A Study on Islamic and Christian Missionary Work in the Top Twenty Global Economies

Abstract

Missionaries travel to promote religion or ‘faith’ among people worldwide. They also spearhead further education, social justice, health care, and economic development projects. However, over the years, missionaries have faced a backlash in several countries due to rising concerns for national security, secularism, and general attitude towards missionary work. In response to such concerns, our study investigates the approach of the world’s top twenty economies towards missionary work. The study explores if such countries permit missionary work, and if ‘yes,’ then ‘how’ missionaries are permitted to travel and under what conditions they are allowed to work in host countries. Finally, the study compares the motivational factors and activities of leading Christian Missionary & Islamic (Dawah) organisations in such countries. The study uses a desk research technique involving a qualitative approach whereby the secondary data were collected from authentic sources to achieve the objectives. The study’s findings indicate that most of the world’s top twenty economies, except two countries - China and Saudi Arabia - facilitate missionary travel through special missionary visas or other work-related visas. The study found differences in motivation among Christian missionaries and Dawah organisations. While the Christian missionary organisations aim to address dwindling religiosity and falling attendance in churches, the most crucial priority for Dawah organisations, is building better relations with locals to counter Islamophobia against the backdrop of 9/11 and other terrorism-related incidents.

Keywords

• spiritual tourism
• missionary motivations