Tabernacle Deaf Fellowship – Iranian Outreach

Reaching out to Iran

Siamak Barati is a Deaf Iranian refugee who was saved at the Tabernacle in 2013 and is now a church member.

Siamak felt a burden to reach out to Deaf people in Iran, and started by contacting friends via video Apps. He found that many Deaf Iranians were interested in the Gospel.

In the strict Iranian Muslim regime, the authorities are not interested in Deaf people. Many Deaf people have no idea of Muslim religious beliefs, partly because there is no sign language in the mosques, so they just follow the crowd as ‘cultural’ Muslims. For many, being Deaf is more important than being a Muslim, so there is an openness to the Gospel if it comes from another Deaf person.

Siamak knew he needed to be careful, and was initially reluctant to show his face online due to possible repercussions from the authorities should he return to Iran. However, he put aside his fears and started to openly interpret Tabernacle services on social media, specifically Facebook. This involved watching the BSL interpreting and translating it into Iranian Sign Language (ISL).

The work expands

During Covid, Facebook was shut down by the Iranian authorities. Siamak moved his ministry to Instagram. By only the second posting, over 1,400 people had viewed the posts. These are Deaf people in Australia, Germany, and Iran, who also use Iranian Sign Language.

His Instagram page had 386 followers, and nine people asked for help to know more about Christ. One person posted an attack on Siamak with offensive sign language, which he deleted. Using Instagram, and being clearly seen, means that Siamak may not be able to visit his home country again.

During the Covid lockdown, Siamak discovered he had a time-consuming ministry of talking to individuals in many parts of the world. Many are Iranian Deaf people who had many questions about what they were seeing. Many had never known about the Lord Jesus or how to be saved, and had never seen a Bible.

Having a Bible in Iran is dangerous and, in some places, will incur the death penalty. Some of these Deaf people had seen a Bible but were not able to read it because typically, Deaf people are not good readers. The Bible must be explained in sign language.

Now, all our meetings are interpreted into BSL, filmed and broadcast live on the Tabernacle website, and all are interpreted from BSL to ISL on Instagram. Siamak and another Deaf Iranian brother watch the BSL interpretation, then interpret into ISL in real-time.

Contact with Deaf Iranians

Some Deaf Iranian asylum seekers have arrived in Britain, have found the Tabernacle and started to attend. Some have moved to London just to come to the church and have become church members.

But other Deaf people have been saved who must stay in Iran.

It is particularly difficult for young single women who are saved. They have family pressure to marry, but of course they want to marry a Christian young man, who are very few in Iran. Sometimes the pressure is very strong, with physical force.

One young Deaf lady in Iran asked for our help. She is grateful for the Lord saving her soul, but she couldn’t think how she could live long if she is single. The family pressure was very great, and she felt so lonely. There were no other Christians nearby to help. All we could do was to pray for her. As far as we know, she has been able to avoid being married to a Muslim man, so the Lord is protecting her.

Deaf Prayer meeting

Held on Thursday evenings on Zoom, we have 40 or so Deaf people from around the world participating in this prayer meeting, some saved because of the ministry to Deaf Iranians.

This meeting is difficult to schedule, with people attending in various time zones from London, Iran, Turkey, Sweden, Germany and Australia. Some regulars need to join in the early hours of the morning. At present it starts at 7pm British time.

It is very risky to witness in Iran. Even having a Bible on your phone is a hanging offence, and it’s possible that the Iranian authorities may attempt to monitor our activity. Because of this, we do not let just anyone join the prayer meeting. We ask for testimonies, and we check people before we allow them to join.

Conflict in Iran and Israel

When the current conflict in Iran began, the Iranian government shut down the internet. We completely lost contact with all our Deaf people in Iran. The next Zoom prayer meeting reduced right down from 40 to just 5 people, mostly Iranian Deaf people from Britain, Sweden and Germany.

We have had no real contact with Iran since the end of February: only a little news now and then:

-The mother of one of our Deaf members was shot by the police in Iran. It was a shotgun, so she had shotgun pellet wounds all over her back and legs. She could not go to the doctor because; a) the doctor might get into trouble for treating her; b) the doctor might tell the police, meaning she would be taken to prison and possibly executed. Her family treated her at home, and she recovered.

-One of our Deaf Christian sisters in Iran was arrested. She did not hear the announcement of the curfew, because she is Deaf, and the police found her driving home late with a friend from a meeting. She was worried that the police would see all her phone contacts, so she tried to delete them all quickly. The police couldn’t communicate with her in sign language. But they shouted at her and beat her cruelly on her legs with wooden sticks, then released her. It was very painful, and the next day she could not walk. She has since recovered, and is thankful that she was able to suffer for the Lord.

-One of our Deaf Christian brothers in Iran had a wife who had cancer. He witnessed to her many times, but she was a strong Muslim. During the internet shutdown she died in hospital, so our dear brother also was called to suffer for his faith, with little opportunity for us to comfort him.

From time to time, Siamak can get in contact with one Deaf Christian brother who lives near the border with Turkey and can access Wi-Fi occasionally, but the connection is very expensive. He told Siamak that all the Deaf Christians in Iran are safe for the time being, although some have homes near the bombings, and the glass in their windows has been blown in.

A great need for prayer

We know 40 or so Deaf Christians in Iran, who have all been saved by the preaching from the Tabernacle interpreted into ISL. They live in various towns and villages in Iran, miles from each other, so can rarely meet up for fellowship and encouragement, especially now the war is on.

We must pray that these dear souls will have opportunities to witness, and that the Lord will protect them.

Bombs cannot stop the church in Iran. The Muslim authorities cannot stop the church in Iran. The Lord will build his church ‘and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18).