share this page
RSS
Twitter
printA Lifelong Journey with Islam
From childhood, I've been learning about—and witnessing to—Muslims.
How should Christians who have a passion for evangelization relate to Islam? For North Americans, the question took on new urgency in the wake of September 11. But Christians in Muslim-majority societies have dealt with the question far longer. Growing up Christian in Syria gave Chawkat Moucarry many opportunities to interact with Muslims and learn about Islam. In this installment of the Global Conversation, World Vision International's director of interfaith relations describes his commitment to both dialogue and mission.
I have never understood why some people look at dialogue and mission in either-or terms. In my experience, these words belong so much to each other that they should never be divorced. Evangelical Christians (whose theology I share) have shown an unwarranted suspicion of dialogue, simply because some have used it as a substitute for mission. Not only are the two words compatible, but they must shape each other.
I have always believed in God and Jesus Christ. Growing up in a Muslim-majority society, I knew as a child that I was different, and I gradually realized that this difference implied that I had something precious to share with my Muslim friends.
I was born into a Catholic home and was an altar boy in my early teens. I attended a missionary primary school, which gave me my first opportunity to discuss religion with my Muslim peers. However, my significant conversations about Christianity and Islam started after I moved to a government secondary school, where the majority of pupils were from working-class families. I was surprised to realize that many Muslim schoolmates were very interested to know more about Christianity and Christians. And I wanted to better understand Islam. A unique opportunity presented itself when the teacher of Islamic religious education granted me permission to attend his class. I was the only Christian there. He regularly asked me to give my views as a Christian on certain topics. These discussions extended outside the classroom.
In Paris, after I graduated in Christian theology, I felt as an Arab Christian a compelling need to relate my faith to Islam. That required me to study it. The need was reinforced after I started working for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students among Arab and Muslim students. Sometimes they would ask me challenging questions that I had not seriously considered as a theological student. Hence, it wasn't difficult for me to find research topics for my Islamic Studies dissertations at the Sorbonne.
Read More
mark begemann
hmmm... having a hard time with this one. catechesis did very little for me. and (good) churches still teach the essentials, just in a different format i.e. the alpha course. like jo, i question the use of "over-familiarity" unless you are talking about dumbed-down versions of the most popular stories. rather, it seems to me that fewer know the complete story of the Bible than know the essentials. more Bible, less dumbing down of the text, i say. whether it's a weak re-telling of story or over-simplified teachings of complex doctrine, the result is detrimental.
John Guthrie
Sunday Schools were originally aimed at teaching the Gospel to the unsaved, mainly children. Meetings outside the church were originally intended to foster accountability, to confess sins and shortcomings in one's walk with Christ. Wesley attributed the success of the Methodist movement to these meetings. It is too bad these methods have morphed into just another opportunity for the churched to sit back and listen to information without being discipled to apply these teachings to their lives and personal ministry.
Brother Spence Newsome
It is so sad... as I remember the faces of people who have come making a profession of faith during an emotion filled service only to fall away later... Is it the fault of the SS? Of course not... The church is duty bound to teach the faith. Churches who do not as a firm rule teach the basics need to seriously get with it. It is no guarantee that 40 year olds coming by profession of faith know the basics of their faith.. It is the Pastors and the teaching ministry should make it policy to require all new members go through a grounding of the faith. Then get into a SS for addional grounding in a socia;l context.
jo smith
I've been starting my toddler on a children's catechism because of its systematic, bite-sized building blocks to give her some background for our conversations about God. I'm pretty sure, though, that "over-familiarity" with Bible stories is not Sunday school's failing. Does catechism have any more Biblical support than the Sunday school movement as a means of teaching? Rather, aren't we to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, not to let this book of the law depart from our mouths, to teach it to our children when we rise, lie down and walk along the way - even simply talk about it in front of them while we go about our lives? My opinion is SS's problem is taking teaching out of parents' hands. Catechism is as useful as it is, but we dare not let it take the place of the Word.
Wes Wetherell
I'm deeply grateful for the work and encouragement by Drs. Packer and Parrett in this matter that is so desperately needed in the Evangelical movement. Too often, "disciple-making" has become synonomous with "service" - without realizing that true discipleship is founded on learning first and results in application. The decline in the state of Evangelicalism is a sad commentary to the failure to ground congregants in the historic faith, seeking "deeds rather than creeds" and over-broad attempts at ecuminism. Works like this give hope that some, even "disciple-making" churches will recover a vision for actually making disciples as Jesus commanded.
Submit Your Comment