Behind the Horrible Headlines in Iran, a Great Awakening Has Been Underway

"For 47 years, the Iranian people have been subjected to a regime that not only consistently fails to uphold human rights for its citizens, but brutally quashes dissenting voices, opinions or beliefs," the report adds.

In its key findings, Scapegoat indicates the number of Christians arrested on charges related to religious belief and activities doubled in 2025 over the previous year – 254 compared to 139 in 2024.

The number of Christians sentenced to prison, exile or forced labor more than doubled from 25 in 2024 to 57 in 2025. At the end of 2025, 43 Christians were serving sentences, and another 16 were held in pre-trial detention, according to the report.

Eleven Christians – possibly more – were sentenced to 10 years or more in 2025, the report states. Nine years of exile and 249 years of social deprivation in health, employment or education were meted by the regime.

Noting trends of arrests and hate speech against Christians, the report includes a list of recommendations. It urges reopening a Bible Society that was closed in 1990 and remains shuttered today. 

The report also insists that an "unconditional release of Christians and other religious or belief minorities detained on charges related to their beliefs or activities" occur. 

"Reopening of forcibly closed churches" and "clarity on where Persian-speaking Christians may worship freely in their mother tongue, free from fear of arrest and prosecution" is highlighted as well in 'Scapegoating' of Christians the focus of 2026 annual report.

Long before the current protests in Iran and even before the Islamic Revolution, Pastor Stewart and his wife witnessed changes that inspired them. "Christianity was beginning to take root. People were coming to church. People were having visions of Jesus. People wanted to have copies of the Bible," he recalled.

Today the Iranian church is composed of 99 percent Muslim converts. "I would call it a Great Awakening. When Christianity moves into an area, awakening is when the culture begins to wake up; revival is for the church," he noted.

Stewart was the last pastor of Community Church of Tehran, Iran and a youth advisor for the Evangelical Church of Iran. He also founded and directed TALIM Ministries. Founder of SAT-7 PARS – a Christian satellite ministry – Stewart served as chairman of the board for 10 years.

He also founded and served as editor of Shaban Magazine, a leadership journal for Farsi-speaking pastors.

Stewart's book, No Stranger, capitalizes on the timeline of his years in Iran as a window into life, culture and church there, with observations from before and after the Islamic Revolution.