It's unclear what the future holds for the people of Iran. And while there is optimism and a craving for freedom from a tyrannical regime, for many people ongoing stability and hope is being found in Christ.
"How exciting for us as Christians to be part of the solution and part of the winning team. So, this is our fight too... on our knees," shares Iranian-born Lana Silk, who oversees the outreach Transform Iran.
As a youngster in public school in Iran, it was clear to Lana that things were very wrong. "So, the one that really bothered me was at school from right at the beginning, they got you to line up in the schoolyard in the mornings and they would have us do jumping jacks. So, we would stand like in army formation really. We would do jumping jacks. That was our exercise for the day.
And then we would have to shout 'death to America, death to Israel,' and then our school day would begin. And I remember being really, really uncomfortable with that. Right from the very beginning, I remember trying to position myself in the sort of matrix of girls standing in lines so that none of the teachers, these hijab teachers that were looking on, would be able to see whether my mouth was moving or not. And if I wasn't successful with that, I would just mime it. But yes, I knew even from a young girl that wasn't okay. And you're surrounded by it. School lessons, murals on walls, murals on buildings everywhere, the call to prayer. Islam sort of infuses society and you just grew up in that environment."
God is at work in Iran despite the regime
"The church today in Iran is very fast growing still despite all the persecution. It is a heavily persecuted church and at times struggling. I mean, well, struggling is the wrong word. It is a suffering church. In the technical sense, in the full sense, it's a suffering church. People are paying for their faith with their lives, but also with their comfort, with access to jobs, with families that have rejected them. It really is a costly thing to be a Christian in Iran. But with that exception, the Christians in Iran are delighted to pick up their cross and follow him. They can see who Jesus is. They are sold out in their pursuit of him and they're happy to follow him to the end. So, a suffering church, but also a thriving church because it is a very strong and resilient church. There's no lukewarm in the church in Iran. People are right from the beginning, even before they choose to follow him, when they're just seeking, they know what it's going to take from them in Iran. And so they go in eyes open and they commit to it wholeheartedly."
(Richard: We have heard for a number of years in some locations in the Middle East, various nations, that people have had visions or dreams featuring Jesus or someone that looked like Jesus that actually get confirmed the next day or whatever. Have you picked up on that?
(Lana) "Yes, loads. We have many people, including ministers and pastors in our organization who came to the Lord through those kinds of supernatural encounters. God is doing some pretty cool things in Iran, revealing himself to people."
If God opens the door
(Richard) The organization that you head up, Transform Iran, obviously you can't reveal all of your plans, but should a door open that you can move in, you can be public, you can be transparent, what might be taking place with your organization?
(Lana) "Yeah, absolutely. We are ready. We are ready. We have been saying for 35 years, and it's really fun to go back to our previous annual reports over and over again, the same phrase, God's call to Lazarus and Maggie, our founders back in 1988. Iran will open up again one day and your call is to prepare the church, prepare the resources, prepare the evangelists and the leaders and translate the Bibles, get it all in place ready for when Iran is open again. And here we are 35 years later and praise God for their obedience. Praise God for our fantastic united international team that's been really focused in on this vision to reach Iran right now, but also prepare diligently for an open Iran. And we have some really good plans and processes and teams in place ready to go and do some really exciting things for God."
When God made things clear to younger Lana about faith and following him: "I'm inviting you to an all in, all or nothing kind of faith following me."
(Richard) When would you say, at what age you and the Lord really got to know each other, that you truly asked him into your heart and became a Christian?
(Lana) "I remember it. I remember so many details about it. I was in my mother's bedroom. She was ironing. I had already experienced God in many ways from as early, probably even before I have actual memories. We lived in a very supernaturally charged environment. My parents were both mighty leaders in the church. So I knew I had a personal experience of God's love for me and I knew what it felt like to be in his presence. And on this occasion, my mom was ironing and I was sitting on her bed just chatting with her. I was about seven years old and she just sort of suddenly came out with, 'Lana, you know that God doesn't have grandchildren.' And I was trying to understand what she was saying and she explained.
She explained what it was to be a child of God and a follower of God.
And she said, 'So, God doesn't have grandchildren, me and dad are children of God, but if you want to be in God's family, you don't get to be his family through us. You have to become a child of God yourself.' And then she explained the gospel to me. And I just remember that feeling of, 'yeah, whatever it takes, what do I have to do? Just sign me up.' And just prayer of obedience and commitment to follow Jesus. And that stayed. I remember God reinforcing that in a very strong way when I got baptized. I was much older when I got, well, quite a bit older. I was about 13, 14 when I was baptized in water. And I'd already was a committed follower of Christ. Of course, I was being baptized, but I was excited about getting baptized. I was excited about the whole experience of sharing my testimony and making a public declaration.
But unknown to me, just before I was baptized, my father had taken a call from Iran to tell him that his best friend had just been martyred. And his best friend was also the superintendent of all the churches in Iran at the time. It was probably the most well-known martyr from Iran's church. And he was the first of several and we had no idea it was coming. And I don't know how my dad kept it together, but he said he didn't want to spoil the moment for me. So, he just kept it to himself. We had the ceremony. And then while I was at the back getting changed, he shared the news with the church. And of course, there was just devastation at this Farsi-speaking church in London. And I just remember being at the back end changing and my cousin coming, running back to see me.
And she was in floods of tears crying, saying, 'They've killed him. They've killed him.' I had no context for that. And it took a while to get to the bottom of what she was talking about. And I remember then God saying to me, 'You know what you've just done? This is what it's about. I'm inviting you to an all in, all or nothing kind of faith following me.' And so I remember understanding the gravitas of it even further then and it stayed with me."
There is much more to be shared and understood about the God-size landmark chapter that's currently unfolding in Iran. Hear more from Lana in our complete podcast interview just below:
