TEHERAN (FR) – A recent report published in Christianity Today claims that an unprecedented number of Iranians are rejecting Islam and turning to the Christian faith – right in the midst of the Ayatollah Khomeini’s stronghold.

During the first two years of the Iranian revolution, there was relative religious freedom in the country. Christian churches distributed literature at the University of Teheran, and on city sidewalks. It is now illegal to share the gospel anywhere in the nation, and Christians have been jailed because of their witness. Pressure is also applied to converts by their families, friends, and employers.

But statistics show that the Iranian church is growing. Since the revolution, several thousand Iranian Muslims became Christians – and the number now totals approximately 12,000. There is also no way to estimate the number of secret believers. “Twelve thousand believers may not sound like very many to American Christians,” said the report. “But since the Islamic invasion of Iran in the seventh century, there have never been this many followers of Jesus in this area at one time.”