I was doing a bit of internet research this week and came across an interesting story in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, about the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. Rio has about 600 of these settlements (or ‘favelas’ as they’re called), many of them controlled by one of four main drug factions. Since the 1980s clashes between these cartels and police have become increasingly militaristic, and machine-guns, grenades, landmines and bazookas have been used in combat. Rio annually registers about 6,000 murders, and favela conflict keeps this number high. More than 50 police officers have died since January, and a recent clash between police and traffickers claimed 16 lives in just two weeks.

As you can imagine, few venture into Rio’s favelas. A handful of support groups do exist to try and coax the drug traffickers back into law-abiding society, but for the most part such work is left to another group—Christians. Armed only with a Bible, it’s missionaries who are confronting Rio’s most dangerous men.

Every week hundreds of these believers trawl the back alleys and drug dens of the favelas, hoping to save both souls and lives. Their work consists of preaching and praying, but includes providing practical aid and negotiating the freedom of kidnapped traffickers.

The Christians are given Red Cross-style access. When police try and enter a favela they’re often met with gun fire; when the evangelists enter they’re greeted with a slightly embarrassed smile or even a hug from gang members. As one trafficker told The Guardian, "The boys all know [the preachers] are here to try and liberate us, to help us stop smoking, stop snorting and stop trafficking."

Many of these preachers are former gang members who see the traffickers not just as violent killers but also as deeply vulnerable young men. Dione dos Santos is a 33-year-old Pentecostal pastor serving in a rundown district of west Rio. Before his Christian conversion ten years ago, Dione was also in the drug movement. Now he tells traffickers: "What you are, I once was. What I am today, you too can become." Pastor Dione claims to have convinced several hundred criminals to swap their weapons for the word of God.

As I read this story I couldn’t help but think of a comment I heard by a broadcaster this week, who was ridiculing the South Korean Christians currently held by the Taliban. This broadcaster couldn’t understand why any missionary would be so stupid as to go to Afghanistan—a country known for its persecution of Christians.

The reason, dear broadcaster, is this: Christians follow a Lord whose passion for people knows no bounds; a Lord who left the safety of heaven to enter strife-torn earth; a Lord who dies so we might live; a Lord who calls his followers to risky, gutsy love for others so that they might find eternal life and now and later.

A 21 year old member of Pastor Dione’s team said this: "My mum gets worried about the early mornings and the shootouts but this is our work, our lives are in the hands of Jesus." That’s the attitude.

But, of course, it’s an attitude that can only be understood after experiencing the radical love of God for ourselves. Thankfully, that experience is available to all who ask.

© 2007 Sheridan Voysey is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and author of Unseen Footprints: Encountering the divine along the journey of life (Scripture Union, 2005). www.thethoughtfactory.net