Iran — the country with the fastest growing church in the world
Iran before and after
At the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979, there were around 500 Christians from a Muslim background in Iran. Today, there are hundreds of thousands – some say more than one million.
Carey Lodge reports:
Christians in Iran face relentless persecution. Ranked ninth on Open Doors' list of countries where it's most dangerous to be a Christian, open churches are forbidden and converting from Islam – the state religion – is punishable by death for men, and life imprisonment for women. Last year more than 100 Christians were arrested or imprisoned and allegations of torture have emerged.
And yet, the church in Iran is thriving.
In 2015, Operation World named Iran as having the fastest growing evangelical population in the world, with an estimated annual growth of 19.6 per cent. According to Mark Howard of Elam Ministries, an organisation founded by Iranian church leaders with the purpose of expanding the church in Iran, more Iranians have become Christians in the last two decades than in the previous 13 centuries combined.
