When Following Jesus Costs Everything

What if choosing to follow Jesus could cost you your family, your home, and your rights as a citizen?

For people in the country where Lydia* serves, those possibilities shape how they respond to the gospel. They also help explain why reaching unreached people groups requires creativity, patience, and a willingness to build relationships over time.

Lydia is a BMA Global missionary serving in a creative access nation in Asia. For her protection and the protection of those around her, her name and location remain private.

Unreached people groups, often called UPGs, are communities that lack enough believers and churches to bring the gospel to their own people. Many have little opportunity to hear about Jesus or know someone who follows Him.

The barriers vary. Some communities are geographically isolated and difficult to reach. Others live in places where missionaries are not permitted, religious activity is restricted, or following Jesus carries serious consequences. Language and cultural differences can create additional challenges.

Getting into a country is only one part of the work. Staying long enough to learn the language, earn trust, share the gospel, and disciple new believers can be even more difficult.

In Lydia’s context, the barriers extend far beyond access.

According to Lydia, choosing to follow Jesus can mean being cut off from family and losing citizenship, along with access to healthcare, the right to own land or a home, and voting rights. The cost reaches into nearly every part of daily life.

Lydia knows of one believer who plans to leave the country as soon as she is able. With so much at stake, the local believer does not feel able to remain and openly share the gospel with those around her. Her circumstances offer a glimpse of the pressures believers face and the challenges of establishing a lasting Christian witness.

These realities make a faithful, ongoing presence especially important. Where traditional missionary pathways are closed, a viable business can provide an opportunity to live and work among people who have little access to the gospel.

For Lydia, “business as mission” provides a legitimate reason to be in the country and a visa that allows her to stay. Her business creates opportunities to participate in community life, meet people, develop relationships, and integrate the Gospel into the business culture.

Trust takes time, and questions about faith may emerge slowly through ordinary conversations and shared experiences. Creative approaches must fit the realities of the people being reached. In Lydia’s context, that means finding opportunities within daily life and intentionally weaving gospel threads into conversations.

The realities Lydia describes help us understand why some communities remain unreached. Access is limited. Believers face enormous pressure. Building relationships and discipling people takes time.

Yet these barriers call the church to prayerful persistence and creative service. Through business, hospitality, everyday conversations, and partnerships, Lydia is working to make Jesus known among people who have few opportunities to hear about Him.

Pray for those considering the claims of Christ and the cost of following Him. Pray for believers facing difficult decisions about their future. And pray for Lydia as she continues to be steadfast and faithful to what the Lord has called her to do.

*Lydia is a newly-assigned alias for our BMA Global missionary who has been serving in a creative access nation in Asia for 7 years.