When you think of an “underground” church, you probably think of one that meets in secret. But what if a church began below the surface of the earth—literally under the ground? This is Mila’s story:

Mila participated in a discipleship-mission training program in southern Tanzania. During their outreach, God gave this woman a vision to reach the people who mine for sand and rocks.

This mining is hard and dangerous work underground, digging out rocks, breaking them up, and selling them for construction. The holes are deep and unstable, often leading to injury and death.

Mila was not content to preach from a safe position—she chose to dig alongside those she wanted to reach and talk to them about Jesus. She also used the time before and after the day’s work to preach Christ.

Her hard work paid off. Within two months, she had planted an “underground” church, serving as pastor for the miners. Each day, they asked her to pray and give a word of encouragement before they started digging. The church first met in secret since the area is primarily Muslims and animists who are antagonistic to the Gospel.

Through prayer, God gave them favor and as the new fellowship grew, Mila used her rented house for meetings. It’s located near the mines, close to where those who come to buy rock and sand park their trucks and do business. So she had easy access to talk about Jesus with the customers who come and go.

As the new fellowship grew, Mila appointed a pastor to take care of the people, choosing to continue her back-breaking work in the mines so she could carry on witnessing for Jesus.

She has since planted four more churches and trained their pastors. Willing to do the hard work, Mila has seen many people come to faith and new life in Jesus.