They take turns staying awake, praying and walking the floor while others sleep — blissfully unaware, at least for a few hours, that they are being hunted. They have no passports, no visas, and very little of what they need most of all: hope. 

For these Christians, in a safe house deep in Afghanistan, time is running out. Together, they live in fear of a single knock on their hiding place door — from the Taliban.

“It happened so fast,” Sarah said. “We had many plans for preaching the gospel with other brothers and sisters…” Now, their plan is to just survive. Even that, they know, will be difficult. To the despair of rescue groups and humanitarian workers, the small population of Christians in Afghanistan has seemed to vanish — almost overnight. 

Some have fled to the hills, others have retreated into the shadows — turning off their phones and hunkering down in whatever undisclosed locations they can find. Some have just gone missing completely.

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