Taking Risks in “Closed” Countries

This is one of the best explanations of the crisis facing so many Christian workers in "closed" or "creative access" countries around the world today. If you or someone you know is working in a place where open proclamation of the Gospel is considered dangerous or risky, then please take to heart the words of missionary Kevin Greeson in his article on "Church Planting Movements Among Muslim Peoples":

"Finally, I did not realize beforehand how much I would struggle with my own fear and security. Consuming the mission community for decades was the notion that if a missionary’s work was too visible, it would result in his expulsion by the government. We decided to take the risk. For a year and a half, we led a large number of high profile volunteer teams from the U.S. into a new area. We systematically distributed tracts and Bibles along every highway; we rode bicycles down village roads, and even paddled down small rivers. One of these outings resulted in a late night knock on the door of the place where we were staying. Under the cover of darkness, a Muslim seeker was seeking us out. Three months later, this Person of Peace along with 18 others were baptized. Within one year, this emerging movement experienced explosive growth with three hundred baptisms from the Muslim community.

In a village less than an hour’s drive away, our volunteer team walking from village to village encountered a young Muslim man who gladly received our witness and a Bible. Later, this young man came to faith in Jesus and started 24 churches in that area among his family and friends over a two-year period of time. Today, this Church Planting Movement has close to 4,000 baptized Muslim-background believers with 560 house churches and is reaching into distant countries with their own missionaries. During this high visibility period of time I did not face any visa problems with the government as previously feared.

An overly cautious security level that goes unchallenged for years can be costly to the goal of finding Muslim seekers who have the potential of starting movements. We may have access to highways and waterways, but there remains a roadway that we will never be allowed to travel. This young Muslim man traveled down his own oikos³ roadway and saw incredible fruit. The risk of losing my visa was worth it to gain access to this young MBB. I learned that, in a sense, the Person of Peace is looking for us as much as we are looking for him. If we are hidden beneath a platform or covered with fear of losing our visas, we may miss meeting that Person of Peace. Without that meeting, movements never begin.

New believers typically imitate the security level of those who win them. Even if we do win a Person of Peace, if he adopts the extremely high security level of the foreign missionary he will not lead to a movement. 

The level of security floating around the mission community for several decades, and that I was indoctrinated into when I first entered the country, was built on a foundation of exaggerated stories. Granted, security concerns and platform issues are real, and my intention is not to belittle this serious matter. The lesson for me, though, came down to the fact that I had been asking the wrong question. I was asking, “What’s it going to take to stay in the country?” instead of asking, “What’s it going to take to find Persons of Peace who can start movements?” Both questions are legitimate, but for me the second question transformed our ministry and our results."

(Emphasis Mine)