Photo courtesy IMB.org
Both the Qur‘an and Islamic tradition erect barriers which inhibit Muslims from considering who Jesus is and what He’s done for them.
Muslims are often taught
One of our most popular posts ever kicked over some of the missions myths we’re all prone to: I should have the gift of evangelism. I should plan on leading Bible studies, prayer, service projects, and all that 24/7.
So we’re still messing with (or just scribbling out) some of our stereotypes of missionaries: the fetching jumpers-with-tennis-shoes combo, the slideshows, the mud huts, the untrimmed hairstyle, the image of white-person-hugging-cute-brown-child.
(Wanna help identify our weird stereotypes? Comment below.)
Missions Catalyst has put together an impressive calendar of upcoming missions events you just might not want to miss. Dealing with discouragement, isolation, fear, or feelings of inadequacy as you head overseas? This could be a great chance to get together with your tribe.
P.S. Did you know Johnson University offers a totally online Intercultural Studies course?
COMMA, the Coalition of Ministries to Muslims in North America, put this together–and from the feedback, it sounds like Journey to Jesus: Building Christ-Centered Friendships with Muslims will help you feel equipped and less offensive to those to whom you long to reach out. (Or wish you did.)
Tim Keller writes,
The Church needs artists because without art we cannot reach the world. The simple fact is that the imagination ‘gets you,’ even when your reason is completely against the idea of God. ‘Imagination communicates,’ as Arthur Danto says, ‘indefinable but inescapable truth.’
…There is a sort of schizophrenia that occurs if you are listening to Bach and you hear the glory of God and yet your mind says there is no God and there is no meaning. You are committed to believing nothing means anything and yet the music comes in and takes you over with your imagination. When you listen to great music, you can’t believe life is meaningless. Your heart knows what your mind is denying.
You’ve probably had that moment–the one I’ll call The Freeze.
Someone’s talking about something incredibly difficult in his or her life. Your heart is caught up in compassion. And you can see that knowing Christ–walking with him, being gradually healed by him–would make the difference not only in their now, but indefinitely.
I confess I was finishing up my Christmas list in a perfect fashion for a busy mom in a little mountain town: online only on Black Friday, while my kids shouted around the house. But when I went to check my email account, it was a headline that caused my heart to fall: A 26-year-old missionary from Vancouver, Washington, John Allen Chau, killed by bow and arrow on India’s Andaman islands in the Bay of Bengal.
“I hollered, ‘My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you’…You guys might think I’m crazy and all this, but I think it is worth it to declare Jesus to these people,” Chau wrote in his journal of his previous attempts, the UK Mirror and ABC News report. In one of his first attempts, one of the native children shot at Mr. Chau’s heart. The arrow skewered his waterproof Bible there instead.
Since 2015, Samantha Johnson has been part of a team with Africa Inland Mission among the Digo people of coastal Kenya, which are about 0.1% Christian. Since arriving, she and the team have been studying language and culture, as well as establishing relationships within the community in hopes of being able to speak Jesus’ Good News to the soul-needs of the Digo. For Samantha, this often looks like house visits, spending time with mamas, drinking chai with the locals, holding their babies, and taking part in village life.
As a kid, I remember begging my mom not to make me go to funerals—even of great aunts and family friends. Death and dead bodies?
NOPE.
Maybe you were corn-fed on stories of missionaries who brought their coffins with them, or like Amy Carmichael, said goodbye to their families and homelands for life. Now, we’re pretty sure you’re familiar with FaceTime, Kayak, Marco Polo, and all sorts of amenities shrinking your distance around the world. Your folks and friends may well come to visit you, and your parents won’t be kissing grandbabies goodbye for life.
This ain’t your mama’s mission field.
It’s like a weird party trick. What’s the world’s largest ethnic group, 18% of the global population, and contains the second-largest unreached people group in the world?