Time magazine is working on a major cover piece to tell a story many evangelical missionaries don't want told of their covert efforts to preach the gospel to the Muslim world.
The mission groups say the primary reason for keeping their work low key is to avoid the risk of imprisonment, torture or death for Christian workers in the Middle East, according to a report by World magazine.
Nevertheless, Time editors have sent a four-page e-mail to their reporters worldwide explaining their wishes: "We are planning a major piece on the flood of Christian missionaries, most of them evangelical, to Muslim countries. We will touch on all kinds of missionary work ... but we will eventually narrow our focus to a more radical crew of proselytizers: those who proclaim the Gospel of Christ, even if that means risking deportation, imprisonment or death."
The memo notes that "at least four missionaries have been killed in the last two years in Lebanon, Yemen and the Philippines."
The Time editors want to zero in on a tactic this "new breed" of missionary employs to avoid detection by authorities, called "tentmaking" or "tunneling."
"Essentially, this means doing some kind of other work as a cover or pretext, when [the] real goal is preaching," the editors said.
Among the questions they want asked is: "How exactly do they get away with preaching in such a hostile climate? (We are fascinated by this secret-agent aspect and would like to hear about it in great detail.)"
World commented, however, "it is precisely this level of detail what the Pentagon calls 'operational security' that most Christian leaders don't want publicly discussed."
Mission groups have warned staff not to talk to reporters, World said. Heather Mercer, a Christian aid worker imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, and Gary Witherall, a missionary in Lebanon whose wife Bonnie was killed last year by Islamic militants, have refused to talk.
Jim Kelly, Time's managing editor, told World he is "sensitive to the consequences that any story has" and his magazine is "a responsible publication that weighs carefully anything that goes into the pages of the magazine."
Evangelical mission efforts to Muslims recently have drawn attention as groups prepare to assist Iraqis in the aftermath of the war. U.S. Muslim activists have reacted in particular to post-war plans by Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham.
The primary objective of Graham's Samaritan’s Purse organization will be to assist Iraqi refugees and others who are sick, displaced and hungry, he said. But while "we can't just out and preach," he added in an interview with Beliefnet.com, "I believe as we work, God will always give us opportunities to tell others about his Son. We are there to reach out to love them and to save them, and as a Christian, I do this in the name of Jesus Christ."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, warned that evangelical groups use humanitarian concerns as a cover for their true motive to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"They go after them when they're most vulnerable and hope they can get them to leave their faith," he told Beliefnet. "It's a very despicable practice."
Last week, more controversy swirled around Graham who has called Islam a "very evil and wicked religion" when he preached at a Good Friday service at the Pentagon.