Basically, house churches are groups of young people with their families that are formed spontaneously. Unfortunately, because these fast growing groups are widely spread across the country, it is almost impossible to estimate their number, reports Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News.
Those who convert to Christianity from other religions are not allowed to go to official churches in Iran. On the other hand, since official churches are tightly watched by the government, newly converted Christians prefer to gather in small groups in their homes to worship and study the Bible. They call their homes “house churches”, where they gather to worship God with no political purpose.
House church members’ relationship with foreign churches and ministries, may be summed up in Christian teaching matters. The primary reason for such a relationship is that Christians do not have access to theological resources and are not allowed to print and distribute Christian books that are certified by their churches. Thus, Iranian Christians have no way to access these resources except through satellite channels and the internet.Most Iranian security authorities consider these gatherings (house churches) as a threat to the Islamic regime and thus identify and attack them. They arrest attendees and charge them with serious security offenses. Also, by making anti-Christian remarks, pro-regime Ayatollahs try to prevent young Iranians and their families from converting to Christianity and to stop the increasing growth of house churches. Ayatollahs see their existence in the continued existence of the Islamic regime. Therefore, they make unfounded remarks whenever they find an opportunity and use it as a means to provoke government and security authorities to pressure Christian converts.As we promised at the end of the article “Two Ayatollahs Make Anti-Christian Remarks to Provoke Authorities against Christians”, we will include here names of some pro-regime Ayatollahs and their anti-Christian position.Qom based Ayatollah Sobhani, whose remarks are always strongly reflected by pro-regime news services affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, like Fars news service, warned against the growth of house churches in society and called on Islamic seminaries to be alert in this respect. He also said that house churches attract ungodly youth who have gone astray and try to induce them to accept their faith. Prior to this, he had also warned that “enemies of the Islamic regime of Iran are investing money and providing means to make the people turn their back on Shi’ite Islam.” He added, people should be alert to not let some groups form house churches. Warning against house churches, Ayatollah Sobhani, who is also a seminary teacher in Qom, acknowledged that 600 people had become Christians in Neyshabour.He is one of the highest profile Shia experts in Iran. In his public remarks, he has warned against Christianity many times. His remarks were taken so seriously that they led to a wave of pressure, threat, arrest and even torture of some Christians and Christian converts by security and judicial authorities.
Some time ago, Ayatollah Khorasani criticized the spread of Christianity. He addressed high-profile authorities and said, “People are becoming Christian and they (authorities) are after their chairmanship.” He added, “there is no one saying to these organizations what it means to see misleading Christian evangelism even in Qom? Christian evangelism should be eliminated or I will dishonor those who are neglecting to do so.”
