Engaging Our Muslim Neighbors
The Church faces a challenge not just to understand Muslims, but to befriend them.
By Wendy Murray Zoba | posted 3/01/2000 12:00AM
Yesterday:
How Muslims See Christianity | Many Muslims don't understand Christianity—especially the idea of salvation by grace through faith.
Tuesday:
Islamic Fundamentals | Christians have a responsibility to understand our Muslim neighbors and their beliefs
Monday:
Islam, U.S.A. | Are Christians prepared for Muslims in the mainstream?
God-fearing Muslims from every corner of the earth are moving into American neighborhoods. Are we ready to welcome them and tell them the truth about Jesus? This week at ChristianityToday.com, we take a look at the basics of Islam, how Muslims view Christianity, helpful models for relating to Muslims, and how to engage our Muslim neighbors boldly and lovingly.The South Asian Friendship Center is a bookstore in the heart of a Muslim business district in Chicago. (More than 400,000 Muslims live in Chicago.) The shelves are lined with books in Urdu (the language of Pakistan), Arabic, and English with author names like J. I. Packer and John Stott. The center makes no apologies for its overt Christian beliefs.
SAFC, a multidenominational effort of many area churches, opened in September 1997 and carries out a fourfold vision.First, SAFC's bookstore is a legitimate business. A "mini-Borders" for Asians, it is a haven where people can read and relax on a couch or other chairs, nibbling on free cookies and sipping
chai (Indian tea). SAFC sells Christian literature, books, videos, and cassettes at reasonable prices—and often gives these items away.Second, SAFC strives to serve the community by offering tutoring in English as a second language; after-school homework help; classes in Hindu and Urdu; help with immigration issues; legal counsel; home visitation; and medical help.The third aspect of SAFC's vision is what staff members call passive evangelism: "People come to us and we pray with people unashamedly in the name of Jesus," says Roy Oksnevad, director of training and development. He describes how one Muslim man desperately needed a job. SAFC workers asked if they could pray for him in Jesus' name. "I really like this place," the man said before he left. "You are our friends."Fourth, SAFC trains students, missionaries, and churches that want to develop similar ministries. The SAFC sponsors weekend "vision trips" for people to learn about the center and visit a mosque or Hindu temple to expose them to the need. The SAFC also will send staff members to speak in churches."In this country, I'm not worried about what Muslims are doing," says SAFC director Sam Naaman. "I know what they are doing. They are active—far more active than we Christians are."That's why we started the center. We have to be out on the street. These people who are passing by and see the Scripture portions from the door, they cannot say when the Lord comes, 'I didn't know about Christianity.' "Naaman is worried, however, about what Muslims are doing in his home country, Pakistan. When his father was actively distributing Christian literature and evangelizing, people threatened to harm his family or to kill him if he did not stop. "My father was [once] a fundamentalist Muslim who fought for Islam. It was not easy for him to get scared by these threats," Naaman says. "But I think he underestimated the threat."Muslims killed his brother Obed, 26, in 1990. "It was very unexpected. He was a devout born-again Christian who wanted to serve the Lord in our country." The death of his brother plays a major role in Naaman's motivation to minister to Muslims today. "When the best thing you have is taken from you—you ask yourself,
March (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44
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