This summer, hundreds of young refugees in a country near Iran are eagerly anticipating “Rock Academy” soccer (football) tournaments. One of them is Mahan.

Mahan has loved soccer for as long as he can remember, but because of a congenital limb difference, he wasn’t given the chance to pursue his passion.

During May, we will host a residential training for many graduates of our three-month course who are now serving the church in the Iran region.

As around 100 ministry leaders and their children get ready to join us for this strategic conference, we'd value your prayers for these precious people and for those who are preparing to teach and encourage them.

Zahra’s story starts with a Persian New Testament.

It was 15 years ago that Zahra first found a New Testament. In a private home in Iran where she worked as a cleaner, Zahra noticed the small red book on a shelf. Intrigued by the notorious ‘Injil’, she quietly slipped it into her bag.

Nowruz, or Persian New Year, is the first day of spring and an occasion for much celebration and joy among Iranians.

Christians in Iran are particularly praying for chances to start conversations about Jesus as they mark the occasion with relatives.

26 emerging leaders are currently studying our foundational 3-month church planting and evangelism course in the Iran region.

The students are bonding well together amid their intensive studies, and are already catching the vision to share the message of Jesus with others. The students regularly take part in practical ministry assignments in addition to classroom learning, including prayer walks, practical service and evangelism.

In one month, the biggest celebration of the year for Persian speakers (Iranians, Afghans, Tajiks) will be upon us: Nowruz, or Persian New Year.

In Iran this beloved celebration falls this year on March 20th. It is followed by a holiday period in which many Iranians travel the country to visit family, and others take the opportunity to go on vacation overseas.

We are praising God that our worship team has just released a brand new album of worship music for Persian-speaking youth.

The title song, "Only One" (which refers to Jesus being the only true Lord, and the only one worthy of our worship), was recorded at one of our youth conferences in the Iran region in 2023.

During December, our Weekly Fellowship resource unpacks the four "Songs of Christmas" in Luke's Gospel. The significance of Christ's birth is explored through the songs of Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon, with a new resource released each Friday.

A few months ago, a thief mugged a Christian. At first the Christian tried to plead for his phone, but the thief threatened him and took everything he had - including his phone and backpack which contained several New Testaments. 

Later, the thief read the Scriptures and felt a conviction he’d never sensed before. He wanted to know more. He switched on the stolen phone and called the recently dialled numbers on the phone until he managed to track down the owner.

In 2023, hundreds of Iranian and Afghan kids and youth have been impacted by sports ministry run by local Iranian churches. One of them is Saeed.

Saeed’s mother died when he was just nine years old.

When his abusive, drug-addicted father then abandoned the family, young Saeed was left to fend for himself. Separated from his brother and sister, he scraped a living on the streets of Iran before being taken into a state-run welfare home.

20 years ago, the first New Testaments were printed in the New Millennium Persian translation. No one who was there to receive that first shipment could have imagined the immense impact this New Testament would have on Iran over the following two decades.

Over the past week, the Lord has ministered to the hearts of more than 170 Persian-speaking teenagers through residential retreats in the Iran region.

"They are a generation hungry for the Lord," reported one of the ministry leaders. "They arrived carrying many wounds and burdens but, as they've come with open hearts, the Lord has been at work beautifully among them."

There are tens of thousands of Persian-speaking refugees in Greece, and trained Iranian Christians have a heart to love and serve them while reaching them with the Gospel.

Last month, 250 Persian-speaking refugees attended two evangelistic worship nights in Greece where many of them heard the Gospel explained in their own language for the first time.

Right now, 13 Iranian youth leaders are taking part in an eight-week training program in the Iran region. These emerging leaders represent nine churches serving 80+ youth. They would greatly value your prayers.

The group recently started their training with a one-week residential module.

Iranian Christians are giving out tens of thousands of New Testaments during the ongoing Persian New Year (Nowruz) holidays.

Eighteen of those out sharing the Good News are students currently on our three-month evangelism and church-planting course in a county near Iran. They have had many encouraging encounters so far.

There are many outreach events and initiatives happening during the Christmas period, with a vision of introducing more people to Emmanuel, our God who is with us. We would deeply value your prayers for the following:

"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.

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.”

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.

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.