The Sound of Prayers

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Nasrin lives in Iran where, despite the risks, she faithfully practices her Christian beliefs.

A few years ago, Nasrin spent nearly 3 weeks in solitary confinement in Iran, facing regular interrogations about her ministry and faith in Jesus.

One New Testament, two church planters trained

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Afshin and Saloumeh lived in a broken marriage but were determined to stay together for the sake of their son. Then, one day, someone gave Afshin a Persian New Testament.

Marriage course launched to bless thousands of couples

Monday, February 28, 2022

Golnar is from a very small, remote village in Iran. She and her husband were among twelve couples who recently took part in the launch of a new marriage course specially designed for the Iranian church. At the end of the course, Golnar shared, "When I was young, each winter we would help my dad fix the mud walls of our house. We'd fill in the cracks to keep out the cold. Now my husband and I know that...

Samira felt God renew her passion for ministry at a recent conference.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Samira's past couple years of house church ministry have been challenging, but after attending Elam's leaders' conference recently, she felt her passion for ministry renewed. When she arrived back home in Iran, her Muslim father, who is in his 80's, looked at her inquisitively. When she asked him what he was thinking, he said, "I am thinking about your God and the change I see in you."...

Iranians are eagerly sharing the joy of Christmas

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

All over the Iran region, Christians are eagerly sharing the joy of Christmas with others through evangelism, Scripture distribution and outreach. In one city, Armita has been faithfully participating in street evangelism. Recently, she shared the reason for Christmas with a local Iranian businessman and he asked if she would come and share the Gospel with his 60 employees. In...

New believer is overjoyed to receive her first Bible

Monday, November 29, 2021

After receiving a Bible for the first time, Maryam left a message for the person discipling her: 'I am forever thankful! You’ve made my heart so joyful! Thank you for this valuable gift! My heart is so happy!' There was overwhelming joy in her tear-filled voice. Maryam is just one of the thousands of new believers who have been discipled this year by another Iranian believer. She was able to...

Morning devotions, with the TV

Friday, October 23, 2009

Imagine you have been led to faith on the phone by a friend in another country and you have experienced the joy of Jesus in your heart and have a longing to read the Scriptures and hear more. But you have no Bible in the house and you have no idea where to buy one. All you know is that Bibles are banned. And you only know there are churches for Armenians and Assyrians...

Azeris, surprised by Scriptures

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Though 25% of Iranians are Azeris – ethnically Turks - they are very well integrated into Iran and are represented in all walks of life. Indeed the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamanei, is half Azeri. And though they have their own spoken language, Azeris have the same passion for the Persian language that all Iranians have. Persian is the only language they read. Due to this...

Satellite TV, over a thousand contacts a week

Monday, October 5, 2009

Such is the success of Satellite TV in giving people an opportunity to learn about Christianity that the government has made their own film which attempts to warn people of the danger of tuning in the Christian channels. It would seem the warning is not being heeded as Satellite TV agencies are growing – increasing their output, taking on more staff, and most crucially...

The Kurds, good things are happening

Monday, September 28, 2009

There are about five million Kurds in Iran, the rest of the 20 million are mainly either in Turkey or Iraq. In Iran there are some reports of Kurds coming to faith in Christ, but in terms of church growth, much more seems to have been happening in northern Iraq. It might well be that their faith will impact their kinsmen in Iran, as the Gospel in the East often moves...

Christian books, the famine continues

Friday, September 18, 2009

There is a Christian book famine in Iran. The West has hundreds of thousands of titles; the Arabic world thousands; but for highly literate Iran, there are just a few hundred titles. Despite a chronic lack of investment by the wider church in this area, some agencies have managed to expand the list in recent years, so now for example Iranians can read some C.S. Lewis...

Internet, a delicate information battle zone

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Bringing the Christian message to Iranians through the internet has had a major impact. However there are challenges, as Iran’s internet is one of the most tightly controlled in the world. All web traffic comes to the state owned Data Communication Company which means the government can virtually switch off the whole system, as happened in the immediate aftermath of...

Churches next door, their freedom should not be taken for granted

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

When a country closes, churches in neighboring countries become more important, and their freedom, however limited, should not be taken for granted. This is certainly true for Iran, where most of the surrounding countries could become even more restrictive in the coming months. Afghanistan is still closed; Pakistan is fighting anti Christian militants; apart from Dubai...

Travellers, may they encourage those who stayed at home

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The summer holidays are ending so this is the week when visitors to Iran from the Diaspora will be going back to mainly Europe and the USA and likewise visitors from Iran to the Diaspora will be returning home. There will be new members of Jesus’ family travelling in both directions; they now need to remain faithful at home. And some of the Christians visiting Europe...

The DVD, more reliable these days than satellite and internet

Monday, August 17, 2009

Since the uproar over the election results last month, the government’s attempts to impose an information blackout have severely disrupted Christian ministries using satellite TV and the internet. There have been reports that some channels have been unavailable for weeks. But the DVD is, of course, unaffected, and these days thousands of DVD’s of the Jesus film are...

Summer conference season for the Diaspora, can still bless Iran

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Diaspora Christians in the US and Europe are in the middle of Iranian church conference season. And they are great occasions. They tend to have a packed schedule, as believers are keen to make the most of their days together. Worship is fervent, fellowship intense, and the teaching nearly always challenging. Hundreds would testify to renewing their relationship with...

The Scriptures, whatever the weather

Monday, July 27, 2009

Tempting though it is for international Christians to speculate over the outcome of the ongoing political crisis in Iran, there is precious little they can do apart from praying – and making sure Iranians have access to the Bible, or at least the New Testament. This means sacrificially giving, and interceding for those involved in the dangerous job of getting...

Information blackout, good reminder of the importance of Scriptures and discipleship.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

It has got easier to phone Iran, but the internet is still often down severly hampering outreach. This blackout is a good reminder that still the most important resource for the church is 'living letters'
of trained leaders, and Scriptures in the hands of the church.
Training Christians face to face is virtually impossible inside the country, but a number of...

Not very easy when phone lines and internet are blocked

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

International phone lines and access to the internet have been severely restricted as the government tries to control the news leaving Iran while protests against the election results continue. This has impacted Christian agencies reaching out to Iran, especially satellite TV programmes that rely on the phone and the internet for follow up.
While viewers cannot...

Fifteen million under fifteen, and only fifteen titles

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The three “fifteens” in the task of reaching Iran’s children are a call for action. There are about fifteen million boys and girls under fifteen, probably more. Their minds are not yet made up on the great questions of life. They are like young people the world over: open and curious. They watch TV, they read, they love the internet – and for these fifteen million...