The underground church in Iran is growing. So is the price of belonging to it.
Iran was already one of the hardest places on earth to follow Jesus. In recent months the pressure has sharpened into a stark body count.
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Texas-based Iran Alive Ministries, which trains house-church leaders and shines the gospel into Farsi-speaking homes, has released a grim glimpse from its own network: In the past few months alone, Iran’s Islamist government has killed at least 33 Christian ministers and arrested approximately 131 others. Fourteen of those arrested remain in prison, with some sitting on death row.
“This is just a snap picture of the people connected to Iran Alive,” said Hormoz Shariat, founder of the ministry. “There are so many other Christians who have been killed, who’ve been arrested.”
Of the roughly 176 believers in that tally, the ministry could name only 20 — four of them among the dead. At least 156 names remain unavailable, Shariat told Baptist Press.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Sarah Holliday and originally published by Decision Magazine.
