Iran (MNN) — Last week, three formerly Muslim Christians in Iran were handed 10-plus-year prison sentences. Their offenses included house church involvement and other faith-related activities.
It’s a sobering snapshot of dual realities in Iran today: Iranians are coming to Christ like never before, and the persecution they face is relentless.
Shah Ahmadi with Iran Alive Ministries explains imprisonment is a key strategy of the Iranian regime.
(Representative stock photo of boy in Tehran, Iran courtesy of Fateme Alaei via Unsplash.)
“Some people get baptized. Only for baptism, they go more than five years being in prison. If you hold the Bible, you go to prison. If you evangelize, you go to prison,” he says.
Entire families suffer the emotional strain of separation as well as the loss of one of their breadwinners. But that’s not all Christians in Iran face.
“[If the government knows] they become a Christian, they don’t have a right to go to university. They don’t have a right to work in many jobs,” says Ahmadi.
He adds that the Iranian government has been accusing believers involved in home churches as threats against the Iranian government.
“They [are] saying these (house churches) are having some kind of relationship with Israel, some kind of relation with America. They try to make political things of that. So they say, ‘Oh, we are not against Christianity. We are against this (political) movement.’”
Despite the difficulties, many Iranians say Jesus is worth it. Iran is still one of the fastest growing churches today.
“In Iran around 50 years ago, there was 10,000 believers. Right now, [there are] more than 2 million believers,” says Ahmadi.
Why the growing Church?
It’s important for us to understand some of the context for Iran’s Christian community growing so much. Here are insights from Ahmadi.
1) God is reaching Iranians through dreams and visions of Jesus. He did that in Ahmadi’s own life as well as the lives of some of his family members.
2) The power of the gospel and prayer is leading to salvation (Romans 1:16).
“Many people [have] been praying from America, England, Europe to inside Iran see salvation, and God [is] answering prayers,” says Ahmadi. “Spiritual warfare has been going on, people [are] battling, but right now, they [are] receiving Christ in amazing ways.”
People hear the gospel from family who have accepted Christ. They also hear it through satellite TV, one of the ways Iran Alive sends the hope of Christ into Iran.
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)
3) The discontent Iranians have toward their government is pushing them away from Islam.
Iranians know their history. Ahmadi says they see how kings in the Persian era were an incredible empire. In their own lifetime they remember Iran’s prosperity and freedom before the Islamic revolution of 1979. They compare it with the oppression they are under today.
“[They say] ‘Why this history happened to us?’ So this generation, they read. This generation, they search. They go to Instagram, they search in through AI and everything,” says Ahmadi.
“Why this [growing of the Church] happening? Because many people [are] leaving Islam. They don’t want to do anything with religion. So through the satellite, through social media, through the hearing [of] the gospel, some of them [come] to Christ Jesus.”
How we can respond
(Photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri/Unsplash)
More and more Iranians are grasping the hope of Christ in a seriously hostile nation. Please pray for them to be faithful to Christ and witness to others even under persecution. Pray that especially for the three Christians sentenced in March 2025 to long prison terms.
Pray for God’s protection as new believers go through spiritual warfare.
Then, learn more about partnering with Iran Alive Ministries. Sign up to receive their emails or print newsletters to receive specific prayer requests and partnering opportunities. Pray for God’s blessing on their critical ministry to Iran. Connect with Iran Alive here.
Header image is a representative stock photo from Iran, courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash.
