July 2023 Persecution Magazine

the national language of Farsi, is prohibited.
Sharing the Christian faith with others is
outlawed. Christian leaders have been arrested,
interrogated, and imprisoned in the nation’s
notorious Evin prison.
Iran’s regime has even sentenced some to
death under charges of apostasy and as spies
threatening its Islamic system. The Iranian
government refuses to acknowledge Iranian
converts to Christianity and denies them all
religious freedom.
With such an environment, it would seem
surprising to hear that in the past decade Iran has
been one of the fastest-growing churches in the
world. Some estimates point to a million or more
Iranian converts to Christianity. Neighboring
Afghanistan rivals Iran as the fastest-growing
church–influenced by Iranian Christians whose
similar language and cultural connections have
built bridges for the spread of the gospel.
God used the Armenian, Chaldean, and Assyrian
churches as a source of light, especially in the
early years after the revolution, for Iranians who
became disillusioned with the Islamic Republic
and were searching for answers. Though these
communities’ numbers inside the country have
dwindled to only around 100,000, the number of
new Iranian coverts has surpassed it as much as
perhaps 10 times the number!
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Persecution | JULY 2023