I was given the opportunity to spend some time with a guy who has followed-Christ (with his family alongside him) to one of, if not “the” most dangerous areas of the world. He is doing Gospel-ministry in a Muslim context where most do not want him there and many are willing to kill him and his family for spreading the Gospel in their region of the world. During one of our times together he shared 5 Common Factors that are necessary for a Muslim to renounce Islam and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Below is a summary of his talk.
There are 5 common characteristics shared among converts from Islam to Christianity. There has been some study and much observation that has enabled this missionary to summarize these 5 characteristics. His ministry in Central Asia has confirmed each of them.
1. Muslims must see Christian love in action toward their families and communities
This might be politically incorrect, but Christian love is radically different than Muslim love. How a man who follows hard after Christ loves his wife and children is drastically different than a man who follows the 5 Pillars of Islam. The missionary recounted a day when he was leaving his home in Central Asia with his Muslim driver. The driver was escorting him around the city for the day and as the car pulled away from his house, the missionary’s son was upset and crying because his daddy was leaving for work. This display of love and affection from a son to a father was so different that the driver spoke up and said, “You must love each other differently.” The reality is that Muslims notice how a Christian man loves his wife and his children and how a Christian family loves their neighbor. There is no greater display of love than that of Christ on the cross for His bride, the Church. When Christian men exhibit this type of love in their home it is radically different. This difference is one marker in the road of a Muslim embracing Christ. For Muslims, loving is a matter of honor. Loving one’s family means providing for needs and passing on heritage. Affection and passion for one another is minimized. A Muslim man’s motivation for anything he does is often his own honor. If a man’s family is well provided for and his children well-trained then he is highly honored in his community.
2. Many Muslims have dreams and visions validating the Lordship of Christ
This is the only factor that could be seen as contextually different in my estimation. The interesting truth concerning these visions/dreams is that Muslim cultures place a high emphasis on them. Many Muslims have visions and dreams where Christ is telling them to repent and believe in the Gospel. The missionary told of one man who had a dream where Jesus told him to turn from Islam and find a Bible to know how to follow Jesus. Sadly, the man had looked for 7 years, flown into several different Islamic nations, and still could not find a Bible in his own language. This is not a rarity. Often times a Christ-follower who has turned from Islam has done so after an influential dream/vision that clearly and powerfully illustrated the Sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ.
3. A Muslim needs to gain access to the Word of God
The bottom line is that if God authored a Book then it has power. And if God authored a Book then its contents are true and trustworthy. Ironically, when many here in the west (especially in university settings) are attempting to undercut the authority of Scripture, Muslims are coming to faith in Christ simply by getting a hold of a portion of the Bible. God saved one of the most powerful radio preachers in Central Asia after receiving a portion of Scripture from a Bible-smuggler. There is an intrinsic reality that rings true and powerful in the Word that is simply not there in the Koran. John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the Truth. Your Word is True” and Psalm 119:160, “The sum of your Word is Truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”
4. Prayer, enough said.
Caution, what I am about to say should be so obvious that it needs not be said. We neglect prayer and we ought to know better. For a Muslim to hear a Christian pray to their Heavenly Father is something very powerful. Most every Muslim convert can recount a missionary praying in front of him or her. There is a calm and trusting demeanor in a Christ-follower’s prayer that impacts the Muslim. There is also an understanding that Christian’s have their prayers answered. Many times in Muslim cultures, Christians are sought out to pray for the sick and dying. When tragedy hits, it is the Christ-followers who are sought out to pray. Several years ago the missionary’s next-door neighbor, a woman of old age, was sick and the doctors said she would not make it through the night. The missionary was asked to come pray for the lady and intercede on her behalf. He begged God to heal her physically and save her soul by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The next day the lady was outside walking around the city giving evidence to the healing power that came through a Christ-follower’s prayer. From that point forward the entire city/area came to the Christians for prayer. To the missionary’s knowledge, she never turned from her sin and trusted in Jesus Christ, but some did based on what they saw God do in her through prayer. Why don’t we pray? Why do we doubt God when he says, “ask and you will receive?”
5. Actions alone are insufficient; a verbal explanation of the Gospel is needed
Muslims, and anyone else for that matter, can’t figure it out unless someone opens his/her mouth and tells them the Gospel. As great as it is for a Christian man to love his wife in the same way Christ loves the church (Eph 5), a Muslim cannot deduce from that observation the depravity of his own heart, that Christ is God and was God incarnate, the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the Cross, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the necessity of faith/trust in Him. God has ordained that salvation comes through the verbal proclamation of the historical Gospel. God has set it up in a way that people are saved by the news being told about Who Christ is and what He has accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection. We can’t JUST drill wells. We can’t JUST feed the poor. We can’t JUST take care of the orphans. We need to speak the Gospel and call people to trust in the Good News.
Other interesting insight from Central Asia:
- 7 times more women than men are signing up to go to the Muslim world to give their lives as missionaries. Where are the men?
- Typically, for the Muslims who do convert to Christianity immediately, it takes 7 yrs and over 100 Gospel presentations. God saves, but most-often He uses long-term, committed for the long haul, sacrificial Gospel ministry in the conversion of Muslims. As I see it, we are not going to impact the billion+ followers of Islam by going for a week here and a week there. Gospel ministry- William Carey and Adoniram Judson style- is what it is going to take.
- Many young men are “converting” to Christianity from Islam for all the wrong reasons. Young, rebellious, hard-hearted men, who are trying to buck the system, will not win their communities to Christ. The Kingdom will not be advanced through openly rebellious individuals. Gospel transformation in a culture comes through churches that are filled with those who desire to be conformed to the image of Christ.
- Bottom Line: A “whatever it takes” mentality is our only option. We will see little to no impact among 1 billion+ followers of Islam by continuing in our “just enough” mentality. If comfort and ease rule our life, then we might as well not even bother with the effort. I am reminded of what John Piper said in his book “Don’t Waste Your Life”- if you are not willing to lose your life for the Gospel, then don’t become a Christ-follower.
Britten
