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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

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 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): 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

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Pray for the Mandaeans of Iran

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: 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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Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Persian, Iranian:

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Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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

Linked from YouVersion

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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

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
readPsalm 96:3

Pray for people to hear and believe the good news of Jesus and joyfully share it with their family and friends.

"And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you"...And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:38-40

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and serve others in faithfulness to Him, they will know that by serving others, they are serving Jesus, who is present with them.

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
readMatthew 6:9b-10

Pray that God will raise up Christians who are driven by a desire to see God's name worshiped, His kingdom come, and His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Ask Him to send them to the lost in this people group and sustain them.

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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