This story has been shared from our friends Elam Ministries, who are serving the Church in Iran

Did you know that the church in Iran is one of the fastest growing churches in the world?

Just 40 years ago, there were 500 known Christians from a Muslim background in Iran. Four prayer-soaked decades later, there are now closer to a million Iranian followers of Jesus – many of whom were formerly Muslims.

Faithful prayer partners over the years have consistently petitioned the Lord for the country of Iran and, by His grace, we are seeing the fruits of those prayers today.

There are three primary factors impacting the current growth of the church in Iran:

• Firstly, the church is growing through the courageous witness of evangelists like Hamid, a former mullah who gave his life to Jesus and is now boldly sharing the gospel with others.

• It’s also growing through God’s use of dreams and visions to reveal Himself to the many Iranians seeking grace and truth. Mojdeh and her friends saw a Christian show on satellite TV — and they mocked it. Later that night, all three girls had the same dream in which they met Jesus. Today, Mojdeh is being discipled and is growing as an evangelist.

• Lastly, the church in Iran is growing despite, and perhaps because of, persistent persecution. Ladan, an Iranian church leader, was sentenced to prison for her ministry work with house churches in Iran. She shared that while she was in her prison cell, she felt the prayers of the global church lifting her up. Rather than weakening her faith, she grew closer to God during her time in prison and continues to faithfully serve the Lord today.

Even while there is great risk to sharing Jesus, having Scriptures, and attending a house church, hundreds of thousands of Iranian Christians are still bravely taking that risk. 

Why? Because they know that Jesus is alive and persecution is never the end of the story.

We believe that the Iranian church is seeing unprecedented growth; in part because of the prayers of believers over decades and across countries, asking God to bring rescue and redemption to the people of Iran. We are literally watching those prayers being answered day by day.

Today, the thriving ministry in Iran is spilling over into neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, and God is raising up bold leaders eager to spread the hope of the Gospel to their own people. The prayers that have built the church in Iran are now reaping a harvest in its border countries.

As the story of the Iranian church continues to unfold, we encourage you to remember the millions more still waiting to hear the Good News.

You can be part of this remarkable story that God is writing for the Iran region. Join us as we boldly pray for God’s kingdom to be expanded in Iran and beyond. 

Join Elam and stand in prayer with them