In hidden corners of the world where faith comes at a price, a quiet army of ordinary believers performs extraordinary work. These are the Frontlines Bible couriers – men and women from all walks of life who answer the call to carry Scripture into nations where God’s Word is banned, restricted, or actively hunted. Their mission is deceptively simple yet eternally significant: to ensure that no believer, no matter how isolated or persecuted, goes without access to the living Word of God.
The need for couriers has never been greater. In dozens of countries across the Middle East, Asia, and Northern Africa, governments maintain sophisticated systems to intercept religious materials. Customs officials are trained to recognize Christian literature. Police conduct raids on printing houses and bookstores. Informants monitor religious communities. For believers in these regions, obtaining a Bible isn’t merely difficult – it can be dangerous, sometimes even life-threatening. This is why the work of couriers remains so vital to the survival and growth of the underground church.
What makes the Frontlines couriers remarkable is their ordinariness. They aren’t trained spies or special operatives. The courier we spoke with, currently preparing for his seventh mission, is a regular businessman from the American Midwest. Others include retired teachers, nurses, college students, and stay-at-home parents. What unites them isn’t professional expertise but willing hearts and a simple commitment to obey God’s call. They travel on tourist visas or business trips, their precious cargo packed discreetly. It could be physical copies of the Bible or portions of scripture they carry with them, or other supplies that are desperately needed. They undertake the journey simply compelled by love for their unseen brothers and sisters in Christ.
The impact of a single delivery can ripple through entire communities. In one country, a Frontlines courier carried a few digital files containing Scripture and discipleship materials that were copied onto hundreds of phones, creating an invisible network of God’s Word that authorities couldn’t confiscate. Another courier we interviewed recounted how recipients often wept when receiving Scripture, clutching the books to their chests as if holding priceless treasure. For believers who risk everything to follow Christ, these deliveries represent both spiritual nourishment and tangible proof that they haven’t been forgotten by the global Church.
Yet the work exacts a cost. Our couriers face the constant tension of potential discovery at borders. Assisted by Frontlines International, they develop contingency plans in case they’re questioned. The believers who receive these deliveries in turn risk being discovered by the authorities. However, one pastor told a courier, “If they find these Bibles, I will lose everything. But if my people don’t have God’s Word, they will lose everything that matters.”
Beyond delivering physical Scriptures, couriers serve as living connections between the persecuted church and the broader body of Christ. They carry prayer requests out and bring messages of solidarity back. They provide firsthand reports that help global believers pray more specifically. Sometimes their very presence – the simple act of someone traveling across the world to visit – provides immeasurable encouragement to isolated believers who feel alone in their faith.
The Frontlines courier we spoke with described how these encounters often leave him more blessed than those he serves, returning home with a renewed appreciation for religious freedom and a deeper commitment to intercede for the persecuted.
For those who cannot go, vital support roles remain. Prayer forms an invisible shield around every mission – for safety in travel, favor at borders, and spiritual impact at destinations. Financial support helps cover travel costs and materials. Most importantly, remembering the persecuted in prayer and advocating for religious freedom keeps their needs before the Church. In this global spiritual battle, couriers may be the delivery personnel, but every believer has a role to play in getting God’s Word to those who hunger for it. The quiet faithfulness of these ordinary believers continues to sustain the persecuted church, proving that even in the darkest places, the light of God’s Word cannot be extinguished.
Find out how you can get involved with this very valuable part of the Frontlines ministry. Contact us at info@frontlinesinternational.org
Something Greater
Nepal is best known for the highest mountain peak on earth, Mount Everest at over 29,000 feet (8848.86 m). This year over 1000 people will crowd the mountain between the beginning of April and the end of May in an effort to reach the summit. It is a dangerous endeavor. Over 200 frozen bodies litter the mountain. Climbers prepare for years honing their skills on smaller mountains before they undertake Everest. The cost to try is from $40,000 to $100,000 to spend two months in below-freezing temperatures and a few brief minutes at the summit, if you are successful.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit first in 1953. In a Forbes interview, Hillary said, “Clients are spending a large sum of money just to trek up our route, mainly so they can go back home and boast about it more.” Climbing is a welcome industry in Nepal that attracts adventurers looking to accomplish something “greater.”
What is not particularly welcome in Nepal is a testimony of the power of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, in whose name salvation resides. Over 80% of the country is Hindu. Less than 2% is Christian.
Imagine believers gathered in a pastor’s home to pray, study, and sing. When suddenly local Hindu extremists surround the house, shouting abusively, demanding the Christians cease their worship, finally torching the home and burning it to the ground. What do you do? You move to a relative’s house where you continue to, quietly and humbly, pray, study, and sing while rebuilding the pastor’s home. You stay the course knowing that God is at work. You live daily prepared to respond to any who would ask “why?’ (1 Peter 3:15).
Christ calls us all to live as our Nepalese brothers and sisters on the frontline of Satan’s attack against His Church. Resolute. Confident in Christ. Given fully to God, all we have, all we own, all we are. Knowing we need look no further. We have found the Greatest. We boast in Christ alone.
