At a church within the south-west of England, a young Iranian receives an easy-to-read Bible in modern Persian. He cannot consider it. ‘If they see you holding a Bible like this in Iran,’ he says, ‘they kill you.’
Bible Society is understood for international Bible translation and distribution, however the story that inspired its founding 220 years ago (Mary Jones and her Welsh Bible) involved providing Scriptures inside Britain in a non-English language. Today, while Bible Society stays the essential publisher of the Scriptures resources in Welsh, multilingual domestic outreach also means putting the Bible within the hands of refugees.
Not everyone seems to be passionate about latest arrivals on this country. Increasing numbers in recent times are remarkable at the least statistically, and on the General Election, various parties (including the one which won) promised they’d make the numbers fall. But for the Church, more people within sight is more to succeed in, so you will find churches on the forefront of welcoming latest arrivals – wherever they’ve come from.
The charity Welcome Churches, a Bible Society partner that now has greater than 1,300 member congregations, has since been working 2018 (very much within the context of the large increase in what the Government calls ‘irregular arrivals’) to see every refugee welcomed by a church.
An excellent example of a welcoming church is a small congregation within the south-west of England who’ve found newly arrived Iranians very receptive to their outreach. The church asked us not to call them because they’re concerned for the protection of their Iranian members; the British Government’s latest sanctions against Iran were introduced in response to violence and threats against Iranians in Britain and their families in Iran. More than two-thirds of individuals of their pews on a Sunday at the moment are Iranian.
‘Hotels round here filled up with refugees,’ the church’s minister said. ‘Word got round that this was a spot that was welcoming in an otherwise hostile environment. And we have gone from 30 to 100 people. We’ve tripled in three years.’
What turns visitors into members? It would appear to be the Bible. If refugees are coming for the welcome, they’re staying for the word. Chantelle Baker is Bible Society’s Community Engagement Manager. She says: ‘We consider that the Church offers a useful haven of community and support for refugees and asylum seekers. We work with churches and detention centres to ensure that Bibles are supplied, freed from charge, to those that need them.’
‘We wish to disciple these people,’ a member of the church says, ‘and you wish a Bible for that. We could just be a stunning welcoming community, but we have now something else to supply; the excellent news of Jesus, expressed in God’s word. If we couldn’t give people a Bible, we’re only offering them half the package. The Bible makes it complete.’
Bible Society supports the work of churches like this one by providing the Bible in a spread of languages. For a refugee to read the word of God is one thing, but for God to talk the language they grew up with means all the things.
‘It’s so wonderful to read and pray in my very own language,’ said an Iranian on the church. He’d been interested in the Bible and skim bits online, eventually receiving an easy-to-read Bible in modern Persian (a much-needed resource at the guts of Bible Society’s current appeal). ‘If they see you holding a Bible like this in Iran, they kill you.’
The Iranian government prohibits the printing and distribution of Christian resources in Persian, Iran’s native and official language. The American think tank Freedom House considers Iran extremely unfree and finds religion one of the vital especially oppressive areas of life there.
Iran has been an Islamic Republic since a well-liked revolution overthrew the pro-western monarchy in 1979 and surprisingly resulted in an apocalyptic religious group gaining power. A latest structure, based on the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (an idea throughout the Shia denomination of Islam followed by the overwhelming majority of Iran’s population) was approved by 99 per cent of voters in an referendum. Since then democracy is permitted only inside that tight religious framework where the elected president and his cabinet answer to a clerical Supreme Leader.
Beyond Islam, the federal government recognises only a couple of tiny ethnoreligious minorities, including non-Persian Christianity. Census figures have the sum of all these tolerated groups at lower than one per cent of the population. But foreign surveys are starting to point out something different. GAMAAN, a polling company based within the Netherlands and focused on Iran, has data showing Iranians losing their native faith at a remarkable rate.
Research published in 2020 shows only a 3rd of Iranians identifying with Shia Islam (when asked securely). This is an exceptionally religious people secularising at a rare rate, driven at the least partly by response against the country’s theocratic regime. Iran’s residents are depressed (desperate, perhaps) – even government figures show six in ten persons are unhappy. And they’re leaving. Iran is claimed to be experiencing the world’s worst brain drain as its most educated residents leave with no intention of returning.
That’s the image you get from Iranians you meet in Britain, where for years they have been the biggest group amongst small boat arrivals. They’re also currently the second largest group claiming asylum, after Afghans. Quite a lot of the refugees Bible Society has met are professionals, individuals who at the least economically had relatively comfortable lives. Yet they’ve risked all the things to get out.
‘When I used to be at university,’ an Iranian told us, ‘they hit people.’ Prayer, fasting and wearing head-coverings are enforced by violence. ‘You want religion to enhance your life, but in Iran, religion is about punishing people.’
The obvious place for struggling Iranians to go is atheism, and GAAMAN’s surveys suggest up to 1 in ten Iranians at the moment are atheist (with more identified as agnostic or irreligious). But his revolt against religion didn’t make this young man completely happy. ‘I drank alcohol, I had a girlfriend, but I felt empty inside.’ He attempted suicide several times.
These painfully discontented Iranians are turning in all varieties of directions, including the country’s ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, which is officially tolerated. But they’re also interested in Persian-language Christianity, despite the prohibition. GAAMAN interprets its own findings as showing Iran’s Christians ‘growing beyond one million’, which can be about ten times government figures for the tolerated Churches.
Our Iranian convert, now freely worshipping at a church over here (though afraid for his family in Iran), first experienced Christianity back home. ‘My father had a stroke and one in all my best friends got here to the hospital,’ he says. ‘He prayed and my father got higher. I said, “Are you a Christian?” He said, “Yes”.
‘It’s really dangerous to introduce someone to Christianity. He only mentioned it because he’s a life-long friend. He invited me to his class in his home, but he had to evaluate me because the safety services attempt to infiltrate these meetings.’
Not only is Christianity restricted in Iran based on language and denomination, people have been sentenced to death for converting. But this Iranian was judged by his friend to be secure.
‘There was an individual there to show us. I had began to query things I’d been brought up with, but I didn’t accept latest things easily. I only went to look at. But they said God is love. I assumed in religion there was loads of war, but Jesus says when any person hits you, turn the opposite cheek. For me that is really amazing. Instead of taking revenge, you forgive.
‘Love your God; love your neighbour. It really touched my heart. I began watching videos, reading a book, searching for and following Jesus. At the category sooner or later, I told them I would like to be Christian. They said, “We don’t baptise on this country, but read this prayer.” I prayed, became a Christian. I’d searched a lot of religions; my life felt meaningless. Now I felt calm, serene.’
But if he thought he could practise his latest faith safely so long as he stayed quiet, he quickly realised that would not be possible. ‘They found things in my home in regards to the Bible classes,’ he said. ‘So I can not return to Iran now. I’d be arrested, and they’re going to use me to trace down the Bible class.’
In Britain, he can freely take part in Christian community and he has unrestricted access to Christian resources, including his Persian Bible provided by supporters of Bible Society. Will he have the ability to remain? We do not know. ‘Irregular arrivals’ and asylum claims could have increased enormously, however the asylum application process remains to be extremely hard on the person applicant.
‘The fastest I’ve known a claim be processed is a yr,’ a member of the church said. ‘One guy has been here 15 years.’
Although the British government recognises the danger Iranian Christians are in, claiming conversion is not a approach to jump the queue. Anti-immigration voices have made quite a bit out of 1 or two horrifying cases that cannot be taken as normal. Someone searching for asylum on the idea of conversion shall be required to prove they at the moment are practising Christianity to an extent that might be extraordinary and offensive to almost any Christian in Britain.
The director of Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action has described the method as an interrogation that the majority applicants fail. She told the Christian charity Article 18 last yr that because there are claims aside from conversion to Christianity which have a much higher success rate, a Muslim from the identical country could have a greater likelihood of getting asylum here than a Christian.
And should momentary political controversy affect the Great Commission? In a response back in February to the difficulty being raised at Prime Minister’s Questions, the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us that Bibles teaches we should always take care of the stranger. That, and never an abuse of the asylum system, is what’s happening when churches welcome those in most need and share the Bible.
‘The Bible is so precious to them,’ a church member said of the Iranians in her congregation, who have gotten integral members. ‘Many of them had never held a Bible before. It’s wonderful to offer them one. You can see the enjoyment of their eyes. One Iranian woman recently delivered to church a Moroccan woman she’d met on the hotel. We had an Arabic Bible for her. Now she desires to get baptised. These Iranians are reaching beyond their group.’
Bible Society is currently raising funds to share the Bible with refugees in England and Wales. With the assistance of supporters and thru our work with Welcome Churches, we’re capable of provide Bibles to refugees freed from charge.
James Howard-Smith is a author for Bible Society.
