Mission Crossroads is a three-time-a-year magazine focused on worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God's mission in the world.
Issue link: https://missioncrossroads.epubxp.com/i/491857
Presbyterian Mission in IraN Mission Crossroads 15 1832 Mission pioneers visit Persia (present-day Iran) to investigate the possibility of opening mission work. They receive a warm welcome. In 1834 Two missionaries are sent to Persia to revitalize the Assyrian Church. 1835 Educational, medical and evangelistic mission begins in Urumia with the purpose of having missions of fellowship with the Oriental churches, not to establish separate Protestant churches. 1838 A school for girls is established in Urumia teaching practical and academic courses. By 1895, 117 schools are established in Persia with 2,410 pupils. 1839 A printing press is brought to Urumia, and by 1852 the Bible is printed in the Assyrian language. 1862 The Synod of the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in Iran is formed. Within a decade, congregations are organized in Urumia and Tehran. 1874 Iran Bethel School for Girls is established. In 1918, the Alumnae Association of the school begins publication of the magazine World of Women to empower women. The school survives until today under the name Damavand College. 1880 s Westminster Hospital (named after Westminster Church in Bufalo, NY, that provided the funds for the hospital building) is established in Urumia. Subsequently, hospitals are established in Tehran, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, Mashhad, and Rasht. 1884 Five presbyteries are organized and include 25 organized churches, 48 congregations, 36 ordained ministers, and 30 licentiates. 1914 WWI, The mission compound in Urumia becomes a place of refuge for Armenians and Assyrians feeing from Turkish forces who are massacring them. At times there are 15,000 refugees sheltering in the mission compound. In 1917, members of the Assyrian Presbyterian Church fee Urumia before approaching Kurdish forces. Many missionaries accompany them. 1918 A government medical college is established in Teheran. Missionaries turn over the responsibility of training doctors to the government. 1920 Assyrian Christians return to Urumia to begin rebuilding their lives and their churches. But work of the Mission is restricted, and thus is shifted to eastern Persia. Mashhad becomes a center for evangelistic, medical, and educational work. 1920 s In Rasht, a new building for relief work is made possible by gifts of American Sunday School children. The Mashhad hospital is erected through gifts of the Iowa Synodical Society. A new hospital is established in Kermanshah through a gift from Westminster Church of Bufalo, NY. 1930 s Presbyterian Mission Elementary Schools are closed by an order of the Iranian government stipulating that the education of Iranian children is the exclusive privilege of the government. School properties are bought by the government of Iran from the Presbyterian Mission. 1950 s Presbyterian missionaries labor alongside Iranian church leaders. Priorities are given to girls' education, teaching practical skills to poor women, and providing medical care for the poorest of the poor. 1953 US and UK governments orchestrate the military overthrow of democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi is reinstated Shah of Iran, and relies heavily on US government support to hold on to power. 1968 The Synod is reorganized along linguistic lines: Armenian Presbytery, Assyrian Presbytery, and Persian Presbytery. 1979 Islamic Revolution ousts US-backed government of Shah. All Presbyterian missionaries are forced to leave Iran. Today PC(USA) maintains ecumenical relationships with the Synod of Evangelical Churches in Iran through the World Council of Reformed Churches and the World Council of Churches. 1918 Tehran Presbyterian Church, 2000 Armenian refugees, 1915 Tehran Presbyterian Church, 1919