Reviewing “Women Who Risk: Secret Agents for Jesus in the Muslim World”
Tom and Joann Doyle
Thomas Nelson, 2021
(on Amazon)
(on Christianbook.com)
Two thousand years after Christ, believers are still hard at work bringing his good news to every nation. In the twenty-first century, God has been moving with special power in the Muslim world, particularly among women. In Women Who Risk, Tom and Joann Doyle tell stories about women believers in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Palestine. The Doyles, former missionaries, lead an organization called Uncharted Ministries; they are therefore well suited to write about Muslim-born believing women. We do well to learn the stories.
The Doyles have been familiar with Great Commission trials for some time. Tom’s previous books cover both risks and opportunities in the Muslim world:
Standing in the Fire: Courageous Christians in Frightening Times
Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awaking the Muslim World?
But in Women Who Risk, the focus is on the oppression that women believers face in the Muslim world. Theirs is an oppression due not only to religious persecution but also to cultural norms about gender. In spite of formidable resistance (or because of it), Muslim women have become a major evangelizing force.
Church history is replete with breathtaking and distressing stories of faith. So why read these particular ones? Four reasons stand out:
These stories remind us of the vital but often overlooked role women have always played in spreading the gospel;
These stories remind us that the Spirit is active in every age, even our own;
These stories remind us that people who seem far from faith are often very close;
These stories remind us of the risks inherent in the gospel. Our God, Jesus Christ, risked his life on the cross. No wonder believers—female and male—are called to do the same.
