"I've never seen love like this"

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

"I have never seen love like this" said Iranian social media influencer Ahmad Moinshirazi recently in a reel shared with his 600,000+ followers.

Ahmad - a retired Iranian pro-kickboxer in exile - was talking about his experience of visiting an Iranian church in the region and seeing them pray passionately for the current unrest across Iran.

Iranian worship leaders profoundly changed

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Through a recent advanced training course, 23 Persian-speaking worship leaders have developed new skills and gained a fresh passion for ministry.

The worship leaders - who had previously completed a foundational worship training program with Elam - enjoyed two weeks growing in core musical skills together. While the focus was practical, God's work went deeper into many hearts. “God really surprised us,” shares one of the mentors and teachers, Roozbeh. “There were many healings, dreams and visions. Shy students became confident. Wounded hearts were mended.”

She assaulted a colleague. Now she serves Jesus.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Elnaz swung fiercely at Leila, hitting her hard across the face.

Their co-workers stared in astonishment. They had seen Elnaz and Leila argue previously, but it had never before escalated to violence. Leila was quivering in shock, shielding her rapidly-bruising cheek and damaged ear.

Thank you to everyone who has got me this Bible!

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

In June 2022, new believer Amir received his first Bible. From Iran, he left us this voice message:
“Thank you! Thank you to everyone who has got me this Bible!”
Amid his joy, Amir understood that God had used many faithful people in the process of getting the Bible into his hands.

In Iran, Bibles in Persian are not freely available because the government knows that when Persian-speaking, Muslim-background people read it, many meet Jesus.

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...