Christians have been shot as police respond to protests across Iran, stated a U.S.-based evangelist, with Southern Baptist leaders requesting prayer for persecuted believers and others across the nation.

Communicating through Starlink satellite and bypassing the government-enforced internet blackout in Iran, Iran Alive Ministries founder Hormoz Shariat said he learned on Jan. 11 that a Christian man had been shot in Iran, that Christians are in harm’s way because they are ministering amid protesters, and that at least one wounded man accepted Christ through a Christian’s intervention.

“Yesterday as I was doing a live broadcast, and then news came, and a person outside Iran called and said, ‘My nephew has been shot in Iran. He’s a Christian and he’s hiding in a home. Please pray for him,” said Shariat. “Christians are on the streets and some of them in the past (protests) have been killed.”

As the names have not been released of an estimated 500-1,000 or more killed in protests the past two weeks, Shariat said he cannot verify how many Christians might be among the dead in the latest round of demonstrations.

“But it’s very likely there are Christians among them,” he said, “because Christians are out there.”

At least one wounded person accepted Christ after a Christian nurse took him into their home, treated his wounds and shared the Gospel, Shariat said he learned Jan. 11.

“This person called and he said, ‘I was wounded on the streets. And then somebody took me home … as I was fleeing and bleeding. The person was a nurse, and they dressed my wound. And then I realized they are Christians, and they shared the Gospel with me, and I just came to Christ,’” the newfound believer said.

As deaths mount but details remain elusive, Nathan Rostampour of The Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C., is urgently asking believers to pray for Iranians risking their lives for freedom amid a growing humanitarian crisis.

“This is a moment for the Church to rise,” Rostampour, The Summit’s Persian Ministry director and an International Mission Board trustee, stated on Jan. 9. “Men and women are being beaten, imprisoned and killed in the streets simply for demanding freedom, dignity and the right to live. When the world cannot see, injustice multiplies. When voices are silenced, lives are lost.”

Please pray for Iran, Rostampour pleaded.

“We urgently ask the international Church to stand in the gap and become the voice for those who have been forced into silence. Please help bring awareness by speaking out,” Rostampour urged. “Post on social media, talk about this in your churches and call on news agencies, leaders and institutions to report the truth of what is happening. The people of Iran are crying out, and they need the world to hear them. Silence is not neutrality; it is abandonment.”

Christians are bringing light amid the evil, with many treating the wounded at homes to avoid certain arrest at hospitals, Shariat said. Christians are also taking food and water into crowds of protesters amid Iran’s humanitarian crisis.

One Christian couple prepared 50 sandwiches, put them in their backpacks along with bottles of water and distributed the food to protesters, Shariat learned through Starlink.

“They (Christians) go among the protesters and they feed them, they give them water, and they share the Gospel,” Shariat said. “Christians, we are called to be salt and light in every area.”

As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens military intervention in Iran on behalf of protesters, Shariat voiced concern about Iran’s promised retaliation.

“Pray for Trump and Israel because they’re saying they are considering intervening. May God use (Trump and Israel) and not the enemy, that they will be a positive influence in Iran,” Shariat said. “And another prayer is that the Iranian government has enriched uranium. They can build four to five atomic bombs, and we need to bind that spirit of death. In Islam, as you know, killing and dying for the cause of Islam is honorable. So once they have the atomic bomb, nothing stops them.”

During his daily satellite broadcasts in Iran from his homebase in Dallas, Shariat said, he reminds Iranian Christians of their purpose and encourages them to persevere as others commit suicide.

Shariat described a Starlink video of a young Iranian man telling police to kill him because he had no life anyway.

“A young person was telling the police or those anti-protest forces, ‘Kill me. I’m young, but I never had a life. I never lived. Kill me,’” Shariat said. And another Iranian who was contemplating suicide decided it would be more effective to die publicly.

“And he said, ‘I’m not going to die in the privacy of my home if I want to (commit) suicide. Why don’t I go out?’” the young man pondered. “And if they kill me, at least my life counts for something.”

Both Shariat and Rostampour shared specific prayer requests.

Rostampour, in touch with a broad-based but scattered Christian community in Iran through his work at The Summit, requests:

Pray that brothers and sisters in the Church of Iran will be protected, strengthened and encouraged. “In the midst of extreme persecution, they continue to pray, serve, and faithfully follow Jesus from inside the country. Many gather in secret. Many risk imprisonment, torture, or death simply for worshiping Christ. Yet they remain steadfast, interceding not only for their own survival, but for the salvation and freedom of their nation.”

• Pray for the Church in Iran to be strengthened, unified, fearless, and filled with hope.
• Pray for an immediate end to the violence and the killing of innocent people.
• Pray for truth to be exposed and for justice and accountability to prevail.
• Pray for comfort for grieving families and healing for the wounded and traumatized.
• Pray for restored communication and the breaking of information blackouts.

Shariat, among his previously stated requests, also requests prayer for Iran Alive Ministries, which has plans to plant dozens or hundreds of churches in Iran when the country becomes open to the Gospel.

This article was originally published by Baptist Press and has been reprinted with permission. 

Diana Chandler is senior writer for Baptist Press.