This weekend we were struck with the very real prospect of violence and missions as a gunman attacked a Youth With a Mission training facility and New Life Church.

Although it makes bigger news when it is on U.S. soil, mission work takes place in violent contexts every day-- and missionaries and nationals lose their lives.

Today, when I came home, I found that my copy of Keith Eitel's timely book had arrived. I cannot find a graphic or a link, but I will update it when I can. The book is called, Missions in the Contexts of Violence.

I have skimmed the book and it looks like an important new read with a breadth of contributing authors.

This book is part of a series published by the folks at the Evangelical Missiological Society. You can find the whole series, minus this new book, here (click on publications).

I believe that such violence will get worse, and not better, in the coming years. But, as IMB spokesman (at that time) Mark Kelly said:

Missions has always been a dangerous enterprise... In 1845, it was shipwrecks and malaria. Today, it's bandits and car wrecks. There simply aren't any safe places, even here in the United States. While safety is important, every missionary decides as part of obeying the missions mandate that it is better to serve God where he calls than it is to disobey and remain where it is 'safe.'

Keith Eitel quotes martyred missionary Karen Watson, who wrote a letter before she was killed along with three other missionaries in an ambush in Iraq. She wrote a letter before she left that would have profound significance after her death.

Keith reports that she told her pastor to put the letter in a safe place in case she did not return. She did not.

Karen's letter included this credo:

The Missionary Heart

Cares more than some think is wise.

Risks more than some think is safe.

Dreams more than some think is practical.

Expects more than some think is possible.

May we all learn from the missionaries that our lives are not our own, and Christ may call us to make the greatest sacrifice.