ByJoanne Khmel | May 30, 2025

Afghanistan (MNN) — Resettling after leaving your homeland is incredibly difficult. Returning is even harder — especially when your country is still in crisis. That’s the reality facing more than 250,000 Afghan refugees who have been forced to return to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan in recent months.

Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says, “They’re going back home to completely unknown circumstances. They won’t have jobs, they won’t have shelter.”

The challenges are staggering. Over 85% of Afghans live on less than one dollar a day, and many face ongoing persecution from the Taliban. Yet even in these conditions, the Gospel finds a way.

“When the church is under such extreme circumstances, we see the receptivity to the gospel increase. And in fact, Afghanistan is one of the fastest growing churches in the world,” Kelley says.

One powerful story illustrates this: the son of a Taliban member became a Christian and kept it secret — unaware that his father had also come to Christ. “Once that secret was finally revealed, that they both were followers of Jesus, they just wept. They embraced each other!” Kelley shares.

As the number of believers grows, so does the need for leadership. Unknown Nations is working to meet this need.

“We are training hundreds of leaders inside of Afghanistan. These people are being equipped because that’s what this church needs. This is a young church.” The ministry uses both digital tools to train leaders within the country and face-to-face discipleship for Afghans living abroad.

“We need to be creative as the body of Christ and find places where Afghans are at, and they’re in dozens of countries around the world, including here in the US,” Kelley adds. These are potential future leaders of the churches in their homeland. He adds, “When they come to know the truth of Jesus, you will not be able to keep them away from Afghanistan!”

Unknown Nations focuses especially on the 40 million Afghans still living inside the country, recognizing that their spiritual needs differ from those of the diaspora. They are born into war, living under the chaos of the Taliban regime and its conflicts with ISIS. They must protect their women and children above all. Their cries to God are shaped by daily survival.

“There’s nothing better than the perfect power of Jesus Christ to give you strength. And I think that would be the defining attribute of the church in Afghanistan,” Kelley says.

Header photo courtesy of Faruk Tokluoğlu via Pexels.

Original Article Posted Here: https://www.mnnonline.org/news/while-afghanistan-remains-uncertain-returning-refugees-may-find-hope-in-the-gospel/