Imprisoned Iranian Pastor Farshid Fathi Released!
Below is an exciting update on Pastor Farshid from Elam Ministries, one of Calvary's Reach Global Partners, who are sharing the love of Christ for Iran and beyond. On the longest night, the Light still shines in the darkness!
Dear friends,
We are overjoyed and celebrating!
Farshid Fathi has been released today (21 December 2015) after five years in prison for his faith.
We are deeply grateful for your faithful prayers for Farshid while he has been in prison. We would like to request that you continue praying for Farshid today and in the coming weeks. Please pray especially for protection, his family and his adjustment to life outside prison.
We will share more information when possible.
Joyfully in Christ,
David Yeghnazar
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Elam Ministries asks Christians to pray for Iranian Christians this Christmas. In a prayer request on its website, Elam notes that Christmas is costly:
There’s the long list of presents to buy, the card-writing to cram into your packed schedule, the family politics to contend with, and the Christmas lunch to invest your time, sweat (hopefully not) and tears in. Both financially and emotionally it can be a costly - as well as a truly joyful - time of year.
Christians in Iran also know there could be a high cost to celebrating Christmas. They love to honour the birth of Christ together, just as Christians do the world over. But they risk paying a very different price than we do.
Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence deliberately intensifies its persecution in the festive period. Last year, 24 arrests of Christians were reported during the Christmas 2014 period. Christmas 2011 saw an established Assemblies of God Church raided. Even the terrified Sunday School children endured harsh interrogation. In 2010 the largest known number of arrests: over 70 house church leaders were arrested in a wave of raids on private homes.
Every believer in Iran will be aware that this year it could be them. It could be them that has their Christmas service or party interrupted by Intelligence agents. It could be them that spends Christmas in solitary confinement, separated from their family, and subjected to weeks or months of interrogation.
As we each worry about how much Christmas might cost us this year, may we remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iran - and in other countries around the world - where the cost of celebrating the birth of our Lord could be so much dearer.
Pray for:
· Protection for believers
· Any who are arrested and their families
· Many to come to Christ this Christmas in Iran