How should Christians respond to the current crisis in Afghanistan? What does life look like going forward for believers in the country that was already noted as the second-hardest country in the world to follow Jesus, according to the 2021 Open Doors’ World Watch List?

Mark Morris, director of Refugee Memphis, and Pastor David Paiman, a Southern Baptist church planter for the Afghan community, spoke to TAB Media’s Jennifer Davis Rash on Thursday (Aug. 19) about the situation for believers in Afghanistan and the work already underway to help those who stay and those who leave.

Morris said he has been hearing reports and talking to Afghan Christians in recent days. Many of these believers and house church leaders recently registered with the Afghan government as Christians. They “did so willingly,” Morris said, “ready to give their lives for Christ.”

‘How do we serve?’

These same people are now “asking how do we serve the church? … They are just seeking the Lord’s direction still with that same willingness to give their lives for Christ,” Morris said.

Paiman said he has heard reports that Taliban insurgents are searching for some specific church leaders.

“We are desperately trying to help them to get them out of the country. … They want to stay willingly, but we know if they stay, they cannot do anything. That’s why we encourage them to leave for now,” Paiman said.

Click the video above or here to watch the full interview.