IRAN — A committee in Iran representing the Armenian Church, the Chaldean Church, the Armenian Evangelical Church and the Armenian Catholic Church has held a three-day conference on the Bible.

According to Alik, a Teheran-based Armenian newspaper which reported on the conference, the raison d’être of the Inter-Church Publication Committee is “to give help to Iran’s Armenian Christian minority in their spiritual and community life as Christians.”

Timothy

The conference, entitled ‘The Bible and the Youth of the 21st Century’, was the Committee’s first public function. Participants included teachers, Sunday School teachers and church youth workers. Throughout the three days the Scriptural focus was on the Second Letter of Timothy. The Rev Henrik Shahnazarian, of the Armenian Evangelical Church, led a study on 2 Tim. 2:14-26  and the special guest, Dr H Hovhannisian, a well-known psychologist based in France, led one on 2 Tim. 3:10-12. Participants also had an opportunity to reflect on these passages in groups.

Discussion

Dr Hovhannisian presented his topic over two days, outlining the challenges of the 21st century to a life of faith, as well as the challenges of the faith to 21st century youth. There were extended sessions for questions and discussion.

Among other speakers were His Grace Bishop Nshan Karakehyayan, who spoke on ‘The Inspiration and Authority of the Holy Scriptures’, and His Eminence Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian who gave ‘An Introduction to the Old and New Testaments’.

After the conference, Dr Hovhannisian visited a number of churches in Teheran where he led studies on ‘The Bible and Youth’ and ‘The Bible and the Family’.

The newspaper noted that there had been great interest in the conference locally.