Facing the rise of Islam

A question I’m starting to challenge more people with when they say they are concerned about “the rise of Islam” is how are you engaging with Muslims?

It’s a reminder that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. Most Muslims, just like any other human being, have normal desires like education, to build a good life, have food on the table, a roof over their head and, for some, to be successful. So why do we sometimes treat others like they are alien to the human experience, even if we do have different beliefs?

We divide for many varied reasons, whether it’s gender, race, ethnicity, accents, class, etc. However, as believers our call is to invite all into His kingdom – Matthew 28v18-20. At a time when the world feels so divided we need common ground and unity in the church – a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and why He came. I want to share some stories with you from the past few months that I hope will not only encourage but challenge and give you something to consider when sharing the good news of Jesus.

New housemate & other stories

Recently, I’ve gained a new housemate who is a Turkish Muslim. If there is one way to evangelise it’s by living with people! We’ve had some fascinating conversations about Islam and her upbringing. She was helping me to understand the context in Turkey – Sunni vs Shia. She was telling me how she dislikes “religion”, that the current government are trying to bring politics and religion together, including in education. They have started to build more mosques and turn up the prayer dial, which irritated her spirit. She would consider herself a liberal democrat, where religion and politics do not mix.

In Turkey, she’s had women in hijabs tell her she is going to hell because she dresses “Western”. She drinks alcohol, but refrains from eating pork purely due to hygiene reasons. Not all Muslims are the same and it’s important to remember there are different sects and beliefs. Sunnis believe in ‘Ali’ and Shias in Muhammed, and so there lies one key difference, then there are Sufi Muslims – the mystics – and many more. I’d really encourage you to ask better questions, be curious about others and find out how God created them. They may not know the Creator like we do, but He knows them.

In other stories, we recently received an email from a concerned schoolteacher who shared a letter she had been sent from a Muslim organisation aiming to encourage interfaith dialogue by sending out one million Qur’ans, specifically to young people, MPs, and Lords. The strapline on the front says, “Guidance and Good News for the Mindful.”

I was having a conversation recently with someone I know who said her friend had decided to start following Islam once he’d moved abroad – a place where he felt “brotherhood”, where he didn’t have father figures. On the other side, another friend here in the UK said a group of Muslim women she knows wanted to go to church because they felt judged in the local mosque. Without delving deeper, it’s harder to know, but it gives insight into where we need spiritual mothers and fathers to rise in the church – not just as occasional mentors, but as real family.

Reaching South Asians

My question to you is: how are you or your local church reaching South Asians in your area? Perhaps you don’t know how or feel like you don’t know much about other faiths, but my encouragement would be, hopefully you know Jesus well enough to tell others about Him. Not all of us are called to be street evangelists, but each one of us is called to share the good news.

We want to help you and so we’d love to invite you to run “Discovering Jesus”, an eight-session evangelism course, which focuses on reaching those of Asian heritage. It’s an invitation from the Lord to respond to His call. If you’d like to find out more, check out: www.eauk.org/discoveringjesus