By Dirk Smith — Originally published in The Christian Post
Owning a Bible in Iran can cost you your safety, your freedom and even your life. Akbar’s underground study group learned that the hard way when their quiet Bible meeting ended in a raid, a beating, prison, and the disappearance of two of Akbar’s friends.
Christians everywhere should be praying for peace, protection and true freedom for the Iranian people. History shows that moments of political upheaval can suddenly create extraordinary opportunities for the Gospel. As conflict and uncertainty continue across Iran, the Church should be thinking about something else too: preparation. If greater openness ever comes, even briefly, the opportunity to place the Bible into the hands of millions could be historic.
At EEM, we have seen moments like this before. Our ministry was founded in 1961 to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain when Communist governments tried to suppress Christian faith across Eastern Europe. For decades, believers risked their freedom to share Scripture.
Then the Berlin Wall fell.
Almost overnight, countries that had restricted the Bible for generations suddenly opened. Churches, schools and ministries urgently needed Scripture, and millions who had grown up with little or no access to the Bible wanted to read it for themselves. We learned from that experience that when freedom comes, the hunger for the Word of God is immense. The lesson from that period was simple: when doors open, they often open quickly, and if the Church is not prepared, that moment can pass.
Iran today is a nation of more than 80 million people. Despite strict government restrictions, many Iranians are searching for spiritual truth. Christians there are part of one of the fastest-growing underground church movements in the world — but access to Scripture remains limited.
In Iran, access to the Bible is difficult and dangerous. Scripture is shared in whispers, hidden carefully, and passed from hand to hand by believers who know that discovery could cost them dearly. Behind closed doors, small groups gather quietly to read God’s Word in secret. If and when the political situation changes in Iran, the demand for physical Bibles could surge almost overnight.
We have seen what that hunger can look like. One young Iranian refugee who had fled his country arrived in Greece searching for a Bible in his own language. “We heard there were Bibles here in our language, and we had to get a copy,” he said. That encounter helped set him on a new path. Such moments can be life-changing; a single Bible can become the start of a miraculous journey. Today, that refugee serves in Christian ministry and sits on the US board of the Greek mission that first placed Scripture in his hands.
That is why preparation matters now. EEM has already printed almost 90 000 Bibles for different age groups in the main languages spoken in Iran and continues to publish and distribute Scripture for Iranian and Persian-speaking diaspora communities. We have also printed the New Testament in Gilaki for people in northern Iran who have never before had the full New Testament in their own language. But in a free Iran, the need could quickly grow far beyond current distribution capacity. Millions could suddenly have the opportunity to encounter Scripture for the first time.
We have witnessed similar recently in Ukraine. As war brought enormous suffering and uncertainty, many people began searching for hope and meaning, and churches requested Scripture in unprecedented numbers. Ministries that were prepared were able to respond quickly to that spiritual hunger.
The Bible tells us to pray for “a door for the Word” and to make the most of every opportunity. That is not a call to passive concern. It is a call to spiritual alertness. If Iran enters a new chapter, the Church should not be scrambling to respond after the fact. It should be ready to walk through the door as it opens.
For years, many Iranians have encountered Scripture only at great personal cost. A different future could place that same Word within reach of millions. As Christians, we must not let such a moment pass.
Dirk Smith is vice president of EEM, a Christian ministry that publishes and distributes approximately two million Bibles free every year across 36 countries and in 32 languages.
Visit www.eem.org for more.
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