The first seven centuries of Muslim– Christian interchange saw only three movements of Muslims to Christianity. Then five more centuries passed without a single Muslim movement to Christ. Yet in the past 150 years, we have witnessed 82 movements of Muslims to faith in Jesus Christ; some of these have recorded hundreds of thousands of converts. Why now? What are we doing today that is helping to produce so many Muslim converts to Jesus Christ? Sometimes the question is not, “What are we doing?” but rather, “What did we stop doing?” For centuries, Christian approaches to Islam have been unchanged. We often lead with an “our religion vs your religion” approach. The problem is, Muslims do religion pretty well. Muslims who consider leaving Islam are rarely looking for a better religion. They know that religion cannot offer salvation, or they would simply retain their own version.
Christians are engaging Muslims as individuals.
Christians have also tried “our military vs your military”. Though “Christian” armies at the dawn of Islam were vastly superior to the rag-tag band of jihadi cavalries that streamed out of the Arabian Desert, these Christian forces found themselves defeated again and again. In fact, Islam excels as an underdog in a hostile environment. It’s a potent religion of protest against real and perceived injustices and has no difficulties rallying its adherents to religious holy war or jihad. Christians, on the other hand, have difficulty rationalizing invasions, justifying empires or championing colonial conquests. Such efforts do not reflect the pioneer of our faith who said, “Love your enemies … that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44–45). After failed attempts at medieval Crusades, and equally fleeting gains during the 19th-century colonial era, Christians today are less inclined to see conquest as a sustainable future.
Today Christians are engaging Muslims as individuals who, like us, are lost without a Savior. Rather than following the historic path of Crusades, colonization and conquest— pathways that had more in common with Islamic jihad than the way of Christ—we are seeking to win hearts and minds to a Savior who offers a spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of God. Likewise, missionaries are learning that it’s not our religion that offers salvation to Muslims; it’s our Lord! Testimonies of Muslim-background believers from West Africa to Indo-Malaysia reveal a common theme. It’s not our religion, politics, economy, or civilization that is prompting them to surrender their lives to a new faith; it’s the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s Pray
- Pray that Christians will resist the temptation to imitate the Islamic model of military advance, conquest, and conversion (Zechariah 4:6).
- Pray that Christians will follow the supreme example of Jesus who, though “being in very nature God … made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:6–7).
- Pray that we will stop following failed strategies of the past, but rather lift up the person of Jesus Christ who is fully able to draw all men, including Muslims, to Himself.
Post credit to The Editors, 30 Days International
