Missions Catalyst

1. Iran: What I Learned Listening to Iranian Movement Leaders
2. Syria: Christians Mourn a Massacre
3. World: How the Deaf Experience War
4. Ukraine: The Unstoppable Gospel in a Time of War
5. India: Faith on Wheels

Read or share the email edition, or just scroll down.

Source: Steve Addison, Movements, June 23, 2025

I spent a week in Istanbul interviewing Iranian disciples who had come out for training. Men and women living under the threat of arrest and imprisonment for their faith in Christ.

The people I spoke to were leaders. Each had 30 to over 100 churches in their streams of multiplication. The churches are made up of 4-5 people.

They represent one network in a movement of God across the Islamic Republic, which is unprecedented in the 1400 years since Islam conquered Persia.

I’ve been listening to the recordings of my interviews with these brave people. Here are some of the recurring themes that provide insight into how God is at work.

1. Disillusioned with Islam
2. Personal crisis
3. Searching for God
4. Signs along the way
5. Someone they love

Invariably, the gospel goes from new disciples to their world of relationships, but carefully. They test and see whether it’s safe. Sometimes parents who are strict Muslims don’t know of their adult children’s new faith. One disciple had not shared with his mother until a health crisis shook the family. She turned and believed, and he baptized her.

This list is not a formula. It’s a recurring pattern of how God is working to bring salvation to the Iranian people, inside the country and around the world.

Read What the Iranians Taught Me. It reports on interviews conducted right before the recent war broke out and unpacks the themes listed above.

See also An Inside Update on the Church in Iran (Radical) and watch Pray for Tehran and Pray for Iran (Prayercast) or read a 2015 book revised and re-released in December 2024, Jesus in Iran (Eugene Bach).

Source: Middle East Concern, June 23, 2025

On Sunday evening, June 22, a suicide bomber struck the church of Mar Elias in Dweila, Damascus, killing many in attendance.

During the holy mass in this Greek Orthodox church, an armed man entered, started shooting, then detonated an explosive device, killing himself and more than 20 Christians. Many others were wounded. The historic church building was severely damaged.

This is the most violent attack on Christians in Syria since the fall of the former regime. March 2025 attacks on [Muslim] Alawite communities in the coastal areas had left Christians fearing they may also be targeted.

Read the full story with prayer points.

Regarding this attack, Back to Jerusalem posted Shocking Video Shows Christians Worshiping Jesus Moments Before They Were Killed By Suicide Bomber. Despite the headline, the brief video does not include any violence, just worship. We encourage you to watch it.

An article from Mission Network News describes a movement of the Holy Spirit among Alawites, creating an urgent mission moment, and Christianity Today has begun a three-part series about the Alawite community, starting with who evangelicals have been building bridges to serve this vulnerable group. The massacre in March killed more than 1,700 Alawite men, women, and children.

A good response to all this? Pray for Syria (Prayercast).

Source: Mission Network News, June 30, 2025

According to the US Council on Foreign Relations, there are 28 active conflicts worldwide today. Each one holds unique dangers for Deaf individuals, from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan.

Even fleeing to safety can be deadly. Rob Myers of DOOR International says, “We know of Deaf people who have been shot on site because the person asking them questions doubted that they were Deaf.”

Deaf people often miss critical wartime information because of language barriers. For example, in Ukraine, “Hearing people in the cities would hear the UN trucks coming and would know that they were carrying food and supplies, and so they would run out and start to grab supplies,” Myers says.

“Deaf people were not aware that the trucks were in town. No one told them. When they finally became aware, they would run out, and the supplies would already be gone.”

Many Deaf also lack information about the spiritual war raging around us because they cannot access the gospel in their heart sign language.

Read the full story and another from DOOR and MNN: Discovering Their Names: Gospel Hope for Deaf Kids.

Source: The Christian Post, June 2, 2025

As war continues to devastate Ukraine, a powerful spiritual revival is unfolding amid the ruins, according to Ukrainian evangelist David Karcha, who told a gathering of European church leaders that the gospel becomes unstoppable in a time of war.

Speaking at the European Congress on Evangelism in Berlin, Germany, on May 29, Karcha described how churches across Ukraine have become beacons of hope, drawing thousands to Christ even as the country endures deep physical and emotional suffering.

In the last three years, Karcha testified that “hundreds of thousands of people have walked through the doors of Ukrainian churches and encountered the love and care of God.”

Read the rest of this encouraging report.

See also Ukraine: Stories Behind the Statistics (Evangelical Focus).