Please pray: Iranian church under threat of demolition

Believers at the historic St Peter’s Church, Tehran, are facing imminent eviction from their home and place of worship by the Iranian authorities. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in their time of urgent need.

Christians at St Peter’s Presbyterian Church in the heart of Tehran are facing the threat of eviction and the demolition of their church by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Corps has reportedly issued a new property deed in its own name, claiming ownership of the church and its premises. The church stands as one of Iran’s last surviving Christian church centres and is the home of many believers.

At the end of June, the IRGC threatened to confiscate the assets within St Peter’s Church, stating further that the congregation would be required to vacate the grounds or face imprisonment. The orders are a development in a longstanding dispute between the authorities and the church – earlier incidents include the reported confiscation of the church’s 10,000-square-metre garden.

With the new deed in place, the believers who have long lived and worshipped at the church are now considered trespassers. Many of the residents are from the country’s historical Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities. This development is concerning for these groups, which have traditionally received greater recognition by the state than other Christian denominations.

Since the declaration of the deed, at least seven families have left the church premises for refuge elsewhere, with others given mere days to vacate. As well as Christians, a couple of Muslim tenants living on the premises have also been asked to leave – this has led believers to fear that the whole complex may be destroyed.

Plea for prayer

The case of St Peter’s Church is not an isolated one. The historic Presbyterian Church of Mashhad in northern Iran was totally demolished by authorities and its believers scattered earlier in June. With so many pressures on the lives of Christians already, the loss of a place of worship is another fierce blow to the church in Iran. Please pray for God’s intervention and the faithful courage of believers at this moment.