Airport Security and the Scattered Church

What insights can we Christ-followers learn from specialists who spot potential terrorists in airports?

On Christmas Day, 2009, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab earned the title, “underwear bomber,” when he tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Although he failed in that attempt, he did succeed in stepping up efforts to intercept terrorists before they board planes. Several media outlets sought out the advice of Rafi Ron, former director of security for the Tel Aviv International Airport.

Ron said Americans can learn much from Israel about protecting passengers. Americans search for weapons. Israelis search for potential terrorists. Among Ron’s many ideas, one in particular caught my notice. “Since we are looking for irregular behavior,” he said, “who knows better what is regular than an employee who spends most of the day and year in this location interacting with the public or at least witnessing people’s behavior?”

His advice? Prepare all airport employees to become terrorist spotters. Rather than depending only on professional baggage screeners, include everyone who works in the airport terminal. Janitors, skycaps, food vendors, ticket agents, and so on. They all need to learn to see themselves as a part of the observation team.

This commonsense approach suggests a pathway for the church. To paraphrase Rafi Ron: “Who has more relationships with unbelievers than those who spend most of their days and years in the workplace interacting with co-workers, customers, clients, patients, students, and others?”

When it comes to seeing and responding to spiritual needs in our society, it seems to me we have been relying too much on church professionals. Because they are not “out there” in the world of everyday work, they do their best to attract unbelievers to come “in here” to our gatherings. But few come.

Christ-followers need to be equipped as authentic agents of Jesus Christ in their workplaces. Workplaces have become the social centers—the relationship-building hubs—of our modern culture. All those God has called to himself through Christ need to be . . .

. . . taught that they are in “full-time Christian service,” no matter what their daily work may be.

. . . shown what appropriate “ministry” looks like in the context of the the workplace.

. . . unleashed from the tether of thinking, “I’m just a layperson.”

. . . assured that they are the eyes and ears, the priests and pray-ers, and the salt and the light out there where the action is.

Rafi Ron has thought outside the box of conventional airport security measures. How can we as Christians escape our traditional boxes and begin equipping believers to follow Christ in those places where they spend most of their best waking hours?