The lawyer representing four Christian converts who were each sentenced to ten years' imprisonment received a notice that the appeal hearing in their case would take place on October 4, 2017. It is not yet clear if the hearing went ahead and, if so, whether a ruling has since been issued.

The four men, Yousef Nadarkhani, Mohammadreza Omidi, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Saheb Fadaie, were convicted in June 2017 of propagating house churches and promoting ‘Zionist Christianity’ and were given excessive sentences.

Since they were taking communion at the time of their arrest on May 13, 2016, Yasser, Saheb and Mohammadreza were in a separate court case charged with consumption of alcohol. On September 10, 2016 they were sentenced to 80 lashes each. Their appeal against this sentence still remains outstanding.

 Please pray for justice for these men, and strength for them and their families.
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Sara* has a heart for evangelism. So during 2017 we hosted her for two-weeks of intensive discipleship and training outside Iran.
 
Upon returning home, Sara immediately began distributing Scriptures. Inside each copy she slips a note explaining a way to get in touch securely with a trained Christian leader via social media.
 
Already people are coming to Christ through her ministry and being discipled digitally by mature leaders.
 
Although evangelism is risky in Iran, many believers are bravely finding ways to share the Gospel with others.
 
We are committed to continuing to train and encourage evangelists like Sara. And we are determined never to leave those on the frontline without the Scriptures.

Thank you for your support which allows us to stand with Sara and many others.
 
Please join us in praying for:

• Those who have come to faith through Sara’s ministry
• God’s blessing on all evangelists bravely serving the Lord in Iran and the wider region
• Nearly 100 Iranians who will receive two weeks' of discipleship training before the end of 2017, equipping many others like Sara to be evangelists.

Grace and peace,

We are in an exciting month!

On March 20, Iranians will celebrate Persian New Year (Norouz). Feasts will be shared. Schools and workplaces will close for two weeks. Many will go on vacation.

At this joyful time, many Persian-speaking believers will be out on the streets in tourist hot-spots in the Iran region, giving out Scriptures and sharing Jesus.

The glorious reality is that many find salvation because of this annual outreach.

We are praying that over 10,000 New Testaments will be given out during Norouz this year.  The majority of Iranians receive the New Testament gladly and take them home to Iran, where they can have huge impact.

Stories like Masoud’s are why we are so excited for Norouz:

Last year a young man, Masoud*, joined a Persian-speaking church in a country near Iran.  Masoud's uncle had returned from a previous year’s Norouz vacation with a small, red New Testament. Reading that New Testament started Masoud on his journey to faith in Jesus.

Please join us in praying for:

• The evangelism teams: energy, unity and divinely appointed conversations
• Non-Christian Iranians: open hearts
• Huge impact from the thousands of New Testaments that will be given out
• Grace and peace,

David Yeghnazar
Executive Director of Elam

1. Many Iranians Are Being Discipled As 2017 Begins.

Last month over 80 leaders who serve 4,000+ Persian-speakers in the Iran region gathered together for a week of training, planning and celebration.
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Please pray for ongoing refreshment and encouragement for these leaders as they continue in their ministries.

About 50 women participated in a women’s ministry conference in the Iran region. They learned about their value in Christ and were equipped to share the Gospel with others.

Please pray these ladies would be increasingly bold in sharing Jesus.

​Playful. Dynamic. Full of truth.

Elam's TV show Garden of Friendship teaches Iranian kids about Jesus and the Bible. Very little is available to reach and disciple Iranian children, so this show fills a serious void.

And it's impacting many adults as well as children.

I was so encouraged recently to hear about Golnoush.* She's a kindergarten teacher in Iran who is using Garden of Friendship to teach her class about Jesus. She wrote to us, asking for Scriptures. We managed to safely get a Bible and children’s Bibles to her early this year. She was overjoyed.

When one of the actors saw the address to which the Bibles were sent, she was amazed. Years ago she would regularly walk down that street and pray that the community would one day have a faithful Christian witness.

Now Golnoush is there, bravely sharing Jesus with the children of the community.

Please join us in praying for:

• Golnoush and all the children in her class;
• Garden of Friendship to reach more children and their parents across Iran and the region;
• Protection and wisdom for all involved in producing this remarkable show.

Grace and peace,

David Yeghnazar
Executive Director of Elam

I hope you had a restful and joyful Christmas with family and friends. And I pray you are encouraged and excited as you look forward into 2017, just as we are.

It is a privilege to share with you a few recent encouragements from the Iranian church:

• Many of our Christmas services across the Iran region were packed to the brim. At one of our Persian-speaking churches in a country near Iran over 1,200 attended the Christmas celebration. You can see the packed hall in the picture above. A few hundred had to be turned away, such was the desire to learn more about Jesus.
• So far, we know that at least 100 Iranians gave their lives to the Lord during Christmas in churches in the Iran region. Many more commitments may come to light soon.
• 300 other new believers from a Muslim-background will go through the waters of baptism in the near future in a country near Iran.
• We praise God that for the first time in years we have not received reports of house church raids or the arrest of believers in Iran over Christmas.

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It really has been a remarkable Christmas, and we trust the Lord that this momentum will only keep building during 2017.

Thank you for your invaluable support and prayers which strengthen us to spread the Gospel and grow the church in the Iran region and beyond.

May the Lord bless and guide you in all He calls you to do this year.