Day 13 Forty Day ‘Pray for Iran’ Campaign.

The written word is powerful. It is the reason why books are some of the first items censored by tyrants.

Many Iranians trace their decision to become followers of Christ to when they read an evangelistic book or booklet. Once they have become believers, books play a vital role in helping new believers grow as disciples. In addition, Christian leaders and workers are freshly motivated and inspired by books that help them serve the Body of Christ more effectively.

Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iranians have become increasingly interested in Christianity and as a result there is a great demand for Christian books and materials in Persian.Yet at this time when people want Christian books, they are scarce. There are less than 400 Christian titles available in Persian (including all training and theological textbooks) and not in enough quantities. There is a very great need for many more titles to be printed and distributed in large numbers.

To reach the young generation we need children's books. However, there are less than ten Christian titles for children. There are also virtually no books written exclusively for youth and teens, and specialist resources are needed to reach the millions suffering from drug addiction. The Iranian church does not even have one commentary for the whole Bible in Persian.

At such a time when so many Iranians are desperate for the Truth let us pray that the Lord will provide the church in Iran with literature to reach and disciple more Iranians:

* Pray that the Lord would bless the few Christian publishers who have been working for the last two decades to print Christian literature in Persian and have produced some excellent material. Let us pray for the writers, translators, editors, typesetters and printers and that their number will increase.
* Pray that Persian Christian publishing will grow in every areaand that many more invaluable Christian books will be available to Iranian Christians who are looking for new titles in Persian on different subjects. Pray that more culturally relevant books and magazines would be published for targeted groups such as children, youth, married couples, and drug addicts.
* Poetry is the heart language of Iranians and many famous Iranian poets have written poems about Christ. Let us pray that more Iranian Christian poets will publish beautiful Christian poetry that will touch the hearts of Iranians.