Indian missionaries in quandary over use of words

Security issues are becoming a key problem for one Christian group working in India, namely 'Mission India'. In fact, they are in a dilemma over the choice of words they use.

Dave DeGroot who is with Mission India of Grand Rapids, Michigan is very candid about this. He says with the rise of radical Islam, they've had to be very careful about word choice when communicating with their teams in India. "There are four words that seem to trigger the extremists and get them moving on searching to find out who we are. The word 'evangelism', for quite a while has been a word that puts us in the political arena. Lately, the words 'conversion', and 'baptism' have also been very sensitive."

Mission India team members detected undertones of hostile response whenever these terms were used in information regarding their work.

Further, the office fielded several calls from people looking for specific names, places and work of those within India. The unusual nature of the queries raised red flags at Mission India. The teams are now watching their incoming and outgoing information for terms that incite violent response.

In spite of the challenge and threat, DeGroot expressed courage and optimism, saying that their ministry will go on. "Our people in India aren't changing the way they work due to this. They're continuing on; this is not hampering our work. It is only affecting the way we communicate. I think other Christian organisations are starting to find this too. We have to be very careful about the words we use, even though the actual outreach procedures are the same."