Increase in Christian missionaries in Iran with the help of centers abroad
A global Christian watchdog group says the number of Muslims in Iran who are risking prison and even the death penalty and converting to Christianity is increasing.
Some American media outlets, citing a religious center that assists missionary Christians around the world, have reported that hundreds of thousands of people in Iran are secretly worshipping in house churches in Iran.
According to the Pars Center for Religious Studies, which is based in London and focuses on training a new generation of missionary leaders, the number of house church members in Iran has increased to about one million.
Following the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Shiite religious government in Iran, religious minorities in Iran, including Christians, have faced restrictions, and a large number of them have left their country over the years.
The Islamic Republic of Iran says that missionary Christianity is not a religion and considers it a political movement directed from abroad. As a result, arrests of Christians and crackdowns on house churches have increased in Iran in recent years.
On the other hand, due to the policies of the ruling religious system in Iran and the resulting political and social consequences, some Iranian Muslims have turned to other religions, and it is said that tens of thousands of people convert to Christianity every year.
The religious organization Open Doors USA, which publishes an annual report on the status of Christians in different countries around the world, estimates the number of Christians in Iran at 450,000; however, accurate statistics are not available in this regard.
