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Daily Prayer for the Church in Iran — Start Iran 30 Today

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Prayer as a Battle Cry with Francis Chan & Sara Akhavan - On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond E1

Welcome to our new series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond.

Prayer has always been foundational to Elam’s ministry and central to the life of the Iranian Church. In this series, we’re bringing together a voice from the Iranian Church and a voice from the wider Church to explore what we can learn from each other about prayer.

In this episode, Chrissy speaks with pastor and author Francis Chan and Sara Akhavan, an Iranian church planter who spent time in prison because of her faith in Jesus. Together, they explore what it means to battle in prayer, because whether we face persecution like Sara or the ordinary struggles of everyday life, the fight is real.

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ON PRAYER: VOICES FROM IRAN AND BEYOND

Prayer as a Battle Cry with Francis Chan & Sara Akhavan - On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond E1
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Prayer as a Battle Cry with Francis Chan & Sara Akhavan - On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond E1

Welcome to our new series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond.

Prayer has always been foundational to Elam’s ministry and central to the life of the Iranian Church. In this series, we’re bringing together a voice from the Iranian Church and a voice from the wider Church to explore what we can learn from each other about prayer.

In this episode, Chrissy speaks with pastor and author Francis Chan and Sara Akhavan, an Iranian church planter who spent time in prison because of her faith in Jesus. Together, they explore what it means to battle in prayer, because whether we face persecution like Sara or the ordinary struggles of everyday life, the fight is real.

CURRENT episode

ON PRAYER: VOICES FROM IRAN AND BEYOND

Prayer has always been foundational to Elam’s ministry and central to the life of the Iranian church. In this unique series, we’re bringing together a voice from the Iranian church and a voice from the global Church to explore what we can learn from each other about prayer.

CURRENT SERIES

October 9, 2026

56:12

Welcome to our new series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, On Prayer: Voices from Iran and Beyond.

Prayer has always been foundational to Elam’s ministry and central to the life of the Iranian Church. In this series, we’re bringing together a voice from the Iranian Church and a voice from the wider Church to explore what we can learn from each other about prayer.

In this episode, Chrissy speaks with pastor and author Francis Chan and Sara Akhavan, an Iranian church planter who spent time in prison because of her faith in Jesus. Together, they explore what it means to battle in prayer, because whether we face persecution like Sara or the ordinary struggles of everyday life, the fight is real.

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Prayer has always been foundational to Elam’s ministry and central to the life of the Iranian church. In this unique series, we’re bringing together a voice from the Iranian church and a voice from the global Church to explore what we can learn from each other about prayer.

These are individual episodes that don’t fit into any of our other categories — but we believe they will encourage our listeners!

Welcome to our new Hidden Gems season of Jesus Speaks Farsi, where we're revisiting some of our favorite conversations from our library.


At the start of each episode we'll hear from someone on the Jesus Speaks Farsi team about why they think this hidden gem is worth revisiting in these days.

Amid War is a series documenting the experiences of Iranian Christians and churches living through conflict, uncertainty, and persecution. Through personal stories, prayer, worship, and firsthand updates, the series highlights how faith continues to endure and grow even in the midst of war.

Did you know that Iranians living in the West play a vital role in sharing the Gospel inside Iran?
In this new season, we explore Send Hope Back Home—an exciting initiative to equip and mobilize Iranian believers in the diaspora to share the hope of Jesus with their loved ones in Iran.

Through three simple steps—and using Elam’s proven tools and resources—believers can:


  • Share the Gospel and Send Bibles securely to friends and family in Iran,

  • Disciple them remotely one-to-one, and

  • Help them gather in fellowship.


Filled with powerful stories, practical insights, and fresh vision, this season will encourage you with what God is already doing—and invite you and your church to join in. Learn more at elam.com/send-hope.

In this bonus series we will hear stories from the Iranian church and learn how to pray for them amid the ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel.

In this 5-part series on the podcast, we’re unpacking the idea that in God’s kingdom, everyone has a part to play. We’re so encouraged to see that in the church, it's often the most unlikely people, who as they are being faithfully obedient, are bringing so much fruit to the kingdom. In this collection of conversations, we talk about how women, Afghans, and youth, among others, are playing pivotal roles in the growth of the Persian-speaking church.


Ordinary people are impacting the church in extraordinary ways every day. We’re honored to share their stories with you.

"Jesus Speaks Farsi" is back with new conversations about the story God is writing in the Iran region. We're so glad you can join us!

In this 4-part series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, the podcast team chats with Iranian believers whose stories of coming to faith are slightly different than what we’ve previously shared on Jesus Speaks Farsi.

We’ll be exploring how every Christian’s story is a uniquely different thread in the same beautiful tapestry of God’s kingdom. We hope this series stirs your imagination for the Church and for how your particular story fits into the larger story God is writing.

In this 4-part series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, Joe, Jennifer and Dara Lynn talk with believers who are part of the growing church movement among Persian-speakers. Specifically, these stories offer insight into what on-the-ground church planting looks like in the Iran region and beyond.


While the idea of church planting is familiar to many of us in the Western church, planting a church in the Iran region looks quite a bit different from what we might imagine. We hope these conversations will give clarity to the challenges and triumphs of the Persian-speaking church today.

In this 4-part series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, we’re talking with a few Iranian friends who have experienced deeper faith and ministry after spending time in prison for following Jesus. If you’ve listened to Jesus Speaks Farsi for long, you may have heard our earlier conversations with Anahita, Sara and Ladan. If not, we’d encourage you to go back and listen to their stories of how they came to know Jesus. You can find Anahita and Ladan’s stories in our Persecution series and Sara’s story in our Women In Iran series.


We believe conversations like these are important for the global church to hear, reminding us that Jesus is still alive, the Gospel is still true, and persecution is never the end of the story.

In this 5-part series of Jesus Speaks Farsi, we’ll be talking to friends whose lives have been deeply impacted and shaped by the story of Iran’s church – even though they’re all from the West.


Our hope is that in hearing their stories on how they’ve become involved, your imagination would also be stirred for ways the Lord might have you become more deeply connected to what God is doing in the global church.

The sort of encounters with Jesus that we see in Acts — like dreams, visions, and miracles — are still happening today in Iran.


In this six-part series, we’ll speak with Iranian men and women who have had such experiences and hear the insights they’ve gained into the love of Christ through the miraculous.


Our prayer is that you would be encouraged and stirred along the way to imagine new possibilities with Christ as we remember that we worship a living God.

It’s a simple story that can be summarized in just two sentences: 


Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the church in Iran has become one of the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ.


Journey with us through the first series of Jesus Speaks Farsi as we hear first hand stories from three different Iranian church leaders who were stripped of their freedom and thrown into prison for their faith.


This five-part series on the Jesus Speaks Farsi podcast will cover the intense persecution endured by the Iranian house church movement during Christmas 2010.

Countless women suffer oppression everyday within the Islamic Republic of Iran. Women are legally devalued in Iran and many have been treated as second-class citizens in their homes and communities.


Despite their suffering, Iranian women are encountering the love of Jesus and sharing their newfound freedom with others. Many of them are becoming powerful leaders and evangelists within the Iranian underground church movement.


Join us for this five-part series on the Jesus Speaks Farsi podcast where we’ll hear from some of the women spearheading this incredible movement.

The Bible has been transforming lives for thousands of years— and it’s still happening today inside Iran.


Despite being banned in the Farsi language, courageous Iranian Christians are taking great risks to distribute Bibles and New Testaments to people in Iran who are searching for truth. And as people read the Scriptures, they are encountering the living God and finding new life in Him.


During this third series of the Jesus Speaks Farsi podcast, we’ll learn the story of the Bible in Iran’s church through the generations, how it came to be translated into modern-day Persian (Farsi), and the impact it is having on millions of people across Iran.

In this series we will add new episodes from time to time to update our listeners on current events impacting the church in Iran and Iranian culture.

Did you know that the church in Iran is one of the fastest growing churches in the world? Farsi-speaking people are meeting Jesus every day and seeing their lives transformed by the Gospel. The Jesus Speaks Farsi podcast seeks to share the stories of these brave men and women, stirring your imagination for what is possible with God. We hope these stories remind you that Jesus is alive, the Gospel is still true, and that God is writing an incredible story for His church that you can participate in.

CURRENT SERIES

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