by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A US-based ministry has been able to share the Gospel with Iranians who are open to hearing about Jesus after fleeing the harsh authoritarian Islamic rulers of their country for neighboring democratic Armenia, CBN News reports.
In an interview with CBN, Pastor Jacob Pursley of Gateway Missions said he and his ministry team have met with Iranians crossing into Armenia at the Arax River border. "This is the only border crossing for Iranians coming in; they can come into Armenia only at this spot," Pursley explains. "It's illegal in Iran to proselytize. So as a Christian, you're not able to go to Iran legally to share the Christian faith, Pursley continues. “And you're not even allowed to have a Persian Bible. It's illegal to have the Bible in the Persian language.”
Nevertheless, vitally, many Iranians are open to the Gospel and need people to tell them about Jesus and give them a Bible, Pursley said. “So what we have found is that the Persians come to Christian Armenia, and they're coming to look for what Christianity is. To find a church, find a Bible, ask questions. And because this is the only border crossing and that they're able to, we find that thousands pass every single day."
"Those that are coming from Iran are so excited to meet a Christian and to listen," Pursley said. "And in fact, we have seen many, I mean hundreds have come to faith in Jesus Christ. It's just they need to hear; they need to have someone that is a preacher or an evangelist to teach them and show them that, and they're so eager to read a Bible as well as they're not allowed to have those."
"Pray that the Lord would send his lost sheep from Iran to Armenia so that they would find Him, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, and that He would send these people to our church and to churches like us that are doing these outreaches," Pursley said.
With evangelism being illegal and believers risking imprisonment and flogging on account of their faith, Iran ranks 8th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.