The Mandaeans of Iran

The Mandaeans of Iran, numbering approximately 11,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ancient ethnoreligious group whose religion, Mandaeism, is considered one of the last surviving Gnostic faiths. They are an Indigenous people, in the Assyrian people cluster of the Arab Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Other - Mandaeism. They primarily speak Persian, Iranian.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Suomen Mandean Yhdistys - Wikimedia Suomen Mandean Yhdistys - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY 4.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Country: Iran
People Cluster: Assyrian
Primary Language(s): Persian, Iranian (pes)
Primary Religion(s): Other - Mandaeism
Population: 11,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024188
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Mandaeans of Iran

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Other - Mandaeism
Religious Affiliation: Other

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Persian, Iranian
Language Family: Indo-European

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Media Resources in Persian, Iranian:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Persian, Iranian:

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Or check out the Persian, Iranian bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Mandaeans

The Mandaeans are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Mandaeans

The Mandaeans are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Mandaeans

The Mandaeans are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Mandaeans of Iran

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the message of hope will reach those who are wandering in darkness, offering them a path to eternal life.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
readJohn 1:35-36

Pray for those God sends to cross cultures to share the gospel, that they might faithfully share the good news of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Mandaean (ROP3 - 106221) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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