TEHRAN, Iran (BP) — Amir, an underground church leader in Iran, told Iran Alive Ministries of being stopped at a police checkpoint with dozens of Bibles in tow, a crime punishable by imprisonment and death.

Police confiscated the Bibles but let Amir go free. When he arrived the next evening at the house church that expected the Bibles, the books were already there, delivered by none other than the police official who had confiscated them.

“He (the police official) divulged that he is a Christian,” Iran Alive Ministries founder Hormoz Shariat told Baptist Press of the event that happened earlier this year. “And he said, ‘Look at the table. The books I got from you yesterday are on the table and they are being handed to the house church members.’”

Christians are often found in unexpected places in Iran, Shariat said, supporting his estimate of at least 2 million Christian converts from Islam there, more than twice as many estimated by others tracking such data.

“I give a number and I get criticized by both sides. But the number I give is about 2 million Muslim-background believers. I give this number in the West and some people say, ‘Really? Don’t you think you’re exaggerating? Maybe it’s not that much,’” Shariat said of the reactions he receives.

But house church leaders in Iran believe 2 million is too low.

“They say, ‘Why do you downplay what God is doing in Iran? That’s a small number,’” Shariat told Baptist Press. “Some of the top leaders have been with us for many years, and we have underground networks in many cities in Iran. So when I give 2 million, there are people inside Iran, they say it’s more. It’s more than that.”

Underground house church members report encountering Christians while witnessing on the streets, in shopping centers and on public transportation. Such encounters are risky for those who share the gospel as well as for those who profess Christianity.

But believers are willing to take the risk, Shariat said, sharing the story of believers who attended a training session he hosted outside Iran for church leaders in the underground network.

“They said, ‘Pastor Hormoz, don’t worry about us. We know what we got into. When we were Muslims, we were ready to die for Allah, who is a distant and cruel God. How much more we are ready to die for Jehovah who is an intimate and loving God,’” the attendees told Shariat.

Shariat preaches evangelistic messages around the clock to Iranians on satellite television from the headquarters of his nondenominational ministry in Dallas, Texas, reaching an estimated 6 million listeners daily in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East, according to IranAlive.org. He also utilizes the internet for training events and other outreaches.

“So there are many out there that we don’t know,” he said. “Over the years, (Iranian Muslims) have come to know the true Islam and they have rejected Islam.”

Iran Alive’s estimate of 2 million converts is more than twice that of other groups that estimate between 500,000 and 800,000 Christian converts there, according to the most recent (2023) U.S. State Department Report on International Religious Freedom and the Open Doors 2025 World Watch List.

Shariat, who grew up as a Muslim in Iran, converted to Christianity in the 1980s after comparing the Quran with the Bible. He has not returned to Iran, he told Baptist Press, since around the 1979 overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, now deceased.

Shariat first planted a church in San Jose, Calif., in 1987 and founded Iran Alive Ministries in 2000, beginning broadcasts after the tragedy of 9/11 the following year.

Thousands began receiving Christ, but he said there were few churches in Iran for them to attend. In the early 2000s, Shariat began developing a network of leaders to plant house churches there. Today, more than 3,300 students are enrolled in Iran Alive’s online training school. The ministry has distributed more than 100,000 Bibles since 2001 and has documented 115,000 decisions for Christ, the ministry reports at IranAlive.org.

Included in the 2 million converts Shariat counts are house church members and those who have made professions of faith within the network of believers over the past 25 years as well as those he believes are closeted believers.

“There are many who watch our programs, they come to Christ, but they don’t tell us until many, many years later, we find out,” Shariat said. “So the actual number is bigger than that. And when Jesus healed 10 lepers, only one reported back. So probably there are (more) that have come to Christ. We don’t know. But 115,000, that’s our (documented) statistic. And every month we have over 1,200 new salvations right now. And I believe that’s real and that’s going to grow. Those are solid numbers from our ministry.”

Open Doors U.S. counts 800,000 Christians in Iran, about 0.9% of its population of 89.8 million. Muslims account for 98.3% of the country’s populace, with 88.28 million adherents.

Open Doors ranks Iran at 9 on its 2025 World Watch List of the nations with the most severe Christian persecution, noting the country’s Islamic oppression and severe persecution of Christian communities and converts from Islam. Persecution has intensified under the ceasefire Iran and Israel reached in June.

Shariat stands by God’s promise in Jeremiah 49:38 that He will establish His throne in Elam, which Shariat believes is present-day Iran.

“One sentence I make — it’s kind of outrageous but it’s truth — that Iran is no longer an Islamic nation and it will never be,” Shariat said. Iranians’ “rejection of Islam is not an overnight emotional decision. It took him 46 years. It’s very deliberate. Islam is gone in Iran. It will never come back.”

And while the nation is technically Islamic and controlled by an Islamic government, Shariat proclaims, “Sooner or later, they will go.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)