Historically known as Persia, Iran is home to one of the world’s most ancient civilizations, famed for its empires, poetry, architecture, and intellectual heritage. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has been shaped by a rigid Islamic identity, with religion and politics deeply intertwined. Christianity in Iran traces back to the first centuries of the Church, when missionaries from Mesopotamia carried the Gospel eastward, and later Nestorian bishops and Armenian patriarchs nurtured communities of believers. Catholic and Protestant missionaries also sought to spread the Gospel in later centuries, establishing schools and small fellowships.

Today, however, Christian teenagers face immense challenges: persecution from authorities, family rejection for conversion, and the struggles of living in a society weakened by international sanctions. The Iranian regime spends billions of dollars funding proxy wars in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, propping up militias and exporting ideology. At the same time, ordinary citizens suffer from food shortages, lack medicine, and have limited economic opportunities.

For many families, survival overshadows faith, and the Church is under threat from both state repression and despair among the youth. Yet God is moving: radio broadcasts carry the Word into homes, and countless Iranians testify of dreams where Jesus appears to them in a white robe, offering peace and hope.