States and across the globe. Not all can reach out so directly to the people of Iran, but everyone can pray, and this is exactly what Winslow is asking Missouri Baptists to do.
“All of our churches need to pray that, after the destruction of the oppressive Iranian regime, freedom in Christ and freedom of religion would come to these precious people,” he said.
The International Mission Board is likewise calling for prayer, and they have created a prayer guide to help us as we pray: https://imb.world/3MVKLty. Please check out this link, download the prayer guide, and pray that God’s kingdom would come among the people of Iran and that God’s will would be done on earth as in heaven.
Also, please read the column on Iran by Philip Hopkins. He is well-informed on the subject, and his article provides insightful background for us as we try to think about current events from a well-informed, biblical worldview.
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Whenever tensions and conflict arise in our own nation or around the globe, I’m reminded of what the Lord told Baruch the scribe in Jeremiah 45. I’m drawn to Baruch—perhaps, because (like myself) Baruch made his living with the pen; and, perhaps, because he (like myself) could sometimes be self-absorbed.
In Jeremiah 45, the Lord speaks to Baruch, who has been lamenting his difficulties. Here is what God tells him: “What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot—the whole land! But as for you, do you pursue great things for yourself? Stop pursuing! For I am about to bring disaster on all humanity …” (v. 4-5).
I’m reminded that, in our own day just as in Baruch’s day, God continues to raise up and uproot nations and kingdoms. God alone is sovereign over the nations, and His purposes will stand.
I’m also reminded that I need to check my heart often. As the brother of famed missionary C.T. Studd once said, alluding to this passage: “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”