Introduction
It is the great obligation of Christians to love other people despite their religious or national identities and have compassion towards them. One of the main challenges of the church today is Islam yet not because it has a small group of radical followers but because there are more than 1.8 billion Muslims in the world1. A substantial part of them has never known the truth of the Gospel and thus constitute a people who can be saved and become Christians.
The current paper explores a variety of ways in which people pursuing their Great Commission, local churches, and mission organizations can work together to help Muslims see biblical truths. Despite the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, mission organizations must partner with churches in different countries to promote the Gospel among Muslims through charity and debate.
Challenges Posed by Islam
First of all, it is necessary to list various challenges related to the church’s activity in terms of promoting the Gospel among Muslims, especially in countries where Islam is the dominant religion. One of them is the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism, which promotes the perspective on the Westerners as aggressors wishing to undermine the Muslim society’s foundations2. Essentially, mission organizations venturing to Muslim countries may face aggressive treatment on the part of local religious communities. Additionally, according to research, Muslim-majority nations often implement laws discriminating against Christians, thus stimulating social and religious division.3.
Therefore, mission organizations and individuals who wish to fulfill their Great Commission in the Muslim-majority countries have to be careful and should not risk their life by going to places potentially dangerous for them. Thus, the concept of cooperation with the churches which were already established abroad in the countries with a considerable share of Muslim population would be a reasonable strategy to pursue such organizations and individuals.
The Plan for Working with Muslims
The first method in which mission organizations and people pursuing the Great Commission can engage in promoting the Gospel among Muslims abroad is to launch or support a humanitarian aid program with local churches. Countries in the Middle East and other nations with large populations of Muslims often have a low quality of life, especially outside the urban areas. Thus, mission organizations can cooperate with the local churches and provide food and shelter to those in need.
As Paul said to the Ephesians, “the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive”4. The partnership with the local church will allow the missionaries to go through sociocultural adjustment, necessary for establishing effective relations with the host culture representatives in a faster manner5. While sharing of food and shelter will promote stronger ties with the local population and will increase the cultural intelligence and awareness of God’s people who came to promote the Gospel truth.
The next step in the work of mission organizations with the local churches would be to introduce the Muslim population to the Gospel by reading and discussing the Bible in their native language. It is also important to provide education to the local children and teach them the basic skills of reading and writing in order to ensure that they understand the religious texts. The idea here would be to encourage the local population to treat the church as part of their ingroup affiliation, meaning that the former Muslims should experience emotional attachment to the clergymen and members of the mission6.
As a result, they will be more inclined to study the Bible and learn about its truths, as well as to live according to God’s will. As noted in the Bible,” let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”7. Essentially, by providing food, shelter, and education to the Muslim population and gradually introducing them to the Gospel, the missionaries will be able to make them God’s people.
Finally, the mission organizations should train their members to understand Islam and its core beliefs to confront the aggressive Muslims and show that Jesus has a love for them. In this case, people must have high cultural intelligence, especially in the province of the CQ Action responsible for appropriate functioning in multicultural situations. As Livermore states, leadership is an essential part of any intercultural experience, and missionaries will have to adjust their style depending on the person with whom they communicate8. Essentially, by managing to find a proper way of leading in the conversation, the missionary will be able to challenge Muslims, especially devout ones, and make them interested in exploring the Gospel.
Conclusion
The local churches in countries with large populations of Muslims are the ideal places for mission organizations to launch their charity programs and engage with the locals by exposing them to the Gospel. Today, there are almost two billion Muslims living in the world, and the number is growing, which shows that there are many people wishing to have religious experiences. Yet, currently, the efforts of the church to convert these people to Christianity are lacking, and subsequently, a large number of Muslims end up never learning about biblical truths. Thus, there is an opportunity for mission organizations to help the local churches in different countries to promote the Gospel among the non-believers.
The most effective way to engage in intercultural interactions in countries with many Muslims is to organize humanitarian aid programs which would help the poor and provide them with food and shelter. Such efforts will encourage the locals to have a positive impression of the missionaries and their actions. Gradually, mission organizations have to introduce the locals to the Gospel in their native language by studying the Bible together with them.
Mission organizations also have to teach local children to read the Bible and write and overall encourage them to attend the church. Essentially, the church must become part of the locals’ ingroup and must cause them to experience an emotional connection with it. Finally, mission organizations’ members have to be familiar with Islam and the local cultural norms, including established leadership styles, to be able to influence Muslims and make them see the truth of the Gospel.
Bibliography
Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal, and Gavin W. Jones. “Population Dynamics and Human Capital in Muslim Countries.” Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 16, 1 (2018): 57-82.
Akbaba, Yasemin, and Jonathan Fox. “Societal Rather than Governmental Change: Religious Discrimination in Muslim-Majority Countries after the Arab Uprisings.” All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 8, no. 1 (2019): 5–22.
Chang, C. Tim, and Ashley E. Chang. Christian Intercultural Communication: How to Share God’s Love with People of Other Cultures. Dubuque, IA: KendallHunt, 2021.
Hazran, Yusri. “Emigration of Christians from the Arab Middle East: A New Reading.” The Journal of the Middle East and Africa 10, no. 3 (2019): 189–210.
Holy Bible, New International Version. New York: Biblica, Inc, 2011.
Liao, Yuan, and David C. Thomas. Cultural Intelligence in the World of Work: Past, Present, Future. London: Springer Nature, 2020.
Liu, Shuang, Volcic, Zala, and Cindy Gallois. Introducing Intercultural Communication: Global Cultures and Contexts. New York: SAGE Publications, 2018.
Livermore, David. Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success. 2nd ed. New York: AMACOM, 2015.
Mashuri, Ali, and Esti Zaduqisti. “Explaining Muslims’ Aggressive Tendencies Towards the West: The Role of Negative Stereotypes, Anger, Perceived Conflict and Islamic Fundamentalism.” Psychology and Developing Societies 31, no. 1 (2019): 56-87.
Presbitero, Alfred and Hooman Attar. “Intercultural communication effectiveness, cultural intelligence and knowledge sharing: Extending anxiety-uncertainty management theory.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 67, no. 1 (2018), 35–43.
Ting-Toomey, Stella and Leeva C. Chung. Understanding Intercultural Communication. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Footnotes
- Abbasi-Shavazi, Mohammad Jalal, and Gavin W. Jones. “Population Dynamics and Human Capital in Muslim Countries.” Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 16, 1 (2018): 61
- Mashuri, Ali, and Esti Zaduqisti. “Explaining Muslims’ Aggressive Tendencies Towards the West: The Role of Negative Stereotypes, Anger, Perceived Conflict and Islamic Fundamentalism.” Psychology and Developing Societies 31, no. 1 (2019): 56-87.
- Akbaba, Yasemin, and Jonathan Fox. “Societal Rather than Governmental Change: Religious Discrimination in Muslim-Majority Countries after the Arab Uprisings.” All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 8, no. 1 (2019): 6.
- Acts 20:35 (New International Version).
- Ting-Toomey, Stella and Leeva C. Chung, Understanding Intercultural Communication. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 96.
- Ting-Toomey, Stella and Leeva C. Chung, Understanding Intercultural Communication. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 42.
- Matthew 5:16 (New International Version).
- Livermore, David, Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success. 2nd ed. (New York: AMACOM, 2015), 17.