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Mandatory closure of the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran

According to the reports received from local sources in Iran and the (FCNN) Farsi Christian News Network reporters, the Assemblies of God authorities, at the conclusion of their regular Friday afternoon worship services of October 30, 2009, announced that Friday worship services would no longer take place and only Sunday services, in two separate shifts, will be conducted, reports FCNN.

The Central Assemblies of God Church located at the beginning of Taleghani Street, which has been conducting worship 2 services each Friday afternoon and representing the largest public ands formal gathering of Iranian Christians inside Iran, has been under extreme pressure coming from the security apparatus of the Ministry of Information has been forced to shut down its Friday meetings. This decision was made in the best interest of the entire membership of the church. The announcement of the termination of the Friday services was received with shock and utter surprise and resulted in many openly weeping in the church service.

Reports state that Rev. Sourik, the bishop and overseer of the Assemblies of God Churches in Iran, in an attempt to protect the security and the well-being of members and guests present at the church services has been adopting a more sensible and balanced approach to church matters and dealing with governmental problem in comparison to certain more aggressive factions inside the church. Despite his heart problems, he has been under pressure from the officials of the Ministry of Information to close down the church on Fridays, the official weekly holiday in Iran, and lately was warned that the Pasdaran militia (Revolutionary Guards) had been demanding the closure of the church.

Its been reported that Rev. Sourik who had been resisting and expressing his objections to such closure was warned that the Pasdaran militia had demanded the Friday closure of the church and if this demand was not complied with by October 31, 2009, the Pasdaran militia would personally step in and close the church for good. Therefore, he decided to personally announce the closure of the Friday services to the membership of the church on October 30, 2009.

Also, it is noteworthy that prior to this event, the Assyrian Pentecostal Church of Shahrara, which had been offering services on Fridays and Sundays in the Farsi language to Farsi speaking Iranian for more than 8 years, due to the gathering of newly converted members and other security concerns was ordered last year by the Revolutionary Court to be shut down.

The Assemblies of God Church of Tehran is an independent church, which was founded by several pastors and Godly men and women prior to the Islamic revolution. This church continued its ministry after the victory of the Islamic Revolution and several pastors have been martyred by extremist and fanatic elements within the regime.

So far no reasons for the closure of the Assemblies of God Church have been given by any government official. However, the recent wave of media and web-based attacks on Christian media, satellite channels, and evangelistic activities by the Pasdaran Militia demonstrate the intentions of the government with regards to the Iranian Christian communities inside and outside of Iran. This issue has been reported and disclosed in previous articles published by FCNN in response to predictions made by an Islamic network named Pars.

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TAGS: Iran Central Assemblies of God Church mandatory closure persecution Pasdaran militia Rev. Sourik Islamic revolution

[11/02/2009]

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