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Where there was no church

Limiting Christ

WHERE THERE WAS NO CHURCH
Postcards from Followers of Jesus in the Muslim World
Edited by E.J. Martin
Fruitful Practice Research. 218 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 0 983 065 906

This book presents some touching stories of Muslims who came to Jesus through a variety of means. It also tells of the persecution they suffer for their faith, as family and society turn against them. The book also offers a discussion of the stories and a guide to fruitful practices of evangelistic teams and local believers.

The missionaries and their disciples as portrayed in these stories use a contextualised approach to present the gospel to Muslims in culturally acceptable ways. It seems to be effective, as Muslims accept Jesus as Saviour and as most manage to remain within their Muslim environment.

Contextualisation of forms and customs is an accepted evangelistic tool (following Paul’s example). Its goal should be a gradual exposition of the full gospel of Christ, including his divine Sonship, full deity, and a Trinitarian concept of God. It would seem that this book, however, takes contextualisation in the direction of changing and limiting the content of the Christian biblical faith. It encourages Muslims to remain in the mosque, accept the Qur’an as a word from God and Muhammad as a prophet of God. The converts never mention Jesus as the Son of God or as God the Son. He remains merely the saviour Messiah.

We commend the missionary zeal and the contextualised approach as a first step, but we cannot endorse the denigration of the full glory of Christ and the lacking understanding of the church and its place in God’s economy. While it is wonderful to see Muslims converted to Christ, it is sad to see them stranded at a limited understanding of the full gospel and not able to go on into their full and glorious inheritance.

Patrick Sookhdeo,
International Director of Barnabas Fund, providing aid for the persecuted church