A new report from a Christian advocacy group says that Christianity continues to thrive and grow despite brutal repression and attempts by governments, groups, and individuals across the world to quash the faith. The 2023 “Persecutors of the Year” report was released this month by the advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC).
According to the report, the Islamic Republic of Iran has “one of the fastest-growing churches in the world.”Christians currently make up only a small minority in Iran, numbering somewhere between 500,000 and 800,000, according to ICC’s report. Though the government, ruled by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, enforces strict adherence to Sharia law, ICC’s report said that hundreds of thousands of Iranians “from all different kinds of walks of life” have converted to Christianity.
In China, the report said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “requires that citizens worship the state, co-opting every religious structure possible into a mouthpiece of CCP propaganda.”
Under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the penalties for living out one’s Christian faith have continued to increase. Amid the persecution, the report said that there are now 70 million to 100 million “underground Christians” who have refused to follow the CCP’s mandate to “worship the state,” choosing instead to risk their lives by following Christ.