Elam Ministries

The mission of Elam is to strengthen and expand the church in the Iran region and beyond

Iran: Closed Land, Open Hearts

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranians have become increasingly disillusioned with Islam. The political, economic, and spiritual situation in Iran has resulted in a deep spiritual hunger for truth. Iran may be a closed land, but the people have open hearts. Iranians today are seen as the most open Muslim people to the Gospel in the world. More have become Christians since the revolution than the previous 1,300 years put together.

Unprecedented Church Growth

In 1979, there were less than 500 known Christians from a Muslim background in Iran. Today the most conservative estimate is that there are at least 100,000 believers in the nation. Church leaders believe that millions can be added to the church in the next few years-such is the spiritual hunger that exists and the disillusionment with the Islamic regime. Iran is a strategic gateway nation, from where the church will impact Muslim nations across the world.

Vision and Strategy for Impact

Elam's vision is that all the people of the Iran region would have the opportunity to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him as a disciple, and that they would be instrumental in taking the Gospel to other Muslims. To achieve this Vision, we do the following:

Training is based on the five C's model of leadership development, which maintains that there are five elements that must be strong in a leader's life for them to be ‘healthy' and effective: Christ, Community, Character, Calling and Competencies. Currently Elam provides the following training programs: Three-month intensive leadership program; Three year training by extension program; Conferences and seminars.

Equipping provides the church in Iran with the Bibles, books and resources they need for effective ministry. The translation of the Bible into modern Persian is in the final stages of checking. To date nearly a million New Testaments have been distributed. Elam also translates and produces evangelistic, discipleship and theological books into Persian. Over 180 books have been produced including 20 children's titles. We also produce a popular quarterly Christian magazine in Persian called Kalameh (which means ‘the word'). The magazine is also published on the web at www.kalameh.com. Many of our resources are available on i Phone and Android platforms.

Sending involves deploying leaders and workers to strengthen existing churches, establish new churches, and provide relief for the poor and persecuted. We also work to send the Gospel to Iran through the media, primarily through TV and the Internet. Over 64 programmes were produced in 2012.