On March 11<SUP>th</SUP>, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to the significantly increasing positive cases of the virus around the world and the sustained risk of its further global spread. Along with these developments of the outbreak all over the world, the international community has experienced new challenges and problems to date, and it continues to undergo such evolving situations, with far reaching repercussions. Some scholars say that this situation may constitute a paradigm shift in terms of its overall impact on the global society. This indicates that the pandemic is not only causing serious challenges for medical treatment of the virus itself, but also generating unprecedented circumstances for the international community, along with its overarching political, social and economic issues, such as a wave of social dislocation and panic, economic depression, as well as discrimination and xenophobia in the repugnant nature of racism around the world.
It appears that the situation is similar for the Islamic countries. In addition to its particularly chaotic implications for political, social and economic life, Islamic society is also facing considerable difficulties, which may require inevitable adjustments to its longstanding religious customs of more than 1,400 years. As such, with growing global concerns of this pandemic, a chaotic situation also continues in the Islamic world, which, in turn, affects the work of Christian missionaries within the Islamic world with more challenges and issues needing to be addressed.
Thus, it is imperative for Christians, particularly those who have been carrying out missionary studies and work for a long time, out of duty and responsibility for Christianity in the Muslim world, to consider how the Gospel of Christ will continue to be evangelized, also in a more effective and secure manner in these challenging situations.
Indeed, the current situations would require deeper and more earnest contemplation for a variety of missionary work, so as to deal with the chaotic circumstances in the course of such work in the Muslim world. Furthermore, moving forward, there must be an emphasis that Christian should take actions more resolutely yet carefully to the very demands of the Gospel in response to these specifically challenging circumstances.