Beirut National Evangelical Church pastor Revd Dr Habib Badr tells Wazala why he sees “quality Christian presence” as the key to future peace and inclusion in a fragile and volatile country. A wall of coiled razor wire stands guard over the entrance to Evangelical Church Road in Central Beirut. It’s there not to protect the church but to control access […]
Newly returned from a marathon recording session in Finland of 44 Iranian worship songs, London-based worship leader Hovan Hovsepian-Mehr spoke to Wazala about the importance and nature of worship in the Iranian diaspora Church. In many ways Christian worship is in Hovan’s blood. His father, Edward, is one of the most respected leaders of the Iranian church and was for […]
Assyrian Christian leader tells how his humanitarian aid inspired a friend to plot his escape, on a motorbike, disguised as a jihadist fighter FATHER Jacques Mourad has told how he escaped the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria with the help of a friend whose family had been helped by the priest’s programme of aid to the poor and disadvantaged. […]
“My nation is destroyed because of lack of knowledge.” Mansour Khajehpour, the Executive Director of SAT-7 PARS, quotes the prophet Hosea (4:6) to stress the lack of access to the Bible in his birth country of Iran. He and Deputy Executive Nikoo Ordodary had just returned from the SAT-7 PARS teachers conference (October 2014), a bi-annual event designed, not only […]
Women are playing a crucial role in what is one of the most unexpected stories of our generation: the growth of the Church in Iran. Dr Mojdeh Shirvanian from Elam Ministries has served the Church in Iran for over thirty years. Here she identifies three ways in which this is happening. Before the Iranian revolution in 1979 there were a […]
The growth and resilience of an indigenous Iranian church has been one of the most remarkable signs of God at work in the Middle East in recent decades. An online seminary and a partnership with SAT-7 are playing an essential part in discipling these emerging churches. Wazala spoke to one of the pioneers of this programme. Despite increasing restrictions upon […]