Iran

After numerous surgeries and doctors could not treat his 8-year-old daughter, a Muslim man reached out to his Christian sister for prayer. The Muslim brother had treated his Christian sister badly and had not spoken to her for nearly a decade because of her decision to follow Christ.

After his mother passed away from cancer, Manouchehr battled grief by drinking heavily. Desperate for peace, he reached out to a Christian media ministry, requesting prayer and asking many questions about the Christian faith.

When a front-line worker was arrested for possession of 30 Bibles that he intended to distribute, a high-ranking official protected the Christian, scolding the police officers who arrested him. “Why did you take these books from that man?” he demanded.

Four Christians imprisoned for their faith in Tehran’s Evin Prison are battling sickness following a possible outbreak of Covid-19 in their ward. Nasser Navard Gol-Tapeh, 60 years old, Yousef Nadarkhani, 44, Saheb Fadaie, 40, and Moslem Rahimi, 32, are serving prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years for participating in house churches and promoting Christianity in Iran.

Reem is a Syrian Muslim who lives in Turkey with her husband and children. After having dreams about Jesus, Reem reached out to front-line workers to learn more about Him. “If there is anything about God that I do not know, I want to know it,” she said.

One Iranian believer has found a creative way to share the gospel with her parents who do not know Christ. Wanting her parents to trust in God, this girl used a VOM-supported Christian magazine to provide opportunities to talk to her parents about Jesus.

A university student needed a copy of the Bible for class to research the biblical narrative of Jesus’s birth. His father-in-law reached out to front-line workers for a copy of a Farsi Bible for his son-in-law, who was scared to seek the Bible for himself.

Naske placed her trust in Christ after hearing a Christian friend’s testimony of faith. She then began reading the Bible, praying and fasting with her friend for Naske’s family to find Christ. She also received a VOM-sponsored Action Pack Kit, which included Bibles, food and a Christmas card with blessings from a Kurdish church.

Nine believers who have spent nearly three years in prison have been released while their sentences are under review. The believers were arrested in Jan. and Feb. 2019 and later sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for “acting against national security.”

A Christian worker in Iran has distributed Bibles and Christian literature at the stables where his daughter takes horse-riding lessons. Though he questioned leaving the materials in a dirty stable, he felt led to evangelize there as he reflected on Christ’s birth in a manger in a stable. Recently, the worker discovered an Afghan refugee, Abid, reading one of the Bibles left by the worker.