Since the establishment of Iranian Christians International, Inc. (ICI) in 1980, until recently both the secular and Christian worlds frequently questioned the term "Iranian Christian."  Many people regarded this term as an oxymoron.  To them, the typical Iranian was a Shi'ah Muslim who shouted, "Down with America" in the streets of Tehran and other cities around the world.  They asked, "How could someone from this background choose to follow Christ as his Savior and Lord?"

Even the author who is a Muslim convert to Christ, did not meet another Iranian Christian convert until four years after his conversion.  But, those were the 1960's and 1970's when Iranians relied on their material prosperity and Islam to avoid the question of man's sinfulness and the claims of Jesus Christ.

Then, only 200-300 Muslim converts lived in Iran, in a nation of 45 million people.  The personality conflicts among the Christian leaders and missionaries and denominational influences in Iran kept the church from growing.  This led to a spiritually dwarfed church.

Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, produced several spiritually significant phenomena:

1. People became more intimately acquainted with Islam;

2. The material prosperity slowly disappeared;

3. The Government expelled Western missionaries;

4. The Church of Iran, in an Islamic environment, suffered increasing persecution.

The persecution purified the church.  If an Iranian called himself a Christian, he now had to be willing to pay a high price for his faith.  At the same time, the disappearing prosperity and introduction of fundamentalist Islam pressured Iranians into searching for real answers to their lives' problems.

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