Reaching The Children

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” Matthew 19:14

How Many Children Are There in Iran?

There are no accurate statistics on the number of children in Iran. Taking into account all available sources, our best estimates indicate there some 8-10 million children in Iran aged 5-12.

Why is it Important to Reach the Children of Iran?

These children are the future of Iran. It is imperative we reach them with the message of the gospel while they are young in order to effectively reach our whole nation for Christ. This is the age at which worldviews are formed; it is also the age at which children make choices that effect their future and their understanding of their value and identity. The vision is to reach them before false teaching is cemented in their minds and worldviews need to be dismantled in order to understand the message of Jesus Christ.

How is Transform Iran Reaching the Children of Iran?

Through dedicated specially created media, supported by dedicated specially trained children’s ministers, we can ensure that the message of the gospel is heard and understood by the children of Iran and those who respond to it are discipled and mentored so that they can grow in a meaningful personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Training Children’s Workers

Transform Iran provides in depth and in person training so that a generation of children’s pastors and evangelists are raised up who will ensure the message of the gospel is presented to children in a way that can be easily digested and that will resonate with their hearts. We are preparing to train a new group of children’s ministers in Fall 2024. Help us sow into the future of Iran:

Using a National Icon to Grasp the Attention of Iran’s Children

For more than 20 years, Iran’s children have loved a famous children’s puppet called ‘Chera’ (=Why?). Hugely popular on Iranian TV, Iranian children fell in love with this cheeky, curious puppet. Iran’s national TV statistics say 10 million children have watched Chera programs.

The producer and puppeteer for this national icon was a Christian who joined forces with Transform Iran and in 2014 helped create and launch a direct response to Chera, with ‘Chonke’ (=Because). Chonke uses the original voice of the puppet Chera. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with children and adults alike comment on the quality of these Chonke programs which had a real sense of nostalgia for Chera who they loved and miss.

Creating Evangelistic and Discipleship Media for Children

In 2014, Transform Iran created about 100 episodes of TV programming with Chonke, the spin-off from the national icon, Chera. We are currently preparing for a relaunch with new puppets added to the family. Each beautifully crafted puppet costs $350 to create.

Through generous investment by strategic partners, we have also created a bespoke website with a growing wealth of resources for parents, children’s pastors and teachers, as well as gospel presentations for children, interactive games, Christian TV and audio programs for children and more.

www.cherachonke.com is a groundbreaking evangelism tool for the children of Iran. The wordplay is based on the nation icon in children’s programming in Iran: a puppet named ‘Chera’ and Transform Iran’s response to it, ‘Chonke’ (see above).