Scaremongering: The Alarmist Gospel
Posted by C. Holland on Nov 27, 2009We could see the fear growing for a few months before it happened.
It started when one of our missionary friends asked for a semi-regular meeting for accountability and “venting” about the ups and downs of ministry in our notoriously difficult neck of Western Europe. The request made sense and was a great idea. But it quickly became apparent that the real agenda was how to deal with an overwhelming fear.
“What if they kick us out, me and my family?” he said nervously. “I’m hearing of other people’s visa not being renewed. It wasn’t supposed to be this way!” When we had each arrived in the country, visa renewal for missionaries was pretty much a foregone conclusion unless you’d done something incredibly illegal. Stamp, stamp, another renewal was what had been assured each of us as we prepared to come over here.
But shortly after our arrival, word started spreading amongst missionaries and Christian circles that immigration issues weren’t going to be so easy in the future. This much was true and backed up by legitimate news sources. It was at this point that the scaremongering began.
At every Christian event we attended, a “concerned” soul would approach us with, “Did you hear the latest? Someone who knows a friend heard from someone that another missionary was sent away. I hope you’re not next!” or “Where will it end? They’re out to get us Christians in this country!”
This went on for a while, and even hearing the incessant whispers was enough to wear you down, make you think it was utterly hopeless. Your mind starts going to some strange places without legitimate reason: “What if I don’t get renewed? Where will we go? There’s no way I’ll get to continue on here!”
We’d finally had enough of the chatter and realised that everyone’s source on the subject sounded like that part in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” where the classmate gives the convoluted way she heard that Ferris was sick: “My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows…” You get the idea.
To keep our sanity, we decided to take seriously only information that was firsthand. Even information from well meaning friends who had “heard something about someone” were not to be taken seriously without back up, i.e. direct inquiry to the person in question. As time progressed we began to run into firsthand stories, most of which were getting initial denials or delays but as we followed up with them, it became clear that they were able to get their immigration sorted favourably. What we then noticed was that the favourable stories were not getting passed around, and, making things worse, the original “horror stories” and “conspiracy theories” were gaining momentum, even turning bizarre as they were recounted.
Three things became clear to us through this exercise:
1) The possibility of extra difficulty ate up way too much time and worry in our lives and robbed us of the joy in our ministry; this was our fault. Being aware of new requirements or issues is one thing, but the level of distress we allowed this to cause us was not right. Had we only heard about the additional immigration requirements and disregarded the scaremongering, we would have only devoted time to meeting those requirements, not playing the “What If” worry game for months.
2) Negative half-truths were much more popular amongst groups, and few were interested to investigate the real story or clarify later if they learned more. One of the more popular stories that we later found to be satisfactorily resolved still makes the rounds—without the happy ending. When we politely explain the good outcome, the looks we get are almost as if we’ve rained on a parade. Then people turn the conversation to “others” they’ve heard about in bad situations. It appears that they don’t want the negative chatter to end.
3) We were trying to find false security (or a guarantee) in our situation, when in reality any one, missionary or not, could find themselves in a vastly different scenario tomorrow. Death, loss of job, accident, illness—the list is endless, but none of us have assurance that our current lifestyle will be intact tomorrow. We had to realise that, even if the government gave us carte blanche to live here permanently, if God does not want us here, He will move us. Conversely, if God wants us to stay here, He will make it so even if the government felt otherwise and it appeared utterly hopeless.
Meanwhile, God has allowed us to stay in this country to continue ministry. While it took some extra paperwork and meetings, we are thankfully still here.
And our missionary friend? A few months after his admission, he and his family left the country and missions ministry for good; his reasoning was that he “just knew” the government wouldn’t allow him to stay another year.
His approval for another year from the government arrived two months after his departure. He has not returned and remains in the States.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!No related posts.
Missionary Confidential by Email
November 27th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
My mom used to play a song called, “Don’t give up on the brink of a miracle.” What you’ve stated is very true – our human nature (and missionaries are no exception) is to bring attention to ourselves (thus the desire to stay the one with the sensational news) and to look at the situation around us instead of the keeping our eyes on the One who does have control (thus panicking).
This is definitely a great reminder for us to keep our eyes on Christ – to remain steadfast, immovable – even in the midst of rumors or scary truth!
December 2nd, 2009 at 6:31 am
@Roxie: Thanks!
December 4th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
We’re moving into Europe out of North Africa…where we deal with this daily. I have to use a VPN to check my email, I have all kinds of security stuff on my laptop to keep it safe….I have to speak in code publicly with other believers and we live with secret police among us. Every day there is the possibility we will either get arrested or kicked out.
If we allow ourselves to explore the “what ifs” we will find ourselves paralyzed with fear and rendered useless. I say stop talking about the fears, keep sharing, live today as if it’s your last and press on!
Grady Bauer´s last blog ..I wish all roads led to heaven
December 5th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
In China many missionaries have to be very careful talking about stuff and most places in Western Europe is quite good when it comes to religious freedom (for now that is..). I hear stories of people getting arrested and tortured in places like China, and then in the Middle East things are much worse. I guess its human nature to talk about fear though… I do it a lot sometimes too.
Tai Fu´s last blog ..Ministry update
December 7th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
@Grady & Tai Fu: Fear is certainly paralysing, and it’s not from God. We only conquer by continuing!