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Pakistan joins a long list of countries from which Western missionaries have been evacuated. Such painful steps force us to look at both our biblical roots and our history books. We all know, theoretically at least, that when Jesus calls us, he calls us to salvation, service and suffering. But when it happens, we are shocked all the same.

When Jesus sent his team into action, he told them about all kinds of things they probably would encounter. They would work like sheep among wolves. They would work in weakness, not power. They should be ready for persecution at the hands of religious and political leaders. They must be prepared for some frightful consequences of their work. Families will be split by betrayals and even death. They will be hated for their confession of Jesus. Persecution will be so bad in some places that they will have to go elsewhere.

It’s quite natural for us to put down more or less permanent dwellings and ministries wherever we go. The mission station becomes “our” work and the churches we establish become “our” churches. We put our stamps of ownership and permanence on our schools and other ministries.

Therefore, when sudden upheavals threaten our security and permanence, we find it hard to go. Like river dwellers in flood time, we cling to the hope that the waters will not actually swallow our homes. When we flee, we focus on God and recall the transitory nature of our lives and our good works. We pray that we haven’t built with wood, hay and stubble.

We also recall the thousands of missionaries before us who have had to evacuate. My missions history began with the evacuation of 9,000 missionaries from China, 1948-50. That’s when I first got energized to pray and to go. But then I heard about Ethiopia, 1936, and earlier evacuations from China. More recent evacuations include the former Belgian Congo, 1960-61, and of course several times thereafter; and Vietnam, Colombia, Liberia, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and others.

Above all, we have to remember that the absence of missionaries does not mean the disappearance of the churches. All of us feared the worst for China’s Christians under communism, and indeed thousands and thousands were martyred, but Christ’s body was not snuffed out. Christians kept the faith alive in spite of persecution and death. China’s churches today count more members than before the communists took over. Similar things happened in Ethiopia.

Perhaps the toughest pill to swallow with evacuation is our fear of being called deserters by our fellow believers who cannot leave their countries. Some missionaries argue that, for the sake of their witness, they ought not to be ordered to evacuate. In fact, some have defied such orders for this reason.

Evacuations force us to pray some new and different prayers. Of course, we pray for the well-being-physical, spiritual, and emotional-of our missionaries. We also pray for pastors and believers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We also pray for our missionaries to anticipate their futures with confidence and trust in God. They face uncertain futures. Will they ever return? If not, what can they do? What can they do while they wait?

Their churches and agencies will help them to sort through these and other questions. Evacuated missionaries need reassurances from all of their friends-prayer, encouragement, housing, clothes, and money to tide them over their emergencies.

October 26, 2001