Every second counts. Heart4Iran’s Edwin Abnous says, “When they call us, they cannot stay on the telephone for long — less than two minutes, and they have to cut the connection.” 

Abnous says that when the war started, the signal was suddenly blocked for Mohabat TV, Heart4Iran’s 24/7 Farsi satellite station. Their team scrambled to switch to a different satellite provider so that they could continue reaching into Iran. Not long after, a man named Armin managed to call Mohabat TV.

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

Armin told the call center staff member that he lives in a city near Tehran and was hearing missile strikes. 

“He was very nervous, and he said, ‘I want peace. That’s why I called Mohabat TV,'” says Abnous. “And after that conversation, he gave his heart to Jesus.” 

Please pray for call connections and great wisdom for Heart4Iran call center staff. Consider supporting their work as a tangible expression of your prayers. 

“Moments like this [call with Armin] are very emotional to me, when I hear and see things like that happen. If two minutes of phone conversation and an opportunity to get into the country provide such a life-changing experience for a person that will impact his eternity… God knows through [Armin] how many will be impacted, how many more people can be touched [by] Jesus’ gospel that we’re preaching into the country,” says Abnous.

Iran (Representative stock photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri via Unsplash)

God is responding to the prayers of people like you and is moving in Iran. 

“The more prayer warriors, the better. We need to stand in the gap and make sure the Iranian people receive the protection, especially the Church in the inside of the country,” says Abnous.

“A friend of ours, a partner, shared with me a picture of a house church baptizing while this is happening. [During] this uprising of protest, the church is still active and going.”

Header photo: Tehran, Iran (Stock photo courtesy of Seyed Amir Mohammad via Unsplash)

As the Islamic regime seeks to keep its grip on power, authorities are restricting internet access to control information. Connectivity has fallen below 1% in some areas, forcing Iranians to use VPNs and other covert methods to share videos and images of airstrikes.

Satellite television broadcasters like SAT-7 have become a critical — and often the only — source of independent information and biblical encouragement.

Photo courtesy of Artin Bakhan via Unsplash

John Cerniglia, President of SAT-7 USA, says, “We reach probably half a million viewers in Iran any given day, and we hear from about 50 of them per day.”

SAT-7 PARS, the ministry’s Farsi-language channel, broadcasts 24/7 directly into Iran, bypassing government censorship.

“It’s illegal to own a satellite, and actually the government will scan the rooftops of buildings and confiscate satellite dishes,” says Cerniglia. “Of course, it’s impossible to do that widespread in a nation of 85 million people…. We’re on the predominant satellite network that reaches Iran…and it is unblockable and uncensorable.”

SAT-7’s programming focuses on spiritual hope for Iranian Christians and those searching for truth and encouragement. Cerniglia explains, “We have straight-up preaching where somebody can tune in and get expository teaching and preaching on something like the Gospel according to John. Or we have themes around Lent or Advent, depending on the season of the year. We have live broadcasting…but a lot of the content, overwhelmingly, is Gospel-based.

“Even in times like war, as we are in now in the region, we try to help people understand: What’s a biblical worldview? What’s a biblical response to what people in the region are facing?”

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7)

Many viewers are part of Iran’s underground Church and contact SAT-7 via phone, email, or secure platforms like WhatsApp. The reports from recent months reveal the danger they face.

“When the government was cracking down, we heard from a viewer who told us that they were in an emergency room in a hospital, and the Iranian government came in and were shooting and killing patients [who were] seeking treatment because they had been out on the streets protesting the government.”

Amid the current strikes and uncertainty, fear is rising. Yet, faith persists. Cerniglia shares a prayer that SAT-7 received from a viewer in Iran.

“He wrote: ‘With all the sorrow, how can a man lay his head on the pillow and sleep?… Oh God, I believe that you are present and see all the injustice. So I lift my hands to you, and in the name of your only beloved Son, I ask you to intervene. Oh God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I ask you to shape the future of Iran according to your perfect will and bring joy and laughter in place of tears and sadness. I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.'”

Cerniglia asks, “Be praying that God’s hope would be just so obvious and accessible and visible to people – that the work of the Holy Spirit would overtake the work of a fearful mind or heart. I’m praying that God would work in miraculous ways, that the Prince of Peace would reign and rule in a region of darkness.”

Learn more about SAT-7’s vital broadcast ministry in Iran at sat7usa.org.

Header photo: Courtesy of SAT-7.

SAT-7 broadcasts Christian programming across the Middle East and North Africa in Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. Its Farsi-language channel, SAT-7 PARS, continues reaching viewers inside Iran — even when internet access and other communication channels are blocked by the government.

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

Joe Willey with SAT-7 says, “We know that satellite television is virtually uncensorable, and so we can broadcast even programs we have — and we’ve done this. Programs that are created to be online, we can actually broadcast those programs on satellite television. So we can still reach people with the Gospel and with the support that the people of Iran need.”

Willey recently spoke with an Iranian man who has been able to communicate with contacts inside the country. According to those reports, protests are not fading.

“Instead of these protests dwindling, the numbers are increasing,” Willey says.

“It’s a desperate situation, and of course, the information coming out of Iran is filtered through government channels, because the government has throttled digital communication. The internet — and anything that uses the internet — is really blacked out.”

While the sharp drop in the Iranian rial sparked the unrest on December 28, dissatisfaction with the Islamist authoritarian regime has been building for years amid strict Sharia law and ongoing human rights abuses.

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

“The shopkeepers started with economic protest because of a devalued currency and financial difficulty in the country,” Willey says. “That has spread to freedom and wanting a different lifestyle.”

That pressure is also driving deeper spiritual questions.

“Younger people and even older people have questioned the harshness and severity of life under this regime,” says Willey. “They will say, ‘Well, if this is religion, if this is God, I don’t want this. I’m oppressed.'”

But when they encounter the message of Christ, Willey says the response is striking.

“They say, ‘Wait, are you telling me that because of Christ, I can be free?’ It is a completely different message. It is the true hope of Scripture, and Iranians are eager to hear that because of what they’ve been through. So SAT-7 can still broadcast the message of freedom that ultimately is eternal in Christ.”

As Iranian Christians navigate this tense moment, Willey says their witness matters deeply.

“The difficult thing is for believers in Iran right now to be salt and light,” he says. “This is an opportunity, and it’s easy for me to say, but they have an opportunity to show the hope they have in Christ…. I honestly pray that a great awakening would happen in Iran.”

Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

A Christian woman inside Iran recently shared a prayer request with SAT-7: “Please pray for freedom for Iran and for us Christians in the country. The conditions are very hard, and I’ve not been able to get my medicines for several weeks. Food is not easier to find, and the state of education is unsatisfactory, with children feeling discouraged and young people struggling with hopelessness. Please keep Iran in your prayers.”

Header photo: Iran protests in Eastern Europe. (Photo courtesy of MNN)

Following Christ often carries a high cost. More about that here.

“If they catch you doing evangelism, translating the Bible, or leading someone to Christ, at the very least, they will put you in prison, and it could be quite worse,” Dane says.

Still, brave believers keep going – so every people group can hear God’s Word in their own language. “About half of Iran’s people speak a language other than the national language, [which] is Farsi,” Dane says.

That’s where unfoldingWord steps in. More about that here.

“We’re handing off the tools, training, and the technology to help our partners create a movement of Bible translation and church planting to every least-reached people group in their nation,” Dane says.

“It puts Bible translation into the hands of the Church, and you’re no longer dependent on Western PhD experts to do this.”

The end result is worth it all. “The first time somebody hears God’s Word in their own language, they weep,” Dane says.

(Graphic courtesy of unfoldingWord)

Help equip rapidly-growing church networks in Iran to translate and distribute unfoldingWordⓇ Open Bible Stories.

Pray for the Lord’s favor and blessing upon church-centric Bible translators in Iran.

“As soon as they’re done with that one book of the Bible, they can begin using it. They’ll share it chapter by chapter because many of these translators are pastors or house church leaders, so they can use it right away,” Dane says.

“Our partners in Iran have completed 18 translations of our unfoldingWordⓇ Open Bible Stories, which we call our translation primer, and they’re working on four New Testament translations.”

Pray for God’s miraculous healing to cover unfoldingWord’s partner, Transform Iran’s team of servant leaders. Several crises and chronic health challenges have hindered their work lately.

“Be unceasing in prayer because there are lots of obstacles,” Dane says. “There are economic, financial, government, and cultural obstacles, and obviously, all of that is empowered by spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of mostafa meraji/Pixabay.

Social rank applies even in death. Dane with unfoldingWord says, “Miriam is a Muslim background believer who always felt like a second-class citizen in Iran. She followed all the rules of Islam, but it never felt like enough.”

Death was always on her mind, Dane continues, and adds, “She just had no hope in Islam. Even when she was baking potatoes, she thought, ‘I’ll be baked in oil like this when I go to hell.’”

One day, Miriam heard the Gospel and placed her faith in Jesus. Then, she joined a team of church-centric Bible translators and received training from unfoldingWord.

“She said, ‘This is a dream come true. How can I explain sitting with my elderly mother and talking to her about Christ in the only language she knows?” Dane says.

“‘Finishing the translation means reaching more hearts, saving more people, and bringing them to heaven.’”

Believers translate Scripture

About half of Iran’s 90 million people use a language other than Farsi, the national language. unfoldingWord’s “Whole Bible, Whole Nation” project seeks to equip Iran’s rapidly growing church networks to translate and distribute unfoldingWordⓇ Open Bible Stories.

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

“Church planters need the Bible in those heart languages of Iran to plant healthy churches and disciple believers,” Dane says.

“We are equipping networks already at work in Iran with the tools, technology, and training to translate the Bible into those languages.”

Translating God’s Word is dangerous in a place like Iran. Here’s why. Ask the Lord to bless and protect Miriam and her team.

“She risks her life every time she opens her computer to help with this translation for her people,” Dane says.

Consider supporting unfoldingWord’s “Whole Bible, Whole Nation” project in Iran. Find more information and donate here.

“They’ve got 13 New Testament translations planned, but we’re waiting on funding. If God’s given you the ability and puts the call on you, we’d encourage you to give,” Dane says.

Header image is a representative photo courtesy of Habib Dadkhah/Unsplash.

Middle East/Near East (MNN) — God sends hope into the unrest of the Middle East and Near East today through a simple tool called “Storytellers” for kids.

These devices from Keys for Kids are handheld players loaded with audio Bibles and more. They’ve been translated in Urdu, Pashto and soon to be Farsi to reach entire communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond! 

Greg Yoder says they’ve heard incredible stories from distributions just this year. “Where we’re actually seeing not just kids coming to faith in Christ, not only memorizing Scripture, not only memorizing the stories, but adults being able to see the simplicity of what it means to follow Jesus Christ and want that in their own lives.” 

In recent years, one player somehow reached the son of a tribal chief in Pakistan. He was notorious as a bad, troublemaking boy, but two days after he started listening, his dad said, “What is going on with you? You’re now a nice kid. What is going on?”

(Photo of a boy in Pakistan with a Storyteller courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

His son said, “I know Jesus.” 

“What do you mean you ‘know Jesus’?” 

After his son started playing the storyteller for him, the chief then ordered 200 more players for other village kids. After the kids began to change, he instructed the imam to play the devotional content from the village mosque loud speaker. The village began to change!

There’s another layer! Not only Muslims but also Christians need the encouragement and content on these audio players. 

“The pastors and evangelists and lay leaders in this area of the world are saying they’re game changers, not just for evangelism, but for discipleship, because some of these pastors are learning more about the Bible than they’d ever known before,” says Yoder. 

“Since most of these pastors haven’t been Christians for very long — Muslim background believers — they’re learning as if they were a child learning about Scripture.” 

Today Keys for Kids is raising funds for thousands of players to load with content in Pashto, Urdu and soon Farsi. The opportunity is urgent, and the potential for impact is incredible! 

“Those two languages (Pashto and Urdu) need 10,000 units right now. Then, the Farsi translation project has already been started,” Yoder says. 

“We’re being told by pastors, especially in Pakistan, that they could use 3,000 units a month.”

Find your place in this story! Join the campaign with Keys for Kids to reach families in the Middle East and beyond with the hope of Jesus.

Header photo: Ameen, the son of a tribal leader in Pakistan, had a reputation as a rude and rebellious boy. However, his actions and attitude began to change after receiving a Storyteller. (Photo, caption courtesy of Keys for Kids)

As an Islamic nation, Iran has very few Christian resources for children. That’s why Heart4Iran’s virtual Sunday Schools are meeting such a deep need among Iranian kids.

Jennifer* is the manager of Heart4Iran’s Superbook Farsi program. She explains that each hour-long Sunday School outreach has two parts. The first 30 minutes are a TV broadcast of Superbook (a Bible-based kids’ TV series) supported by additional content. 

The host of the virtual Sunday School program, also an Iranian believer from a Muslim background, came to Christ through Heart4Iran’s Mohabat TV.
(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“We have Academy videos — Bible background that are very helpful in understanding the history of the Bible story. [We have] Signpost videos [on] how, for example, the Daniel story relates to Jesus and how it relates to our life today.”

After that first half hour, kids then get to interact with other Christians.

“We go live for 30 minutes on social media — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram — to worship. We [also] talk about the topic of that day’s program, and then do the craft related [to the program],” Jennifer says. “We have a lot of [responses] through that. It’s exciting!” 

You can help change kids’ lives with Heart4Iran through Superbook and virtual Sunday schools by prayer and support. 

“Pray for God’s transformational touch through this program (Superbook), reaching out to save all children, particularly those in Iran,” says Jennifer.

“I always say one day, if I go to heaven and only five kids come to me and say ‘I came to Christ through Superbook,’ I’m like, [it’s] worth all the hassle and everything [involved in this work] — even just five, even just one, right? It’s worth it!”

Visit www.heart4iran.com to learn more and support ministries like virtual Sunday School with Heart4Iran. 

*Name withheld for security reasons.

Header photo courtesy of Heart4Iran. 

Transform Iran is working tirelessly to change this by translating the Bible into Iran’s ethnic languages. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

Transform Iran and Strategic Resource Group recently completed audio dramatizations of all four Gospels in Gilaki. The rest of the New Testament is due for completion by Spring 2024.

“We overlay sound effects; we have original music in Gilaki style on Gilaki instruments to support the audio dramatization,” Transform Iran’s Lana Silk says.

“When that’s broadcast using the radio station and other forms of communication, the people of Gilan will be immediately captivated.”

Initial feedback is encouraging:

“I am a Gilaki from Rasht, and I am thrilled to hear God’s word so powerfully expressed in my own language. What creativity! What music! What a message! God bless you all for making this a reality!” (Monir, Gilaki believer)

“This is a first in our language. Since I came to know Christ at the age of 17 (now 45 years old), I have not read or heard anything so extraordinary as to grip my heart like this. I commend you for doing it but also for the talent and artfulness with which you have completed it.” (Habib, Gilaki believer)

The audio productions will fuel evangelism and discipleship efforts among the Gilaki. “There are three million Gilakis in Gilan with no established churches in that region and no church growth,” Silk says.

“We’re very excited to come in with the New Testament and help establish churches in this region and in this language.”

Scripture dramatizations make the Bible “come alive.” More ethnic minorities will benefit from this approach in the years to come.

“A lot of people in the ethnic communities in Iran don’t have strong literacy in their own language because the government has been so prohibitive in how it’s allowed these languages to be taught at schools,” Silk explains.

“They will not necessarily be confident reading and writing [in these languages]. So, when you come in with the Gospel, it’s really important to bring it to them in an audio format so they can fully connect to it.”

Connect with Transform Iran here to learn how you can help.

“Iran is an exciting place to be in ministry,” Silk says.

“There is a huge amount of openness and hunger, the kind of openness and hunger that we pray for in our own communities.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Rahib Yaqubov/Pexels.

Iran (MNN) — History, current events, and the decisions of those in power create one general impression about Iran.

“We consider Iran closed and impossible, perhaps hopeless. And yet, when we see what God is actually doing, our understanding changes,” Transform Iran’s Lana Silk says.

“Iran is a land of opportunity for the Gospel because millions upon millions of Iranians are disillusioned with Islam.”

In order to know the God of the Bible, Iranians need access to Scripture in their heart language and Christians who understand their context. Only four of Iran’s 39 languages have the full Bible. More about that here.

“Some of these languages will have fragments; they might have, say, The JESUS Film, or tools like that. But by and large, the Church is not established in these communities, and the Gospel has not penetrated through,” Silk says.

“Up to 30 million people in Iran do not have the Bible in their language.”

(Graphic courtesy of Transform Iran)

Through a partnership with unfoldingWord, Strategic Resource Group, and others, Transform Iran is advancing Bible translations in several minority languages. Believers completed a Gilaki New Testament last year.

“There are 3 million Gilakis in Gilan, with no established churches in that region and no church growth,” Silk says.

“We’re very excited to come in with the New Testament and help establish churches in this region and this language.”

It is crucial to translate the Bible into minority languages such as Gilaki for several reasons.

“The language currently used to communicate the Gospel is the language of the authorities (Farsi). That’s the same language used to control and oppress these people groups, so you’re creating walls in their hearts,” Silk says.

“It’s really important when we communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ, we do it in their heart language.”

Support Bible translation in Iran here through Transform Iran.

You can also “go on social media, follow us, share, like – all the things that will increase connection for others to find out what God is doing in Iran,” Silk requests.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov/Unsplash.

Joe Willey with SAT-7 says Iranian believers have to be very careful trying to find connections with other Christians.

“These are believers who do not have access to a church like perhaps we do here in the West where they can say, ‘I’m going to attend this church.’ They’re meeting underground. They’re not able to freely share their faith without the threat of persecution.”

Some contact SAT-7 PARS Audience Relations Specialists at great personal risk to ask for prayer and share their stories. (Image courtesy SAT-7)

SAT-7 PARS is SAT-7’s Persian-language satellite channel broadcasting biblical programs to Persian-language-speaking countries.

Through their ministry, SAT-7 is a contact point for Iranian believers seeking Christian community.

“It’s difficult to do in person, of course, and we do not have any personnel in the nation of Iran. But what we also do through social media [and] through our viewer support team is provide an opportunity for those who have questions to connect with other believers as well as the programs that are there to let them know that they are not alone, that there are people who are praying for them.”

You can support isolated Christians in Iran with SAT-7! Learn more at SAT-7’s website.

Then, pray. Willey says, “That is a great need and a great way to pray — that those who are alone can have a community of believers and encourage one another in Christ.”

Header photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri/Unsplash.