Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec

By Angela Dempster and Saeid 

Saeid was born 47-years ago in Iran, the youngest child of a middle-class family. He gained a Master’s degree in law, practiced as a lawyer, got married to Noushin, and had a son.   

Things started to change for Saeid’s family when his niece, Ghazaleh became a believer. On his son’s 12th birthday, Ghazalah gave him his first Bible so he could read it and learn about Jesus. When Noushin found the Bible, she also started to read it and was filled with questions.  Ghazalah tried her best to answer these questions and invited her to the weekly meetings of new believers that she was organizing. Eventually, Noushin felt the love of Jesus. She was happy with her new faith and Saeid was happy for her, since he had lost his faith in Islam. 

In 2018, the group of new believers was getting too big for their small space, so Noushin suggested that they have the meetings at their home, since it was more spacious. Saeid didn’t mind sharing his home, but he had no interest in joining them. However, Noushin retold everything to him that she was learning about Jesus from her study of the Scriptures, and over time his interest in Christianity grew.  

Meeting in secret was not easy, and one day a neighbour reported them. After this, things became unsafe for their family. Punishment was certain if they were caught, and they feared that if Noushin was arrested that the others could be found as well. Saeid’s family had no choice, they had to leave Iran. 

Coming to Canada was difficult and lonely, as they had no contacts here. One day while riding the bus together, Saeid’s son saw Thornhill Baptist Church, and they knew this was no mistake! They got off the bus and went to church for the very first time! After two days, they found an apartment in the same neighbourhood. 

From that day on, Saeid and his family waited all week for Sunday to come! They felt welcomed and loved meeting their brothers and sisters there.  After two months of visiting the church, studying the Scriptures, attending Alpha classes and listening to sermons, Saeid’s perspective toward God changed. God touched him and made Himself known to him in a new way.  

Saeid shares, “I know that everything that has happened in my life was based on His will so I could eventually find His love. Today, I am not afraid of death since I believe in an eternal life which is filled with the love of our Heavenly God. Today I know that Jesus is protecting me, and He reached out to me even before I knew Him. Today I wake up remembering His love and protection, and His glorious sacrifice in order to show His love to us. God was with us so generously all the way until now. We couldn’t see Him, but He was always there caring for us.”