International Networks, Religious Discourse, and Missionaries in High-Risk Countries

Why do some local religious organizations, particularly Christian foreign mission groups, dispatch missionaries to some culturally risky states, such as Muslim countries, where they face personal high risks and political entanglements? I argue that local religious organizations’ beliefs, identities, and goals are heavily influenced by the diffusion of international religious discourse carried by international religious networks, which is a key factor in mobilizing missionaries to dispatch to high-risk countries. These religious activities are driven by constituted identities and expected behaviors from the international networks. I offer a detailed examination of records and publications of the international religious movements, the Lausanne Movement and the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement, and find common themes, discourse and ideas generated from these international networks. The results show that the discourse of ‘unreached people’ was highly influential in encouraging global Christians to target high-risk countries, and I present more specific discourse of why, how, and when the ideas of Christians approaching the unreached people were emerged and disseminated.