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WHO WE ARE
ELAM'S STORY
WHO WE ARE
OUR NAME
WHO WE ARE
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Elam Ministries is a member of the Evangelical Alliance in the UK and subscribes to their statement of faith, which is as follows:
Evangelical Christians accept the revelation of the triune God given in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and confess the historic faith of the Gospel therein set forth.
- The sovereignty and grace of the triune God - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in creation, providence, revelation, redemption and final judgment.
- The divine inspiration and infallibility of the Old and New Testaments as originally given and their consequent entire trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
- The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen man, making him subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
- The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, as the sole and all-sufficient grounds of redemption from the guilt and power of sin and from its eternal consequences.
- The justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ who was crucified and bodily raised from the dead.
- The illuminating, regenerating, indwelling and sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit.
- The priesthood of all believers who form the universal church, the body of which Christ is the head and which is committed by His command to the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world.
- The expectation of the personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory.
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WHO WE ARE
LEADERSHIP & FINANCIALS
WHO WE ARE
ENDORSEMENTS
Dr. Malcolm Webber, Strategic Global Alliance/LeaderSource
“One of the great privileges of my life has been to know Sam Yeghnazar and his son David, and the others on Elam’s team and to serve with them in leader development work among Iranians. The strategic importance of Iran to the Middle East – and to the entire Muslim world – cannot be over-emphasized. Healthy leader development and discipleship are critical to the continued harvest of the lost and the building of the Iranian church. Elam’s commitment to transformational training programs is exemplary. Many of those they have trained are known as highly effective evangelists and church planters – servant leaders. Only eternity will reveal the full extent of the fruit of this strategic work.”
Patrick Johnstone, Author “Operation World”
“For some years I have followed the efforts to proclaim the Gospel to the Persian-speaking world and related areas of the Middle East. I have rejoiced in the victories and wept over the suffering and setbacks of the Christians in the area. The developing work of Elam Ministries and the burden of its founder, my friend Sam Yeghnazar, I see as one of the keys for future progress for Christ’s Kingdom among the diverse peoples of this strategic part of the world. I commend this unique ministry as worthy of the support of Christians around the world.”
George Verwer, Founder, Operation Mobilisation
“The Iranians represent one of the most unreached people in the world. I just praise God for the work of Sam Yeghnazar and all his co-workers at Elam Ministries. I trust more of God’s people will become partners with them.”
Stuart Briscoe, Telling the Truth Ministries
“The country and people of Iran feature regularly in the Western media but relatively little is known in the West about the church in this great land. The ministry of Elam is deeply involved in supporting, encouraging, equipping and expanding the outreach of this church and I heartily endorse the work they are doing.”
LEGAL ENTITIES
Elam Ministries is a registered charity (no. 1099143) and a company limited by guarantee (no. 4594727) in England and Wales.
Elam Ministries, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in the United States (EIN 58-2134253).
Elam Ministries Australia is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. ABN 79 623 530 889
Elam Ministries Germany e.V. (“Elam Germany”) is an association registered with the District Court of Frankfurt am Main under the following registration number: 16348
Elam Hellas amke is a registered charity in Greece under the following registration number: 996766135.
GOVERNANCE
Each legal entity listed above has its own board with a majority of independent board members.
For security reasons, we do not list the names of our board members.
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
DAVID YEGHNAZAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
David has served with Elam for over two decades and was appointed Executive Director in 2014. Born in Iran, David’s family has been serving the Iranian church for three generations. He co-wrote Iran 30, an informational prayer guide translated into seven languages. He is a national and international speaker and has appeared on Christian radio and television programs advocating for the persecuted church. He is based in the UK, where he resides with his wife, Louise, and their children, Grace, Theo, Hope, and Beata.
For security reasons, we do not list the complete names of our executive leadership team online.
FINANCIALS
Elam Ministries, Inc. (USA) and Elam Ministries (UK) have their financials audited on an annual basis by independent auditors. Copies are available upon request.
Elam USA is a member of the Evangelical Center of Financial Accountability.
Elam Ministries Australia was established in 2018. Elam Ministries Germany was established in 2019. The financials of both entities are reviewed regularly by their majority-independent boards.
HOW AND WHEN ELAM BEGAN
Elam’s story begins with Rev. Sam Yeghnazar, one of Iran’s most senior church leaders. Iranian by birth and a key leader in the United Bible Societies, Sam became the pastor of a small Iranian fellowship in London in 1984 while working with UBS. He served for 20 years as pastor and the church became the largest congregation of Iranian Muslim converts outside Iran at the time. Sensing the openness of Iranians to the Gospel, Sam left the UBS in 1986 to dedicate his life to ministry among Iranians.
In 1990, Sam Yeghnazar founded Elam Ministries with a vision to reach the Persian-speaking world for Christ. To do this, Elam College was established – the only Persian-speaking residential Bible training center in the world. At the time, there were fewer than 10 Persian speakers in the entire world with formal Bible training. Several years later, Elam began working with Wycliffe Bible Translators to develop a new translation of the Bible in modern-day Persian: the New Millennium Version, which was completed in 2014.
Today, Elam trains and mentors emerging leaders for effective ministry at a variety of levels and to serve in multiple contexts across the Persian-speaking world.
CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE
Since its inception, Elam has experienced significant growth through the Lord’s blessing and the increasing spiritual hunger of the Iranian people. Programs now include leadership development, church planting, Scripture printing and distribution, women’s ministry, family ministry, satellite TV and media ministry, resource translation and development, advocacy and relief for persecuted Iranian Christians, and a growing ministry to Persian-speaking refugees outside of the Iran region.
We believe that Iran is at a turning point. By God’s grace, despite increasing hostility to the church from Iran’s government, we continue to see rapid church growth as the Gospel is proclaimed to Iranians. Therefore, we believe the future holds a significant expansion of ministry efforts in evangelism, discipleship, leadership development and church planting through direct ministry, TV and media.
OUR NAME
Elam was founded just a decade after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. At the time, many thought Iran’s tiny church would wither away and die under intense persecution.
However, Elam’s founders had a firm conviction that regardless of who sits on earthly thrones, Jesus reigns from His heavenly throne. Our name, Elam, is taken from Jeremiah 49:38 where God says, “I will set my throne in Elam.” (Elam was a kingdom in ancient times that became an important region within the Persian empire).
So, our name is a statement of faith that the Lord will keep His promise and have His way in Iran. It is a prayer that His Kingdom will indeed come to Iran. That is why whatever the political circumstances, our mission remains the same: to strengthen and expand the church in the Iran region and beyond.
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