Over the years, these believers became isolated from Christian teaching. Their children grew up and married within their dwindling community. Some of them would go to church outside of the village every so often, but the younger ones were forced to work hard on Sundays.
The situation is bleak, and many people see little hope of escape. Almost every Christian household in these rural settings has at least one or more members who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Many of the Christian women have been threatened with abuse or have been abused. But no one will call the police—these Christians have to work and are required to do what is asked of them to survive.
But Samuel has not forgotten the Christians in his village—even as they’ve struggled to survive in total isolation.
“It’s very simple,” he says. “We want to be there for the Christians, and we teach people from the Bible. They have to discover that there’s not only false hope in this world; true hope can be found in Jesus. If they knew Him and how He has suffered for them to make things right with God, that would give true meaning to their lives.”
But how can they teach the people in these villages—some in places difficult to get to, far away from any church?