In order to revert the secularisation trends in the western world religious groups and associations have been encouraging different kinds of missionary activities to spread their faith and gain adherents.

Director of Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation in England Monsignor Keith Barltrop says they don’t have a national plan, but there are some other strategies: “Our organisation has just published an evangelisation directory, 160 pages of different initiatives, processes, training courses to encourage Catholics to evangelise, share their faith, knocking on doors, standing outside churches.”

But the question is how to motivate Catholics to do it? “The problem is that in this country Catholics have been a minority and a couple of hundred years ago they were a persecuted minority and they still try to keep their faith to themselves”, said Mgr Barltrop.

When the missionary activity is aimed to convert a specific group of people in terms of nationality, religiosity or ethnicity, the efforts are often criticised.

The Arab World Ministries (AWM) is an evangelical and multi-national organisation aimed to convert the Arab world to Christianity. According to its website, the AWM has more than 400 workers of over 30 different nationalities.

One of the last campaigns launched by the AWM was the distribution of a DVD during the World Cup in Germany in order to spread the Christian faith among the Arab football fans (read more about the story).

The DVD includes the testimonies of Christian sports personalities and a short drama.

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