Increase of Evangelical Christians in Iran with Help from Centers Abroad
A watchdog group monitoring Christian affairs worldwide says the number of Muslims in Iran who have risked imprisonment and even death penalty to convert to Christianity is increasing.
Some American media outlets, citing a religious center that provides assistance to evangelical Christians worldwide, have reported that hundreds of thousands of people in Iran secretly worship in house churches in the country.
According to the “Pars” Center for Religious Sciences, headquartered in London and focused on training a new generation of evangelical leaders, the number of members of house churches in Iran has increased to around one million people.
Following the 1979 revolution and the establishment of Shiite religious rule in Iran, religious minorities in Iran, including Christians, have faced restrictions, and many of them have left their country over the years.
The Islamic Republic of Iran says evangelical Christianity is not a religion but a political movement directed from abroad. For this reason, arrests of Christians and crackdowns on house churches in Iran have increased in recent years.
On the other hand, due to the policies of Iran’s ruling religious system and their political and social consequences, some Iranian Muslims have turned to other faiths, and it is said that tens of thousands of people convert to Christianity annually alone.
The religious institution “Open Doors USA,” which publishes an annual report on the condition of Christians in various countries around the world, has estimated the number of Christians in Iran at 450,000; although precise statistics in this regard are not available.
