The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) has received urgent and distressing reports from the Evangelical Church of Iran regarding the complete demolition of their church building in Mashhad, the nation’s second-largest city.

According to correspondence from Rev. Sargez Benyamin, Executive Secretary of the Synod of the Evangelical Church of Iran in Diaspora, the property—long disputed with the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO) and the Islamic Revolutionary Court—was seized and subsequently razed. While past assurances from local governors and parliamentary representatives had kept the church intact for years, those guarantees are now shattered.

The WCRC calls on all its member churches and ecumenical partners to amplify this concern and to hold the Iranian authorities accountable to international standards of religious liberty.

“We do not lose hope,” Rev. Benyamin wrote. “But we need the body of Christ to speak now.” The WCRC echoes that plea and commits to raising this voice until justice is restored.

A Call to Prayer

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) invites its member churches worldwide to join in prayer for our sisters and brothers in Iran.

Gracious and Sovereign God,

You are the Rock whose deeds are perfect, and all whose ways are just. In you, the orphan finds mercy, and the stranger finds a home.

We cry out to you for the Evangelical Church in Mashhad. The stones that once echoed with hymns of praise to your name have been reduced to rubble. The place where your Word was proclaimed has been seized by the powerful. Lord, have mercy. Let your church, scattered and gathered, be a sign that no earthly power can silence the praises of your people.

Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Use the attention of the global communion to shield your church from further harm.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone whom the builders rejected, yet who remains the foundation of hope for all the world.

Amen.