We Should Have Been There: Praying for Iranian and Iraqi Believers Near the Border
Iranian and Iraqi believers gathering with Compel International staff at a recent seminar in Iraq
This week was meant to be a time of worship, encouragement, and training alongside first-generation believers from Iran and Iraq—but escalating conflict has disrupted travel, cut communication, and increased uncertainty for families we love. Even so, we trust God is present, strengthening His people, and continuing His work through local believers who are faithfully sharing Christ where the Gospel is still not widely known.
What changed this week
Our team members were scheduled to travel to northern Iraq near the Iranian border to spend time with a small, passionate group of believers—our Iraqi Kurdish brothers and three Iranian families. The plan was simple: worship together, open God’s Word, and strengthen local believers who are already serving their communities.
But as conflict has intensified in the region—bringing heightened security risks, disrupted travel, and unstable communications—those plans are no longer possible. At the time of writing, we have lost contact with these Iranian families and do not know how they are doing.
“At this very time, we were supposed to be… spending time training and encouraging a small but passionate group of first-generation believers…”
The story we can share: faithful witness through everyday service
Even in uncertainty, we want to honor what God has already been doing through these believers.
One young woman (we’ll call her Yara) gathers Iranian girls to teach them handmade crafts and accessories. In that safe, relational setting, she helps them encounter Scripture and grow in faith—one conversation at a time.
Her father serves in a similar way among men, teaching carpentry skills that can help them provide for their families. As he trains them, he also shares the hope of the Gospel—showing that Christ’s love meets people in real life, not just in words.
“These dear families are faithfully planting seeds of love, peace, and hope among their fellow Iranians and within their own communities.”
This is the kind of disciple-making we long to strengthen: local believers discipling others in natural, reproducible ways—right where God has placed them.
How to pray right now
Please stand with us in prayer:
Protection: Ask the Lord to guard these families and all believers in the region.
Strength and courage: Pray their faith would be steady and their hearts filled with courage, even in uncertainty.
Witness and peace: Pray God would continue to use them as instruments of peace, love, and hope in their communities.
Restored communication: Ask God to open a way for us to reconnect soon and receive encouraging news about their safety and ministry.
A Psalm for this moment
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Psalm 46:1-5