Last week saw the expulsion of a US NGO from Uzbekistan, for alleged missionary activities. The Boston Globe reports:

A Massachusetts-based organization involved in social and economic development programs in the central Asian country of Uzbekistan has been ordered by an Uzbek court to close for allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, according to reports from the region.

...The Partnership in Academics and Development , which lists a Woburn address on its website, was founded in 1999 by Erick Schenkel , an Arlington resident who subsequently moved to Tashkent, the Uzbek capital.

The organization ran US State Department-funded programs to provide small loans to farmers and to train journalists. It also sponsored business education, mental health consultations, and a variety of student services, according to the website. There is no reference to religious orientation or religious programming on the site...

Of course, a court under the control of Islam Karimov cannot be taken as evidence of anything much, and the report notes that the dictator has been desperate to squeeze out US NGOs since his massacre of protestors last year. It also cites Nicholas Daniloff, an academic who has worked with Schenkel and who believes the charge of proselytism is "bull".

However, this is not the first time that Partnership in Academics and Development has been accused; as I noted on my blog back in May, a blogger recently based in Afghanistan wrote in 2005 that

In Mazar there is a strange organisation deviously called Partnership in Academic Development [sic] (PAD) which I had suspected for a while after having gone there to check out their library and English language programme...I spoke to an Afghan friend recently who confirmed my suspicions. They go for students and offer them free English and computer lessons, and then start talking about Jesus and love. I was told recently that the mullahs rumbled them, and they had to move to a different part of the city, near the UN office, and keeping a low profile.

Whether or not this is accurate, the phenomenon of "Teaching English as a Missionary Language" certainly goes on, and is the subject of a paper by Alastair Pennycock and Sophie Coutand-Marin, two Sydney-based academics. Their work is available to read online here, and contains the following information:

Our own searches have revealed a vast interconnected network of missionary organizations using English language teaching as a key tool. The Mission Finder.org site offers `Christian Missionary Opportunities to Teach English as a Second Language' and provides connections to a wide range of other organizations. A brief sample includes the following:...

Educational Services International (ESI) urges people to; "Teach English overseas in Muslim Asia, China, Russia, & Central Europe. Current opportunities in Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgzstan, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine.' (http://teachoverseas.org/)

Clearly, the clandestine activities of groups like "Educational Services International" is going to create problems for other NGOs.

I have looked at various cases of missionary activity over the past couple of years. Conservative evangelical missionaries often seem blithely unreflective about the ways they make use of power relations between the West and the Third World in order to propagate their message, and they also sometimes fail to consider how their actions may have adverse consequences for others. Yet we have to remember that while groups like Samaritan's Purse or SIL may have agendas or strategies that are sometimes objectionable, their humanitarian work is often commendable and greatly appreciated. And where missionaries appear devious, this is often due to the woeful lack of religious freedom in the countries where they operate. Evangelical missionaries are changing the world; but understanding their motivations or their effects requires an appreciation for many shades of grey.