In some countries religion across the board is banned.
I recently got to visit with a very active Baptist friend, and their church financially supports a Baptist missionary in north Africa/Egypt. He went to visit and they did the tourist thing, visited the pyramids etc. So, preaching Christianity is banned. So I asked him, "your church financially supports her, what does she do if she can't preach? Is there a day-care, an orphanage, a school? A free clinic?" He says, "no, she makes contacts with people, that is all"
He explained that she's been over there 3 years now, living in an apt and she just gets to be friends, basically makes friends so everyone trusts her and socializes with the locals. She knows all the cab drivers, all the hotel owners/managers, and just by being over is gives a silent witness of how nice Christians are. She isn't trying to convert with words, just by her actions and presence. Their church organizes church groups to go and visit and they do all the tourist stuff and she is their guide.
So, my rational self can't understand why a church supports her financially when she can't actively preach, there is no church, etc. It didn't make any sense to me at all. I wondered what is the point?
So that also makes me wonder if the Witnesses in the banned countries are just leading normal lives without meetings, preaching etc... because they would be arrested if they actively preach Christianity.