Carelinks | United Kingdom

Brother Graham, whose baptism we reported in July, fell asleep in the Lord recently. Our brother was wheelchair bound and was baptized with great difficulty- a testament of his sincerity. Thank you to all who sent him cards, he loved them, and now sleeps waiting for the fulfillment of his various dreams of what he would do in the Kingdom of God on earth.

There is an explosion of interest in the Iranian community within the United Kingdom. In various parts of the UK, with assistance from various local brothers and sisters and ecclesias, we're pleased to report the baptisms of Seyed, Mohammad M, Reza, Motchtaba, Mohammad J, Ezzatallah, Farhad, Hossen, Mojtaba K, Rebar, Sako, Omid, Hassan, Hawsar, Farnoush, Amin and Alireza.

We pay tribute to the great work of brother Vahid of Liverpool for coordinating things throughout the United Kingdom, from Wales to Scotland. Vahid’s brother in Iran was executed for his Christian activities, and Vahid shared with us photos published by the state of his head and torso after the execution. Vahid faces possible deportation back to Hungary, where he first entered the European Union, so we are praying this doesn’t happen. He is sorely needed in the expanding group in the UK.

As we travelled around the inner cities of the UK, in the areas where most of our new brethren live, the process of Islamization and decline of traditional British culture was evident everywhere. It is not much apparent outside of the inner cities, but there it is clear enough. Even in the one time bastions of Protestantism in South Wales, church after church has been turned into a mosque, with the crosses replaced by crescent moons, the stained glass with prayer turrets directed towards Mecca:

Yet here, around the corner from that mosque, is a newly baptized ecclesia of Iranians and Iraqis.

A group of the newly baptized in Glasgow

Nine of the baptisms were in Glasgow, Scotland. Brother Andy Taylor brought brother Vahid there by car, and Andy also gave an appropriate exhortation for the breaking of bread, commenting upon how Abraham left Iraq and journeyed to Israel, just as these brethren are likewise on a journey which has providentially taken them from Persia to Scotland. Clearly, without doubt, God is in each and every life of these dear people, and we are playing a providentially intended part in that journey.

Andy reports: “In Glasgow on Thursday, we had the privilege to assist in the baptisms of nine Iranians, most of whom are asylum seekers. Brother Vahid, himself a recently baptised asylum seeker played a key role in translating Duncan’s concise and clear presentation of the Gospel message and all the doctrines of our faith, and the question and answer session. Vahid is a wonderful brother whose zealousness for the Lord Jesus is amazing, and his determination to share his faith is truly inspirational. Ghasem, one of the nine soon to be baptised, also gave invaluable help with translation. It was great to have the support of local brothers and sisters. We benefited from the ministrations of Bro Bob and Sis Adele Watt, and it was also good to have the help of Bro James Dean who spent his work lunch-time supporting us in the hotel. It was a privilege to break bread together with our new brothers, who it was a joy to share with.

The trip back to Liverpool with Vahid was interesting, but the deepening snow on the M74 just added to the excitement of a wonderful day! My feeling about what we did in Glasgow is that it is the start of something that I've been praying for for years. That is that Muslims, who will clearly have a problem with the doctrine of the trinity and other wrong doctrines, start to turn to the true Gospel in large numbers. Vahid seems so determined to expand the Truth. He seems so accepting of what may be going to happen to him, and if he is made to go back to Hungary, I have promised that I will go and track him down there. This work must not be undermined by in-fighting and the dead hand of ecclesial bureaucracy. I am so pleased that Glasgow South have accepted our new brothers and we must do all we can to support them in this”.

We urge all ecclesias to accept these new brethren, and appeal for individuals to come forward who are willing to baptize our further Iranian contacts into Christ. Language is a barrier, but they have Persian Bible Basics, as hard copy and PDF, and usually one is available to translate. We need to walk in step with Spirit, and follow where clearly we are being led. We totally understand the fear which there is in British society, as well as in the brotherhood, concerning Muslims, Middle Eastern folks, young men with beards called Mohammed and so forth... but we remind you that the extremists are a tiny minority of immigrants.

The core of our preaching work is through Bible Basics- and we do now need to reprint the Farsi/Persian edition of that book in hard copy. You can see it on the tables in the photos. Please donate if you can to keep our literature freely available. There are also some welfare issues with the new brethren especially those in Germany. We are open to your donations.

See our video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-_Ua64IU_Q it was shot as we stood on the platform in Macedonia having fed and met hundreds of migrants.