When you think of Iran and religion, Christianity isn’t what comes to mind.
The Middle Eastern nation isn’t just the biggest Shiite Muslim state in the world, it’s also one of the most draconian when it comes to enforcing the tenets of the religion. The country’s morals police is again in the international spotlight after they reportedly shot a woman last month for a violation of the country’s mandatory hijab laws, according to The Associated Press.
However, amid the severity of the country’s morality crackdown is a ray of light for Christians: Iran may well be in the midst of what some commentators are calling a “Jesus Revolution.”
In a Tuesday article for faith-based outlet CBN News, writer Gary Lane described how an “unprecedented number of Muslims are choosing to follow Christ, especially in Iran as people search for a better life.”
“You have a country with one of the highest drug addiction rates in the world. You have a country where corruption runs rampant. You have a country where more than half the people live below the poverty line,” said Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs, a non-governmental organization focused around providing support for persecuted Christians.
“And the people of Iran are looking at this and they are saying, ‘Wait a minute. If this is what Islam has brought us in the last 45 years, we’re not interested. We want to know what the other options are.’”
Nettleton said that over a million Muslims had left the faith for Christianity and two-thirds of the country’s 75,000 mosques had closed — a claim that had been echoed in other outlets like U.S.-based Iran International, but which is difficult to verify given the nature of Iran’s closed society.
“This is not something that is making the regime happy. And, really, in many ways, they are seeking to solidify their power and to crush any kind of dissent,” Nettleton said.
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“We have heard multiple stories this year of Bible study, a home church being raided. Everyone there is photographed; everyone there is questioned. But then the leader of the meeting is held on to. They are arrested. They are detained. They’re put in prison.”
However, he said that family and friends are often easier on Christian converts than the government is.
“They kind of have the attitude of, ‘Hey, if you found something that works for you, if it’s Jesus or if it’s atheism or if it’s whatever, if it works for you … I know Islam doesn’t work, so I’m happy you found something that works,’” he said.
The move toward Christianity is a surprising one for those of us familiar with Iran only as a merciless theocratic state. Yet, this isn’t a new phenomenon; in a 2023 piece for the Washington Stand, a Christian outlet, Lela Gilbert noted that “a significant survey taken in 2020 by Gamaan, a secular Netherlands-based research group, reported that there are far greater numbers of Christian believers in Iran than ever before — more than a million. In fact, those involved with the ‘house church’ movement in Iran are convinced that there are likely several million Christian believers there.
“In my research and interviews, it has become clear that new Christians’ witness to others is mostly shared in quiet conversations, encouraged by low-profile online Bible studies, and affirmed by visions, dreams, and miraculously answered prayers. Due to their risky circumstances, recent Christian converts are enthusiastically communicating about their changed lives with friends and loved ones — but quietly and carefully. However, their discreet but persistent witness accounts for the extraordinary number of new Iranian believers, who meet in small house churches,” she wrote.
“These house churches are usually comprised of no more than 10 to 15 believers. On a given day, they arrive, one by one, at a small apartment or some other nondescript location. After the last one enters, the door closes and locks, and they all take a deep breath and relax, greeting each other warmly.”
And, one church leader quoted by Gilbert noted that this isn’t just in spite of the state, but because of it, as well: “What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran?” he said. “What if I told you the best evangelist for Jesus was the Ayatollah Khomeini [founder of the Islamic Republic]?”
Don Shenk, the executive director of The Tide Ministry, said what’s happening in Iran is indicative of a wider trend, as well, according to CBN.
“I think what’s happening there is actually representative of what’s happening in the Islamic world,” he said.
“We get responses from listeners who say, you know, now I understand that God loves me. I always thought that God wanted to punish me,” Shenk said. “And I think there’s an awakening that is taking place across the Muslim world, not just in Iran.”
Shenk said countries which have seen growth in new converts include Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and war-torn Yemen.
Nettleton agreed, citing — in one instance — a new openness toward Christians from nearby Saudi Arabia.
“Not necessarily welcoming with open arms, obviously. But just the understanding that it could happen, that there could be Christians here,” he said.
“And maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world. That’s such a change from what we would have seen 10 or 15 or 20 years ago.”
Nevertheless, these are still men and women risking their lives to follow Jesus Christ. It’s an amazing “Jesus Revolution” indeed, but it’s also a reminder they need our prayers to grow in faith and to have God’s hand of protection upon them. It’s an amazing story — and one which will doubtlessly have heavenly recompense. We can only hope that the spiritual transformation of these Iranian Christians is mirrored in the earthly state of their country, as well.
