This is especially important in countries like Iran, where the environment is harrowingly hostile for Christians, their very lives and families at stake every day, simply for believing and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In ministry work in Iran, I’ve seen this concept ring true; the spiritual healthcare of believing Iranians is rooted in a growing fruitfulness that bleeds into the lives of others—boldly and discerningly. The gospel message multiplies. For example, say one person reaches twelve; those twelve aggregately reach 144; those 144 reach 1,728; and those 1,728 reach 20,736. Two groups further nearly reach 3 million people!
That’s multiplication.
People of quality character in the faith are those who do this. When we think about the parable of the soil, it allows us to examine character quality, ensuring that those we train up in faith are qualified to then produce healthy fruit and pass on wisdom to others as well. When one person is truly reached, changed and trained well, the gospel message will multiply.
People Transformed: Iranians Pollenating the Gospel
We have seen the evidence of multiplication during our work through Transform Iran. One example is Meesha, a Muslim-born Iranian woman. Jesus first pursued her heart unfailingly, and the soil he planted her in was that of our ministry; we invested in her, loved her and mentored her. When I was interviewing Meesha the last time I spoke to her, I inquired about the loss she’d endured in terms of her own children. She said to me, “I lost three children, but I’ve gained 195 because right now I’m discipling 195 people.” From Iran to Turkey to Iran again, Meesha has moved where the Lord has called her in her ministry, walking the streets, listening for the Iranian languages she knows, approaching people and sharing the Gospel with them. She has personally taken in countless orphans, witnessed 140 conversions in Iran and seen the profound ongoing ripple-effects stemming outwardly from these converts, including an Iranian school teacher sharing the “Jesus film” to her students at school.
Another example is Vahik, a formerly drug-addicted Iranian written off by his family to death, who had moved to Holland in search of an easier way to feed his addiction. It was there that he was taken in by a Christian (formerly Muslim) family, leading him to give his life to Jesus. Freed from drug addiction and in love with Christ, Vahik went to Bible college, building upon good soil, graduated and became connected with our ministry. Compelled to go back to Iran to minister to other drug addicts, Vahik ultimately moved back and planted churches in seven Iranian cities. Despite persecution, arrests and brutal prison torture, his ministry has continued, seeing the ongoing ripple effects of disciples making more disciples in these regions, additional church plants, divine unexpected connections and more than 300 baptisms thus far.
These are just two examples of a healthy faith and the gospel is being multiplied each day—each hour—in Iran. We have this same responsibility here in the U.S. We must be good stewards of the people God gives us. When it comes to the context of a ministry, soil matters, fruitfulness matters, multiplication matters. We must not waste away our lives and purpose, deteriorating spiritually, ignoring the most important investment Jesus has given us: people.
