Reframing Risk and Safety
So, this blog is actually the first of two, maybe three posts in the works about risk and suffering and how those things relate to each other in missions. But to kick this one off, I actually have to make an apology to almost anyone I have talked to about my upcoming move to Uganda.
If at any point you have asked me a permutation of this question, “Are you going to be safe while you’re there? Is it a safe area?”
This apology is for you.
Because I likely went with my kneejerk reaction, which was to respond with, “Yes, Uganda is super safe!” I might have even gotten fancy and gone into a breakdown of facts about Uganda and my region in an effort to make you feel better about how safe I will be. And, as I began to write this blog post, I realized that I am so sorry for that response because that response mischaracterizes God and the Gospel and is mostly based on my perspective.
You see, me thinking of Uganda as safe is based on the fact that I am sort of behind the curve in my friend group. Most of my friends are already on the field in refugee camps, war zones, responding to the carnage of ethnic cleansings and decades long civil wars. I make a comparison to where they are and where I will be living, and it’s actually hard for me to feel like I am risking enough. (Comparison is a very dangerous monster that way.)
However, at the end of June, there was an attack on a school in Uganda that tragically claimed several lives and that incident happened about 100 miles due south of my future field location. As I began talking to supporters about that, I realized that most people weren’t buying my assertions about safety, and I had to reevaluate in light of Scripture and figure out why there was an apparent disconnect. I came away with two main realizations:
1) I was wrong to guarantee something like physical safety, when only God has a say in my preservation.
2) It’s wrong of the church to demand tangible safety of its missionaries and still expect biblical practices and results.
Let’s take a moment and step over to some pertinent passages:
· Matthew 24:9 - Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
· Matthew 10:16-18 - Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
· Acts 21:13 - Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
· Hebrews 11:32-38 - And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
· 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 - Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
There are an enormous number of theological conclusions to draw from those verses, but the simplest one is that absolutely none of that sounds safe. And those passages are a drop in the bucket of verses where Christians are promised great adversity and danger as part of their obedience.
Now consider the following names: Jim Elliot, Adoniram Judson, Peter Cameron Scott, Amy Carmichael, Gladys Aylward, Nate Saint, David Brainerd. Hopefully you know all of these individuals, but if you don’t go do a bit of research. Then come back and ask yourself how many people have heard the gospel as a direct result of their choices. They all paid a staggering toll for their efforts, and I don’t think any of us could say they should have been safer. They are a scant handful in long, unbroken line of Christians who made the same sort of decisions.
If you are able to hold an English translation of the Bible, know that it’s pages are soaked in the blood of martyred translators and smugglers. If you have cracked open any half-decent hymnal recently, don’t forget that many of the hymn writers suffered greatly to live a life that could produce that manner of truth. We stand on a heritage of risk takers, and I am deeply concerned at the fact that now, the first question I get asked after presenting at a church is “How safe will you be?”
Please don’t misunderstand, I love the fact that so many people are invested in my life and longevity, but the reality is that I can’t guarantee safety and I need to stop trying to assure people of something antithetical to what God promised me.
God never promised me safety or comfort; he promised me a home when I finished the job he gave me and the power to do it while I am this side of eternity. Absolutely nothing can touch which he has not ordained, and nothing is going to stay the hand of God when he decides to pour out on me cups of sorrow and suffering. The task we have been given as the Church is going to cost us all absolutely everything, and we will never regret one iota of the payment. Paul wasn’t kidding when he told us our reasonable service of worship is to be living sacrifices. Now, clearly that looks differently for everyone, but we have to stop assuming it includes safety, because that just isn’t in the pages of Scripture.
So, what should we all do instead?
Well, I for one am going to stop telling people I will be safe and start saying that I am going where God is directing me and depending on him to manage the risks there. I am also going to recommend the following questions for the missionaries in your life instead of “will you be safe?”
· How are you and your organization managing risks and expectations while you are on the field?
· What are your main concerns and where are you struggling to trust God?
· How are you being wise with the information you have about the region in terms of security concerns?
