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In our post-September 11 world, one of the most important contributions Christians can make is respectful and courageous outreach to Muslims. We should seek them out both in the Islamic world and here at home, where, by conservative estimates, Muslims number about 2 million.

One hundred years after Samuel Zwemer, the renowned "apostle to Islam," began his work in Arabia, Christian outreach to Muslims has been dwarfed by the growth of Islam. During the 20th century, the global population of Muslims grew to 21 percent from 12.3 percent in 1900. Yet only 6 percent of all Christian foreign missionaries are working among Muslims.

According to Mission Handbook statistics, American Protestants do not expend a large amount of their ministry resources in Muslim-majority nations. Compare American Protestant outreach in two nations: Brazil with 170 million people and Pakistan with 150 million. In Christian-majority Brazil, more than 100 American Protestant missions agencies support 1,488 workers. In Muslim-majority Pakistan, there are 24 agencies with 111 American workers. There are many reasons why American agencies devote less time and energy in Muslim nations, including the reality that many Muslim nations are closed to missions organizations and do not embrace true freedom of religion.

The closed nature of most Islamic nations stands in stark contrast to the openness of Western ones. This openness is rooted in the gospel: God's love, Christ's sacrifice, the equal worth of individuals, the limited authority of political institutions, and the gradual but thorough liberation of women, slaves, and others. Where the gospel has flowered, it has been good for society.

Closed societies, on the other hand, deprive individuals of civil rights and suppress peaceful change. Among many contemporary examples, the arrest and torture of Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Omer in Sudan stands out. Omer became a Christian as a student in India. After his family in Sudan found out, he was forced to return home and received a death threat from his uncle. While in police custody, Omer "was tortured and beaten and he lost three fingernails pulled out with pliers," a source told Compass Direct news service.

One of the lasting legacies of Zwemer's work in the Middle East is his strategy—"ministry of friendship"—for outreach to Muslims. Yet even friendship evangelism paired with relief work may be costly. One high-profile example is the apparent entrapment of Shelter Now workers Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer. The two Americans showed the Jesus film to a seemingly friendly family of Afghan Muslims at their request. Immediately afterward, Taliban police arrested the two women (see "Entrapment Suspected," p. 22).

The new regime in Afghanistan has welcomed relief and development agencies back into their nation. This development is a sure sign that compassionate provision of food, housing, education, and medical care is free of roadblocks to Christians.

But there is more for American Christians to do. Acknowledging our need for contrition and repentance is a good place to start. A 1978 Lausanne report on Muslim evangelism noted the tragic lack of progress in Muslim outreach: "We Christians have loved so little and have put forth such little effort to regard Muslims as people like ourselves." More recently, Frontiers, AIMS (Accelerating International Mission Strategies), and other Muslim-focused missions issued a declaration of "Christian Attitudes Toward Muslims," which says in part, "We are guilty of believing and perpetuating misconceptions, prejudice, and, in some cases, hostility and outright hatred toward Muslim peoples." But this statement also declares, "Reconciliation is the goal of our repentance" and sets out an agenda of prayer, compassion, and interaction with Muslims.

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February 4 2002, Vol. 46, No. 2