The last in his family to follow Jesus

During a visit to SAT-7's London studio, Sarah Whittleston heard the story of an Iranian Christian whose family faithfully prayed for him.

The part of the day that has stayed with me most was hearing from Amirreza.

I was visiting the SAT-7 PARS studio in London with a group of Elim leaders, hearing about the organisation's work across the Middle East and North Africa. In my role with Elim Prayer, I have the privilege of working with organisations that champion prayer and resource the church, and I first came across SAT-7 through their prayer resources.

During our visit, we toured the studio, connected with one of SAT-7's main broadcast centres in Cyprus and heard first-hand stories from the team.

Amirreza grew up in Iran in a Muslim family. One by one, his parents and sisters came to faith in Jesus. He was the last.

His family continued to pray for him. Then, when one of his sisters was healed of MS, Amirrezad began asking deeper questions about Jesus.

Later, while visiting his family in Turkey, he encountered God during a time of worship and gave his life to Christ. He was baptised and began a journey of growing faith, worship, evangelism and theological study. Today, Amirreza lives in the UK. He serves his local church, studies at Pars Theological Seminary and is a presenter at SAT-7's Persian studio in London, sharing the hope of Jesus with Persian-speaking audiences.

The prayers of one family in Iran have become part of a story reaching far beyond their own home.

Amirreza's story also gave us a glimpse of the wider ministry we were learning about that day. SAT-7 broadcasts across 25 countries in the Middle East and North Africa in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, as well as a growing number of dialects. Many of those countries appear regularly among the fifty most difficult places in the world to follow Jesus. In 2025 alone, its teams had more than 75,000 conversations with viewers.

We were struck by the scale and variety of the work, including programmes designed to educate and encourage children, particularly those who have been displaced.

There was also a quieter moment during our visit. In the studio was a cabinet of photographs remembering people who had lost their lives at the hands of the Iranian authorities. It was a reminder that behind the headlines from this region are real people: Christians living out their faith with extraordinary courage, and others asking honest questions about God, hope and purpose.

That is one of the things I value so much about being part of the global body of Christ. The church stretches far beyond the places and circumstances we know, and our brothers and sisters in the Middle East and North Africa are asking us to pray.

On Sunday 1 November at 6pm, Elim Missions and Elim Prayer will come together for Pray for the Nations, live from Cardiff City Church and online, to pray with and for the persecuted church.

Amirreza's family kept praying before they saw an answer. We can pray like that for others.

To find out more or book a studio visit for your church leaders, please contact Mary on 01249 377970. Alternatively, visit sat7uk.org for other resources.

This article was first featured in the Your Elim newsletter. You can read the Your Elim newsletter here, and sign up to the newsletter here.