Iran is at the center of the conflict in the Middle East. We hear about nuclear threats, radical clerics, and international embargoes on the news every day. What we don’t hear about is how God is reaching Iranians in miraculous ways. We want to share with you how Global University is doing its part to reach the people of Iran.
Dr. Mary Logan, a Global University faculty member, took quite the trek in November, 2014. Not only did she visit one of our theology schools in Kenya, but she also traveled to London to work with our graduate students at Iran Bible College. Christians in both places are facing extreme persecution by Muslims.
Dr. Logan’s primary goal while in London was to teach our Iran Bible College students enrolled through ELAM. ELAM is one of our partner ministries and focuses on “training Iranian Christians to strengthen and expand the Church in Iran and beyond.” It does this by offering GU courses in both our MA and BA programs. Dr. Logan taught “Research and Methodology” in the graduate study center that serves the Persian speakers in our MA program. Students who are writing a thesis often base their research on a topic they are passionate about. Dr. Logan got to hear the amazing stories that inspired their studies.
One of the GU students she met with was Dr. Mojdeh Hawksley, the Head of Women’s Ministry at ELAM. Mojdeh has a passion for the women in Iran. More specifically, she wants to address an issue that has become an epidemic among Iranian women: abortion.
According to Mojdeh, one in three Iranian women have had an abortion or been involved in facilitating one in some way. That’s nearly ten million women.
Sadly, these women are often frightfully unaware of what occurs during an abortion before they go under the knife. The trauma leaves them full of shame and with no self-worth.
Dr. Hawksley wants to bring the healing power of Jesus into these women’s lives. She invites Iranian women to conferences she holds in London and walks them through what occurs medically during an abortion, outlines the Bible’s stance on abortion, and explains the emotional consequences that follow the procedure.
Every time, she invites those who have had abortions forward for prayer. At her last conference, out of fifty-five people, thirty came forward. The stories of God’s grace are astounding. Women who previously had identified as Muslim were saying that Jesus had taken the unbearable weight of their guilt off their shoulders.
Mojdeh asks that believers continue to pray for the reality of what occurs during an abortion to be known in the Iran region, that more Christians would engage in ministry in that area, and that the women who are coming to their ministry would receive healing in every part of their lives.
Our next blog entry will be about two other GU students Dr. Logan met at Iran Bible College: one who wrote out the Bible by hand to give to those in her community and another who was told to deny Christ or have her children taken away from her.
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