Dear Friend of the Persecuted Church—

            Today’s news is full of a resounding praise from overseas: The 19 short-term missionaries being held by the Taliban are going to be released.  Some already have been released, and the rest should be on their way shortly.

            The Taliban has been holding these Christians for six weeks.  The group originally had 23 South Korean believers, who had traveled to to do mission work.  In the early stages of negotiation, the Taliban killed two of the group, and released two others, holding the 19 remaining Christians hostage.

            As of today, 12 of those 19 have been released, and the Taliban is promising to release the others.  This victory is not without its price, though; the South Korean government has agreed to ban all Christian mission work in Afghanistan, among other things.  This agreement, combined with the tragedy of the two martyrs and the praise for the release of the other 21, has raised a lot of questions—questions that all Christians should ask.  Though we do not live in persecution, this story should remind us that it is never far away, and prompt us to evaluate our own lives in that context.

            These South Korean believers knew the risk before they left.  Some commentators have made the argument that they were foolish to go to such a dangerous place as Afghanistan.  That is certainly true if they took the risk lightly, or if they failed to use wisdom in their preparations, but otherwise that argument rings hollow.  Missions work would be virtually non-existent if we only went to "safe" places—goodness, even inner city evangelism would have to stop.  As Christians, we are called to take certain risks to fulfill our calling to take the gospel to the lost, and to minister to those in need.

What about those that died?  Should we look back, in the 20/20 vision of hindsight, and say that their trip was a mistake?  The sorrow of their families must be intense, and their death is a tragedy, but to see only the tragedy is to forget eternity.  The history of missions is full of stories of temporal tragedy that sparked eternal results.  The story of Jim Elliott comes immediately to mind, a young man who, along with two others, was killed trying to reach out to the Auca Indians in South America.  From his writings, I bet he would do it all again, given the chance.  His sacrifice was not foolish; he knew the value of eternity when he said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." 

And what about those that have lived?  What a praise, that they escaped murder.  But at what cost?

The South Korean government was willing to sacrifice ministry for the safety of these lives.  I am grateful that I did not have to make the decision that they were required to make.  They had no good option, and I do not mean to decry their choice.  Every one of us, though, must make the decision for our own personal lives.  What is the eternal value of ministry?  What are we willing to risk?  And even more importantly, what are we willing to sacrifice? 

Our brothers and sisters overseas face these risks and make these sacrifices daily, not because they choose the risk, but because they choose Christ.  We don't face that persecution.  We have it easy.  But will we take the risk, and make the sacrifice, if we are called to do so?

Yours for the Body of Christ,

Gabriel J. Waddell
Executive Director

P.S.  We have just updated our website so that you can view our 5-minute introductory video online.  Click here to watch it!

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