Snowcapped mountains stand tall, sprinkled with forests of greenery against backdrops of blue sky. Despite being layered with light, these mountain ranges are home to some of the least reached people groups, making it one of the most spiritually dark places in the world.
For more than 20 years, Stephen and Lyn Allwood — along with their three daughters — have lived in the Himalayas, where Stephen and Lyn serve as International Mission Board missionaries among primarily Buddhist people groups to extend the light and hope of Christ.
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It is difficult to comprehend how humans can be surrounded by “the beauty of God’s creation” and “not even know there is a Creator God,” Lyn said. “Stephen and I share the passion for making Him known in these hard, dark places.”
Calling
Lyn grew up in a Southern Baptist church, embraced the Lord at 10, and was shaped by Girls in Action, campus ministry and a heart for international students. Stephen’s faith began later, at a backyard Bible club when he was 12. After a deep dive into Scripture at age 28, a seven-week trip to the Himalayas in 2000 broke his heart over the region’s spiritual darkness. “That was the launching pad,” he says, and he resolved to spend his life there.
In the early 2000s, Stephen returned full time, where he met Lyn. Both felt called to “hard, dark places” where Christ was unknown. They married, moved back with their toddlers and later welcomed a third daughter. All three children have spent most of their lives abroad and are now teenagers.
Culture
In the high elevations of the Himalayas, yaks are herded with slingshots made from yak hair. While much of the land is rural, low‑lying towns pulse with traffic, street food and the bustle of daily life. The religious landscape is a kaleidoscope: monks, nuns, monasteries, brightly painted idols, prayer flags, spinning wheels and incense are found everywhere. The people live within a system of honor, shame, power and fear — always striving to “do enough good,” yet they are never certain they have. As Paul described the unreached in Ephesians 2:12, they are “without hope and without God.”
Commission
The Allwoods’ missions field shifts from remote mountain treks to rural towns. “There are no churches in a lot of the villages,” Stephen explained. Their task is to build relationships, meet physical needs and then share the gospel, mirroring Jesus’ ministry of feeding and teaching.
In addition to ministry in the mountains, the Allwoods are involved in their local church and are busy sharing the gospel in their community and coming alongside individuals in discipleship. Together with their teammates, they provide training for locals in marketable skills, assist local partners in outdoor wilderness training and teach on a variety of health topics. During COVID‑19, they worked with Send Relief to deliver gas cylinders, rice, water filters and winter clothing to city dwellers and mountain villages alike.
Challenges
Life in the Himalayas demands stamina.
There are no fast‑food outlets; every meal is prepared from scratch; chores and homeschooling consume hours, and basic utilities are unreliable. Monsoon rains trigger flooding and landslides that wash out roads, making remote villages accessible only after days of trekking, often without showers or familiar food. Trips can last 10 to 14 days, and the people are frequently resistant to outside religion.
“Where we work is dark and difficult and takes time to see people come to know and believe in Him,” Lyn explained. But Stephen notes that slowly, over time, as people hear about Jesus and His love for them, they become more open.
Ways to participate
Giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, as well as the Cooperative Program, helps provide the Allwood family with homeschool resources and housing and transportation, specifically vehicles that can get to the hard-to-reach places. Financial resources also fund projects like putting portions of Scripture on solar-powered devices to help get the gospel to remote areas that have no electricity or cell phone coverage.
“Every dollar that someone puts into the offering plate is significant,” Stephen said. “Southern Baptists allow us freedom to focus on the task they’ve sent us to do and not focus on trying to figure out the means to cover this expense or this need. That’s a huge blessing.”
Giving allows the Allwoods to bring nationals along with them, involving and training local partners in ministry. “This is key,” Lyn added. “We couldn’t be more thankful.”
Ways to pray
The Allwoods shared the following prayer requests rooted in Scripture: Pray God would open a door for the Word (Col. 4:3–4).
Pray the Allwoods and their team would boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19–20).
Pray the Lord would open hearts to receive the truth (Acts 16:14).
Pray eyes would be opened and turned from darkness to light (Acts 26:18).
Pray entire households would come to believe in Him (Acts 18:8).
Pray these dark and difficult places would become inhabited by individuals, families and entire villages and communities transformed by the Light of the world!
As told in Luke 15, the Good Shepherd is willing to leave the 99 to go after the one sheep who is lost. In the same way, the Allwood family is embracing humility by following in the footsteps of Jesus to take His message of rescue to the ends of the earth.
“We certainly have been sent to carry out the mission that He started,” Stephen said. “God, make me willing to do whatever is necessary to see the lost among this people come to be worshipers of you.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Katie Kizziah and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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