The growth and multiplication of underground Persian churches continues. A few years ago, an underground church was planted in the north, then, with the growth of disciples, we were able to establish another church in the center of the country, and in the winter of 2023, after two years of discipleship, our brothers and sisters decided to start a new church in the south.

Brother Matthew became the leader of one of the newly planted Christian churches. His daughter, Tamar, helps him in his ministry.

Tamar grew up in a large family. She got married early and faced insurmountable difficulties in life because her husband became a drug addict and left them after the birth of their daughter. After some time, Tamar herself became addicted to drugs and got involved in sex work. Her life turned into horror. Tamar tried to quit drugs, but she couldn’t. The real freedom came after she heard the truth about Christ for the first time in a group for drug addicts. After hearing the Good News and believing in Jesus Christ, she changed. Tamar quit prostitution and addiction and began to live a pure Christian life. Tamar’s father was engaged in smuggling at that time. After seeing his daughter’s changed life, he said, “I want to see the God who changed you.”

Tamar shared the gospel with her father, and he accepted Jesus Christ and renounced illegal and unlawful actions.

When Tamar’s mother saw that her daughter and her husband had changed, she also gave her heart to Jesus Christ. Then Tamar’s three sisters, her daughter, her nephew and, finally, the first of her brothers believed.

Our minister Mani personally baptized Tamar, her daughter Lily, her parents, sister, and nephew. Now this family has become part of the church, to which many others have joined, and they can fulfill the mission of evangelism in their country.

 

One of our brothers, Nathanael, lives in a small and poor village in a province in the south of his country. Nathanael is sick with AIDS and is currently restraining the development of the disease with the help of medications. He was living on the street when he became addicted to drugs and contracted AIDS through shooting up drugs.

Four years ago, he became a believer and no longer uses drugs. Now his brothers and elderly parents are also believers, but they live very poorly and often do not have money even for food. However, Nathanael is one of the very active disciples and is always interested in how he can better evangelize people. He tries his best to practice his faith in a way that living faith would help not only his relatives but others. And we hope that in the future he will be able to serve as an evangelist in the surrounding villages.

Praise God for the great things He is doing among the Persian people!

Please remember the persecuted Church of the East in your prayers!

If you are interested in participating financially in this important and great mission for God, you can support the Persian ministry.