Will foreign missions work ever be the same

Sun 02 Sept

So 19 Christian missionaries from South Korea returned home today after being held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. They understandably faced much criticism after two of the original 21 hostages were killed. It’s believed the Korean government agreed a ransom which included withdrawing troops from the country.

Just a few weeks ago, another Christian foreigner in the country was held hostage for 24 hours before being freed by local police.

Although Christian missionary has been happening around the world for centuries, these recent cases raise concerns about how missionaries are done these days. For example should Christians be going to a countries that are ruled by Islamic law when politically America and their allies are already struggling to win the battle against global terrorism.

Perhaps 21st century missionary work should be focused on helping Christians in countries like Afghanistan to help casualties of the war rather than sending in over-enthusiastic westerners who probably don’t know enough about the culture they are going in to.