A letter from Sadegh Sepehri in Germany
March 2012
Iranian Presbyterian Church's report
Jesus told Peter: "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18).
These days we hear a lot of good and bad news. Let me first mention the bad news: Every day we read in the news that Islamic groups are arresting Christians, especially new believers, and killing them or putting them in jail, forcing them to deny Jesus. Even in religious schools in Iran some theology students showing interest in Christianity. So fundamental groups are attacking home churches and destroying everything and arresting the worshipers. Please keep praying for these people, that God may help them to come out of this situation. What is the good news? Our church is growing every day. It does not matter for what reason they come to us! What is important is that we have the opportunity to evangelize them and bring them to the Lord, who can give them peace and hope. Germany is one of the places where most people want to come because of the social system. For this reason every day we have some new people who are coming and asking for help. My colleague who is social worker has enough experience so he can take care of them and give them necessary advice and other necessary helps.
On the other hand we try to invite them to our worship services.
Recently the EU (European Union) made it clear that those who converted from Islam to Christianity can be accepted as refugees. Because of this many are coming and asking for baptism. Some churches baptize them immediately and give them a certificate of baptism, but when they go to an interview or to court they cannot answer the questions, so are rejected. Our system is that whoever is asking for baptism should first attend our worship services regularly and our baptism courses for at least four months. During this course we try to teach them about sin, salvation, repentance and new birth, and all other necessary subjects that they need. When these people go to the court they realize that they know enough about Christianity. For this reason, the court asks them to bring a certificate from the Iranian church. That makes our church the center for Iranian refugees who are coming to Berlin. This matter about our letter of certificate has reached to other cities and we receive calls from different places for such a letter. Of course we don’t want people to come to us only for refugee purposes but to know Jesus and what Christianity is, and they should know about sin and salvation. After the course is finished and when they come for baptism, they should give their testimony to church members. Here is the important point and joy when they are able give testimony that they came first only for an asylum case but now just because of Jesus and "what he did for me."
These people mostly are alone and without family. Last Christmas we invited a number of them and celebrated together. We had about 120 people; we sang together and ate dinner and had a very blessed and joyful service. Especially for these lonely people. At the end all the children received a Christmas gift.
It is good to bring them together often, but our problem is the expense. We pray that God may open the door and some donations make us able to have some weekend gatherings. Please pray for this need.
Sadegh Sepehri
Iranian Presbyterian Church, Berlin
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 275
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