Blockbuster Survey: Christianity Is Growing as Iranians Lose Faith in Islam by CBN News
For years, mission groups have been talking about the rapid growth of Christianity in Iran and now a survey of Iranian citizens is backing up those claims.
Based in the Netherlands, the non-profit Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) questioned 50,000 Iranians, 90 percent of whom live in the country.
The results showed that 1.5 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Christian. Those numbers suggest there are probably hundreds of thousands of Christians in the Islamic Republic and could quickly be approaching one million.
Mike Ansari of Mohabat TV, a ministry that broadcasts the Gospel into Iran, told CBN News the survey is significant because it lends credence to what mission groups have been saying for years.
“Iranians are turning their back to their faith, to their institutional faith, and receiving Christianity as their new faith,” Ansari said on CBN’s Christian World News program. “One-point-five percent becoming Christian may not seem a big number, but for a country that is closed and persecuted towards Christianity that number is a huge indication of the Gospel growth.”
Until now, the accepted number had been less than one percent of the population, but anecdotal reports suggested waves of people were turning to Christ in recent years. Those numbers are hard to verify, however, since Iran is officially a Muslim nation and the church is persecuted.
Satellite TV and other ministries are sending a message of love that appeals to the population and it’s spreading organically from person to person, resulting in a huge explosion of the underground house church movement.
“The majority of the movement is happening underground and it’s growing very, very fast,” Ansari said.
However, rapid growth also presents a risk to the church because of a lack of biblical teaching and discipleship.
