Reverend Shah Ahmadi with Iran Alive Ministries says discipleship for new believers in Iran includes this message: “If you want to follow Christ, you should be ready to lose everything.” 

But one of Iran Alive’s contacts was honest with God after she and her husband first became Christians.

She would cry in bed at night. “I love you, Jesus. I love what you did. I accept you. But it’s very hard for me practical[ly] to go to [the] Iranian regime and prison, whatever [could happen]. So don’t test me, don’t put me in that kind of place.”

(Representative stock photo from Iran courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash)

Then what she feared came true. Her husband was arrested and so was she. Then came the moment she stood before a judge. 

“Are you a Christian?” he asked her. 

It was her chance to say no and claim she had been deceived. She was ready to do just that… but suddenly she found she was mute! 

In her heart she recognized God giving her a choice to deny or not deny Him. She realized she would rather speak and go to prison than remain mute and perhaps go free. 

“During that time, I receive[d] a special grace and boldness I never had — scared like a baby! Suddenly my lips start opening, and I start testifying: ‘Yes, I am a Christian. I used to be afraid of sharing, and now God gave me grace to share with you.”

Representative stock photo from Tehran, Iran (Photo courtesy of Soroush via Unsplash)

God gave her a word of knowledge about the judge: “You [are] going through marriage problem,” she told him. “If you want to save your life, you need to give your life to Jesus Christ.”

Later, the judge visited her one-on-one in a prison cell, asking how she knew what he was going through. The presence of God came to her again. She said it was God-given knowledge and only Jesus could save the judge’s marriage. 

“I’m going to help you and your husband get out of the prison,” the judge told her, “and you help me and my wife to be disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Ahmadi says these two couples are now disciples of Christ inside Iran. 

“This is one of the most brave [stories], because I see their weakness, and I see a power of God. I see a grace of God in our most vulnerable area, [when] we are unable to do anything,” Ahmadi says. 

Please take a moment and pray for strength for Iranian Christians under extraordinary pressure today. During 2024, nearly 100 Iranians Christians were sentenced to a combined 263 years in prison, a massive uptick compared to 2023 (source: Article18).

Connect with Iran Alive Ministries for more stories and opportunities to stand with the Iranian church. 

Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Aliata Karbaschi via Unsplash.

In the meantime, the people of Iran endure skyrocketing inflation as Iran’s economy reels from sanctions. But incredible things are happening there spiritually. The Iranian church is multiplying, and their example can offer encouragement and challenge to believers in the West, says Shah Ahmadi with Iran Alive Ministries.

For example, Iranian believers know there is a price to follow Christ. “[They learn] Jesus died on the cross. He rose after three days, He already gave His life to you. Come and follow, but you may lose everything,” Ahmadi says. “So that is one thing I would encourage to change perspective [in the West]. [The] gospel is not about you. Gospel is about Jesus Christ and following Him.” 

Ahmadi also shares a call to treasure God’s Word and pursue fellowship with other believers, both of which are so dangerous to come by in Iran.

“Inside Iran, it took one month to get [a] Bible to some person. We had to smuggle our Bible inside Iran. We had to put [it] in very unknown place, take a screenshot, send location, send three different people to put there, and then ask, ‘can someone come and pick that Bible?’ It’s just been a heavy, heavy process of having just one Bible in there,” he says.

(Photo by Inimafoto A/Pexels)

“In Iran, people, they die for going to house churches. Iranian government believes in power of the church more than we [in the West] do. That’s why they arrest them.”

The fourth encouragement he brings up is the most important one, he says. “Share with others. Share with others. Don’t hold back the good news. You can share with your friend, your family, your coworkers and in many creative ways, but share it. Sharing is not pastor’s job or evangelists’ job. Every one of us, we play [a] role [in] sharing the love of God with other people.” 

Find your place in the story

If you worship in Western churches, ask God to help you make the most of your freedoms. Pray for Iranian brothers and sisters in Christ and let their challenges spur you on after God. 

“They say, ‘Don’t pray the persecution finish. Pray we could be faithful during that persecution,” says Ahmadi.

Finally, here is his simple suggestion for church multiplication in the West.

“My strategy is this: if each member of the church in next year [will] bring one person to Christ, the church will be double[d].” Sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? Is there a way your church could begin encouraging and (if needed) training people for a year of outreach?

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy mentatdgt via Pexels.

It’s a sobering snapshot of dual realities in Iran today: Iranians are coming to Christ like never before, and the persecution they face is relentless. 

Shah Ahmadi with Iran Alive Ministries explains imprisonment is a key strategy of the Iranian regime.

(Representative stock photo of boy in Tehran, Iran courtesy of Fateme Alaei via Unsplash.)

“Some people get baptized. Only for baptism, they go more than five years being in prison. If you hold the Bible, you go to prison. If you evangelize, you go to prison,” he says. 

Entire families suffer the emotional strain of separation as well as the loss of one of their breadwinners. But that’s not all Christians in Iran face. 

“[If the government knows] they become a Christian, they don’t have a right to go to university. They don’t have a right to work in many jobs,” says Ahmadi. 

He adds that the Iranian government has been accusing believers involved in home churches as threats against the Iranian government.

“They [are] saying these (house churches) are having some kind of relationship with Israel, some kind of relation with America. They try to make political things of that. So they say, ‘Oh, we are not against Christianity. We are against this (political) movement.’”

Despite the difficulties, many Iranians say Jesus is worth it. Iran is still one of the fastest growing churches today.

“In Iran around 50 years ago, there was 10,000 believers. Right now, [there are] more than 2 million believers,” says Ahmadi. 

Why the growing Church?

It’s important for us to understand some of the context for Iran’s Christian community growing so much. Here are insights from Ahmadi.

1) God is reaching Iranians through dreams and visions of Jesus. He did that in Ahmadi’s own life as well as the lives of some of his family members. 

2) The power of the gospel and prayer is leading to salvation (Romans 1:16).

“Many people [have] been praying from America, England, Europe to inside Iran see salvation, and God [is] answering prayers,” says Ahmadi. “Spiritual warfare has been going on, people [are] battling, but right now, they [are] receiving Christ in amazing ways.”

People hear the gospel from family who have accepted Christ. They also hear it through satellite TV, one of the ways Iran Alive sends the hope of Christ into Iran.

(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)

3) The discontent Iranians have toward their government is pushing them away from Islam. 

Iranians know their history. Ahmadi says they see how kings in the Persian era were an incredible empire. In their own lifetime they remember Iran’s prosperity and freedom before the Islamic revolution of 1979. They compare it with the oppression they are under today.

“[They say] ‘Why this history happened to us?’ So this generation, they read. This generation, they search. They go to Instagram, they search in through AI and everything,” says Ahmadi.

“Why this [growing of the Church] happening? Because many people [are] leaving Islam. They don’t want to do anything with religion. So through the satellite, through social media, through the hearing [of] the gospel, some of them [come] to Christ Jesus.”

How we can respond

(Photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri/Unsplash)

More and more Iranians are grasping the hope of Christ in a seriously hostile nation. Please pray for them to be faithful to Christ and witness to others even under persecution. Pray that especially for the three Christians sentenced in March 2025 to long prison terms.

Pray for God’s protection as new believers go through spiritual warfare. 

Then, learn more about partnering with Iran Alive Ministries. Sign up to receive their emails or print newsletters to receive specific prayer requests and partnering opportunities. Pray for God’s blessing on their critical ministry to Iran. Connect with Iran Alive here. 

Header image is a representative stock photo from Iran, courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash.