In this Missionary MythBusters, we will take a look at the myth that missionaries live in constant danger. I want to address this subject with care, for some missionaries and other Christians do serve in dangerous places, such as war zones. But even there, life isn’t one of constant danger. For example, my friend Pavlo pastors in Kyiv and currently lives in a war zone—and for a time was even under Russian occupation. He shares the same dangers that everyone who lives there is experiencing—their country is at war, and they live under the constant threat of a missile attack. Yet, Pavlo and his dear family serve Christ faithfully and courageously.
However, back to the Missionary MythBuster that most missionaries don’t live in constant danger. The truth is many missionaries live about as comfortably and “safely” as they would in America.
Danger is relative, and it can be over-emphasized—even by some missionaries. And this isn’t a “new” myth. Here’s an excerpt from a letter William Carey wrote in 1809 to his mission board about a missionary they had sent who seemed to exaggerate danger:
Bro. Robinson has been [appointed to] Tibet now nearly two years, but I am quite discouraged at his delays. I believe he is strongly inclined to stay at Calcutta, where his abilities as an English preacher are (he thinks) acceptable, but the truth is Bro. R. fears dangers and his imagination creates a thousand dangers where not one exists. Brothers Marshman & Ward are quite discouraged at his excuses and delays and have nearly given over all hopes of him. The truth is he might have engaged in the work two years ago, had it not been for his fears.*
In another letter, he put the danger missionaries face in better perspective:
Missionaries must go into the country. Indigo manufacturers do. Military officers do, and it is probable that a military officer, not to mention a private, suffers more real privation and encounters more dangers than a missionary will in his whole life.*
“...living dangerously is not so much the issue as is the willingness to take risks in light of the sovereignty of God...”
Whether we are serving Christ among the nations or in our neighborhood, living dangerously is not so much the issue as is a willingness to take risks in light of the sovereignty of God and the urgent demands of the Gospel. For this, we need to look no further than Matthew 16:24-25 for guidance on whether risk is right:
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
It’s clear that cross-bearing isn’t optional, and it always means risk-taking as we fully follow and fully identify with our Cross-bearer. Get hold of these words. Memorize what Jesus said here. Call them to mind often because we cannot save our lives—we can only spend them. So, spend them well—spend them for Christ.
*Excerpts from The Journal and Selected Letters of William Carey, collected and edited by Terry G. Carter (Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2000) 132-134.
Very special thanks to my friend Dana Thompson for all his Missionary MythBusters cartoons!