Where the church stands in Middle East / North Africa
Christianity was born here, and for its first six centuries this was its heartland. Today around four in a hundred people in the Middle East and North Africa identify as Christian — the lowest share of any region — and the ancient communities of Iraq, Syria and Egypt have shrunk sharply through war and emigration. Egypt's Coptic church, at roughly ten million, is the largest that remains.
And yet the region is also home to some of the fastest church growth on earth. Iran's underground house-church movement is widely reckoned among the fastest-growing anywhere. Algeria's Kabyle region has seen the clearest turning to Christ in North Africa in a century. Satellite television, Arabic and Persian media, dreams, and the Gulf's vast migrant-worker churches reach people no missionary can.
Signs of hope
Underground movements in Iran and Algeria, and Arabic- and Persian-language media reaching homes across a region closed to missionaries.
The honest difficulty
Conversion penalised by law and family, ancient churches at risk of disappearing through emigration, and no legal way to gather in several nations.
How to pray for Middle East / North Africa
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Praise God for what He is doing in Iran and Algeria against every human expectation.
- Pray for the ancient churches of Iraq, Syria and Egypt — that they would not disappear.
- Ask God to sustain believers who have lost family, work or freedom for following Jesus.
- Pray for the Gulf's migrant workers, worshipping quietly in nations with no legal church.
Nations in Middle East / North Africa on this site
Each profile carries church size, unreached peoples, what is going well, what is hard, and four prayer points.
Questions people ask about Middle East / North Africa
How many Christians are there in Middle East / North Africa?
About 24 million of Middle East / North Africa's roughly 600 million people identify as Christian — around 4% of the population. The trend is under pressure. Figures follow Pew Research Center's regional definitions and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, and are rounded estimates that vary by source and year.
Is Christianity growing in Middle East / North Africa?
The birthplace of the church now holds the smallest Christian share of any region. Underground movements in Iran and Algeria, and Arabic- and Persian-language media reaching homes across a region closed to missionaries. At the same time: Conversion penalised by law and family, ancient churches at risk of disappearing through emigration, and no legal way to gather in several nations.
Which nations in Middle East / North Africa are least reached?
Of the 9 Middle East / North Africa nations profiled on this site, 5 are frontier and 2 are unreached. Iran (frontier, about 0.5% Christian); Iraq (unreached, about 0.4% Christian); Morocco (frontier, about 0.1% Christian); Qatar (unreached, about 14% Christian); Saudi Arabia (frontier, about 4% Christian); Türkiye (frontier, about 0.2% Christian); Yemen (frontier, about 0.1% Christian)