Category Archives: Iran

Sargon Chamaki Daniali – Serving Iranians in Turkey with the Gospel

A TWO YEAR UPDATE ON OUR MINISTRY

MY FAMILY:  In 2018, I moved more permanently to Turkey from Kazakhstan, and after a year, my wife and daughter joined me in Istanbul.  They are adjusting well and learning the Farsi and Turkish languages.  My two older sons are busy with work, church ministry and theological studies at a seminary in Kazakhstan of which I was one of the founders and Rector from 2006-2012. My youngest son is studying at the Christian University of Divine Grace in Chisinau, Moldovia, at the Faculty of Business Management and Foreign  Languages.We started a new mission center at a leased three story villa in the western suburb of Istanbul to serve as a regional office, guest house, a place to conduct seminars for our seminary students and a shelter for people in need.

A 14 seat minibus was purchased for the transportation needs of the church. I have asked all our church members to pick one day a week to do active evangelism.  Everybody is excited  about this.  We are continually praying and believing that Iran will open up for the Gospel!

We have established daily, scheduled online  meetings for worship, prayer and intercession. A new, online Church Radio program was launched with the purpose of sharing the Good News and provide transformational Biblical teachings among Persian speaking people worldwide. We continue to develop and broadcast online daily Bible studies and relevant programs on various faith-strengthening topics both among new believers and those more mature in faith.Our church distributed food packages to victims of Covid-19 among Iranians and Afghans in Iran and Turkey, believers and unbelievers.  We took care of basic needs for groups of refugees and provided various medical assistance to the poor: medicine, medical supplies related to high blood pressure and heart problems; also financially helped a sister have surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.

Our translation team completed the translations of two theological student workbooks (with their leader guide) into the Farsi language: A practical training in the discipling of new believers, via A. Abundant Life – The life of Christ in us, and B. The Life of Christ 1 – The first of a six book series titled, A compendium of Pastoral Theology, for training of ministers. We are also in the process of translating another book called Encounter Bible Manual for groups of 2-20 people. It’s a very strong tool for evangelizing, discipling and church planting.

A number of new believers were baptized, included my youngest son who made a commitment as an adult to continue following Christ.

We conducted five seminars and conferences; two of them were even held in the midst of the Covid-19 restrictions.

TWO YEAR BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE REGION 

The hardship to the refugees in Turkey is opening their hearts to the Gospel Message.  Please pray for God to reveal His wisdom and strategy for continued reaching and ministering to the Iranian refugees in Turkey.

The situation in Iran has also become increasingly volatile as the banks are on the brink of collapse, and the economy suffers greatly.  There is widespread famine and shortness of basic necessities.  The price of gas has soared 300%.  Demonstrations by the people and violent responses by the government happens daily.  But God is using this situation to bring about a great spiritual awakening in Iran with many Iranians coming to Christ.  Our ministry in partnership with like ministries have distributed 50,000 New Testaments throughout the country. Please pray for their protection and God’s provision for the believers! Praise Report:  I have signed a three year contract for the translation of eleven more books into Farsi, two of which are completed.

Several of our home group leaders in Iran were attacked and arrested by the intelligence service,  their books and computers confiscated.  After three weeks they were all released, but they are under surveillance and have to report to the police at their bidding.  A couple of them are awaiting court cases against them.

In spite of the restrictions Covid-19 brought, the Church overall has been doing well. Some churches and fellowships have been shut down, due to the virus.  Our church members have been meeting, while following social distancing and encouraging our older persons to stay home and join us online.  We have been gathering every day of the of the week, for two to three hours, both in person and online, for worship, prayer, and Bible teaching.  I have had a revelation that God has been sending this plague to bring people’s attention back to Him.

The situation in Turkey for refugees is becoming increasingly difficult.  There are currently 4.1 million refugees in Turkey and the allocated government budget to support them is decreasing yearly.  This is bringing pressure on Iranian refugees.  Joblessness and inflation is increasing in Turkey.  Conditions in Iran are extremely difficult. Conditions across the Middle East are worsening.  With no support in Turkey, and horrible conditions at home in Iran, the Iranian refugees have nowhere to turn.  Please pray for our ministry to them.

At the beginning of the Corona epidemic crisis, tens of thousands of refugees from this larger war-torn region were forced to leave and go to Bulgaria and Greece, where they were denied entrance and had to return back. 50 Afghan and Syrian orphans without parents were flown to Luxembourg.  We received a group of about forty people (seven families) to care for.  I currently have one of the families living with me in the center.  No one helped them except Christians.  A ten year old girl prayed a sweet prayer thanking Jesus!  These family members are followers of Jesus and very evangelistic.  Please pray for them !!

In December, we moved into the newly leased Mission Center building.  I have asked all our church members to pick one day a week to do active evangelism.  Everybody is excited  about this.  We are continually praying and believing that Iran will open up for the Gospel!

In the midst of all the suffering and darkness, the Lord is requiring us to be salt and light! Matthew 5:15-16 “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.  The blood of Jesus is the cure for the virus of sin which can kill both body and soul.  God is listening and He will answer our specific prayers!

F.Y.I.  This link is a Christianity Today article on the expansion of the Christian faith in Iran:   https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/september/iran-christian-conversions-gamaan-religion-survey.html

FROM R.K.’s CORNER

The Bridge encountered Sargon for the first time in 1994 during a Christian conference we co-sponsored with a partnering ministry in Istanbul, Turkey.  He was then a young, single Assyrian teacher having fled his homeland, Iran, due to severe persecution by the Iranian government against his church and pastor, who had been murdered.  He had lived in Turkey for almost four years while serving  refugee believers in Istanbul with the Gospel.

The Bridge decided to sponsor Sargon, and helped him move to Almaty, Kazakhstan to bring the Christian faith to Central Asia’s Turkic and Farsi speaking peoples.  There he met his wife, Nadia. Together they have  four children, three of whom are now young adults and have decided to walk in their parents’ footsteps in serving the Lord.  Sargon’s  personal journey is documented in two prior Bridge Reports:
https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/november2009.pdf
https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2019/04/

This issue is an update on the last two years in Sargon’s family and ministry, and briefly touches on the challenges and triumphs the Christian church is encountering in the face of great opposition and hardship in the Muslim dominated countries where he serves.  Please pray for him, his family and ministry; mark your gift: 8341 Iran/Turkey Workers.

Iran and Turkey — An Update by Sargon Daniali Chamaki

 FROM R.K.’S CORNER – AN INTRODUCTION

In 1994, 25 years ago, one of our Dutch Bridge Directors, introduced Steve and me to Sargon Daniali Chamaki whom he had met in Istanbul where the Bridge was co-sponsoring a Christian conference.  An Assyrian, born and raised in Iran, in order to avoid persecution as a young believer in Jesus Christ, Sargon had fled his homeland to Turkey.  He had a broad vision to see the Muslim nations in Central Asia and the Middle East who first were Christian nations before Islam conquered the region, again embrace their Christian heritage and come to a living relationship with Jesus Christ!

We began sponsoring Sargon, and sent him to Almaty, Kazakhstan where he attended Bible College, married and raised four children while being actively engaged in bringing the love of Jesus to the Turkish– and Farsi speaking peoples living there.

In 2007, his heart was rekindled toward the Iranian refugees living in Turkey, and he has since then been engaged in Apostolic work among his people.  Below, is Sargon’s Report:

In 2007, and throughout the following year, after having been away from Turkey and Iran for 13 years, I began to miss my Iranian people. I felt an increased desire to return and more actively serve and love them.  Twice, a few months apart, while visiting two different cities, the Holy Spirit woke me up and impressed upon me that I needed to hurry up.   I did not know then that, due to the new wave of government crackdown on the protesters in Iran, thousands of Iranians had fled to Turkey as refugees.  So, from 2009 on, I visited Turkey once a year, where I attended several Farsi meetings and Central Consultation conferences. Friendships were built, and I entered into many good relationships, which I cultivated long distance. 

Three years later, I received an invitation from a few Iranian churches and old friends in Europe to join their conferences in Turkey.  The following year, I participated as guest speaker in three of those conferences in the cities of Istanbul, Izmir, and Ephesus, and was also invited as guest speaker at one conference in Sweden.  While visiting the city of Chankri in Turkey, God spoke to me,  “I called you to this region; I will open gates before you and cover your paths with oil.”

During 2013 and 2014, my travels to visit Iranians in various cities in Turkey increased.  The Lord impressed upon me that a new church would be planted, and that we were to follow His guidance to do it the Biblical way.

In October 2015, as a result of weekly, nonstop Bible teaching and evangelism for three years, both online and in person, a church in Kayseri was planted.  By the help of The Bridge International, an apartment was rented and furnished to host the church, as well as be used as my residency and office whenever I would visit that city.

The Bible teachings continued; the number of conferences kept increasing in frequency, from once a year in 2015, twice in 2016, three times in 2017 and four times in 2018.  The speakers came from Bosnia, South Korea, Tatarstan, and Australia. They were conducted in the cities of Istanbul, Ankara, and Kayseri.  New churches were planted in Nev Shehir in Turkey, and in three cities within the country of Iran: Tehran, Karaj and Kerman. The number of believers also increased in other cities of Turkey and Iran.

These new  churches are named The Evangelical Apostolic Church of Iranians, derived from the official name The Evangelical Apostolic Church of the East, the church at the East of the Euphrate river, within the Persian empire and clear up to China.  They have  already baptized approx. 150 people, and many are awaiting baptism.

In the summer of 2017, the Jireh Church near Seoul, Korea sent us $10,000 which enabled us to buy a van for our ministry.

In October 2018, some of the believers in the church in Kayseri opened a language school in the church facility for Iranian and Afghan refugees, both children and adults, to teach them the Turkish language, thus help them assimilate in local schools and the work arena.

In November 2018 we started our new Seminary to train our first generation of internationally ordained ministers.  In January this year, by the financial support of the Window Missionary Training Center, we were able to rent a three-story building in Istanbul to function as an Iranian Missionary Center.

Last year, due to the continued financial support from partners of The Bridge International, I was able to move my wife, Nadia, and our two youngest children (our two oldest boys are already in college) from Kazakhstan to Turkey, where we live in a nice rental apartment.  Not needing to frequently travel between the two countries any more has given me much more flexibility to focus on the ministry among Iranians in Turkey.   

A few weeks ago, the Farsi branch of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) invited me to teach in their Bible School in Turkey.  They also offered us to establish a Radio – TV internet, and we began raising funds for the channel and establish a studio.  The Bridge International funded the equipment for the studio, so in March the studio opened, and a new home church was planted in the facility of the Mission Center in Istanbul.

Recently, I was informed that The Kernel University in California has approved the establishment of their Middle East Branch in Istanbul.  They have invited me to help the work out the logistics on the Turkish end, as everything is ready to go in America.  This is really good news!

We have been warmly welcomed by our Iranian friends and believers living in Iran, as well as those who are refugees in Turkey. Together we are praying about establishing a Center in the capital city of Tehran, like the one in Istanbul.  It would be operated under cover by a company owned by Christian believers, where a home church and other needed Christian activities would flourish.  We believe we are coming close to the time when the phase of the Satanic grip of oppression on Iran and her people is about to loosen its stronghold!

IF YOU WANT TO BECOME A PARTNER WITH US IN SPONSORING SARGON AND HIS MINISTRY TO THE IRANIAN PEOPLE, PLEASE CLICK ON THE DONATE BUTTON ABOVE AND MARK YOUR CONTRIBUTION 8341 IRAN/TURKEY WORKERS.  THANK YOU!