Mission Without Borders was founded in 1960 in response to the material and spiritual needs of people living in poverty or suffering persecution in Communist Europe. Our work began when the Cold War was at its most intense. In Eastern Europe, a rigid political system had demanded strict loyalty, and those who dared to disagree suffered imprisonment and death. Literally millions of Christians were persecuted for their beliefs. Many paid with their lives and still do in various parts of the world. The unregistered underground church was our mission field, reflected in our name at the time - Underground Evangelism, and later Aid to the Persecuted.