From darkness to light: the rise of the Iranian church
Robert Bruce, a Scottish missionary to Iranian Muslims in the late-19th century, wrote home to his supporters: ‘I am not reaping the harvest; I scarcely claim to be sowing the seed; I am hardly ploughing the soil; but I am gathering out the stones. That, too, is missionary work; let it be supported by loving sympathy and fervent prayer.’
For many years, Iran was one of the most difficult regions of the world to reach with the gospel. In 1979, with the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the ruling monarch Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown. In his place an Islamic Republic was birthed, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Sharia law became the law of the land, and Muslim clerics became the heads of state.