Speaker

Rev. Pedram Shirmast was born and raised in Iran in a Muslim family. Growing up, he knew about Jesus as a prophet, but he had many unanswered questions about God. During his university years, through the friendship of two Armenian Christian classmates, he began reading the Bible seriously for the first time. What started as curiosity slowly became faith. Through small group Bible studies and long conversations, he came to know Christ personally. 

Following Jesus in Iran was not easy. There were real pressures and risks. Yet those early years shaped his faith deeply and gave him a heart for people who are searching for truth in difficult circumstances.

In 2013, shortly after getting married, Pedram and his wife Leili were forced to leave Iran. They moved to Ankara, Turkey, where they lived as refugees for six years. It was a painful season of uncertainty, but also a time when God clarified his calling. In 2015, he was ordained as a pastor at the International Protestant Church of Ankara (IPCA), a Farsi-speaking church made up largely of refugees and migrants. There he served in preaching, teaching, and pastoral leadership, and grew in his love for shepherding displaced communities.

Pedram began his theological studies with Pars Theological Centre (London), completing a Bachelor of Theology in Farsi. After arriving in Melbourne in 2019, he continued his theological training at Ridley College.

In Australia, he and Leili sensed a continued call to serve both Farsi-speaking believers and the wider church. After serving a Farsi-speaking congregation in Dandenong for 3 years, Pedram & Leili began the ordination pathway in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. Both were ordained as a Deacon in February 2023 and Pedram as a Priest in November 2023 and Leili in November 2024.

Pedram & Leili currently serve at Deep Creek Anglican Church in Doncaster East and is also leading a Farsi-speaking and multicultural congregation that was planted at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne in March 2024. Pedram’s heart is to help people wrestle honestly with their questions about God, to teach Scripture clearly, and to build bridges across cultures through the gospel.

Pedram and Leili welcomed their first son, Yonah, in September 2025, a joy that has added a new depth to both life and ministry.