When Jesus sent out 70 of his followers, as described in Luke chapter 10, he gave them some specific instructions. It is interesting to consider whether the instructions which he gave them were intended as general instructions which would be equally applicable to followers today, or limited to that particular occasion and/or culture. There are certainly some aspects of his instructions which would be awkward to apply today.
“Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals”: this certainly requires a high degree of faith that God will provide, but perhaps it also reflects the culture of the time where hospitality could be expected? “Heal the sick”: unless done using accepted medical procedures this would probably scare most people away in contemporary Western culture. “We wipe off against you even the dust from your town that clings to us”: public rebukes like this don’t go down too well, either.
“I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions”: there probably aren’t too many Christ-followers lining up to try this one out; again it would be more likely to scare people away than attract them. We tend to spiritualise many of Jesus’s instructions or substitute modern equivalents, but there is a continuing tension between uncomfortable faith and comfortable rationalisation.