How to Preach the Gospel to Muslims and Nourish Them
I. Information about Muslims
A. Basic information
1. A Muslim, relates to a person who follows the religion of Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Quran. Muslims consider the Quran as the verbatim word of God revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts called hadith.
2. “Muslim” , an Arabic word which meaning signifies “one who submits to God”. A female Muslim is sometimes called a “Muslimah”.
B. Population and distribution
1. In 2013, the total number of Muslims has reached about 1.6 billion, constituting 23% of the world’s population. (Pew Research Center)
2. Ten countries with the largest population of Muslims:
|
No. |
Country |
Population(million) |
|
1 |
Indonesia |
180 |
|
2 |
Pakistan |
120 |
|
3 |
India |
120 |
|
4 |
Bangladesh |
110 |
|
5 |
Turkey |
60 |
|
6 |
Egypt |
60 |
|
7 |
Iran |
60 |
|
8 |
Nigeria |
50 |
|
9 |
Algeria |
30 |
|
10 |
Morocco |
30 |
3. World distribution of Muslim Population (2009)
4. The growing trend of Muslims in the word (Pew Research Center)
|
2010 |
2050 |
|
|
Population |
1.6 billion |
2.8 billion |
|
Rate |
23% |
30% |
C. Attitudes toward others:
1. They tolerate people with different religious beliefs, yet too stubborn to receive other beliefs.
2. They extend friendliness) to Chinese , and usually possessing a positive evaluation toward Chinese
II. How to preach Gospel to Muslims
A. Preparation:
1. Job: we’d better disguise ourselves with a job
2. Clothing:
a. Dressing decently and appropriately
B. The female should not wear exceedingly tight or transparent clothes
c. The body of a female should not be exposed except face, hands and feet
3. Behaviors:
a. Do not utilize the left hand to receive anything, especially food
b. Do not point at someone or something with any finger
c. Do not stare at Muslim women
4. Diets:
a. Do not invite Muslims to enjoy food in their Ramadan;
b. Do not eat pig meat or say the word “pig” in front of Muslims.
5. Knowledge:
The key misunderstandings of Muslims toward Christianity:
a. They oppose the truth concerning God who is the Triune God and the identity of Jesus as God (God’s son).
b. They deny that Jesus died on the cross for our sin.
c. They believe man is born without sin, man is weak naturally, and they can achieve success through doing good.
B. Targets:
1. Young people, especial college students
2. Educated Muslims
C. General stages to gain Muslims
1. Praying steadfastly with one accord
2. Making acquaintance with as many people as possible through language learning, shopping, etc.
3. Focusing on several ones to develop a deep profound and long-term relationship with them
4. Until one opens his/her heart to us after quit a long time, we can preach the gospel and present the truth to him.
D. Attention in contacting Muslims:
1. Do not speak directly that we are Christians in the beginning;
2. Do not talk to them all the time, but listen and use their questions to share our testimony or our experience.
3. Do not fall into discussing and arguing but employ some key questions to make them doubt their doctrines and seek the one True God.
4. Do not say no to their religion at first but attract them by our God-man living.
5. Do not force them to do some life practice from the very first(calling on the Lord, pray-reading God’s word, etc.)
E. How to communicate with Muslims properly and effectively
1. The key points of converting Muslims:
a. We should genuinely love them through our words and action and cause them to feel the divine love.
b. In the conversation with Muslims, our goal is to make them see Jesus is within us and to share the gospel with them.
c. Using the similarities between Islam and Christianity as a channel of sharing the gospel
d. Preparing solid materials with definite cases which indicate the mistakes of Islam.
2. The entry points of sharing the gospel
a. The god of Islam who is high above human,owns the supreme power; God in Christianity emphasizes on the power of love with the impression of a kind Father.
b. Muslims believe that man is born without sin, therefor they must do good to pass the Judgment; Christians believe that we are born to be sinners, accordingly we can be saved only through the Christ’s redemption, not by our doings.
c. Muslims consider that Jesus is just a prophet, not God Himself; Christians believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of God, also the complete God and perfect man.
d. Raising questions which lead them to doubt their beliefs:
E.g. If the teachings of Allah in Quran could make men strong and successful. Why are there so much chaos, corruptions, hypocrisy in Muslim countries?
3. Five steps in the conversation:
a. Building relationships:
Through two questions of ”who are you” and “how are you”, we can begin to build relationship with anyone. Take time to make acquaintance with them and their families.
Questions: What is your belief, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism or Christianity?
b. Referring to God:
Questions: Most of the religions are almost same. Do you feel the same way?
All religious people desire to please God to pay our indebtedness of sin so that we could enter heaven one day. We all commit sins, right? It is easy to commit sins, but it is hard to pay the debts of sins to God.
c.Regarding the confusion:
Questions: In you religion, what can men do for the atonement?
Listen to them seriously and let them give some examples. Don’t be afraid of their questions during the conversation) Just conclude this step with three questions:
(1)Have you paid your indebtedness of sin
(2)When can you pay up the debts in your thought?
(3)Do you think whether you can pay up you debts when the Day of Judgment comes?
d.Concerning the gospel
Narrating to him the story about the sacrifice)both in type sacrificial lamb and reality (Jesus). Then telling him, “That’s why I know my sins has been forgiven. According to the Bible, our sins can be forgiven, if we receive Him as the Lord and believe He has passed through the death and resurrection for our atonement.”
e. Making decisions:
Questions: firstly, “it sounds reasonable, right?” Although we can’t make an atonement for ourselves, God opened the way for the forgiveness of our sins through the death and resurrection of Christ. Secondly, “Do you believe in what I have said that Jesus died for our sins and then resurrected from death?” Let them make a decision.
4. Some life topics from the Bible:
a. Two trees:
Anyone who lives according to the tree of life will result in the New Jerusalem. Whereas anyone who lives according to the tree of knowledge will result in the lake of fire. (Because in Quran they just know there is just one tree in Eden which is the tree of good and evil.)
b. Living God versus religion:
Living God can give you power to overcome sin. However, religion cannot help you, which only gives you disappointment and death.
c. Using Spirit:
God is the Spirit, and man has a spirit. Whoever wants to worship God must exercise his spirit. By using the Spirit, we can touch God, who can enjoy with our spirit. Without using the spirit, there is merely empty ritual.
d. One man just can marry one wife:
According to the Bible, God wants man to just have one wife. Divorce or getting more wives is a big sin in God’s eye.
e. God has a purpose for man:
Where did man come from? Why do we live here? What is the purpose of God for us? (you can use the Mystery of Human Life)
f. God is righteous:
Yes, God is kind, but also He is righteous. Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Only through the blood of Jesus can we be saved from our sins. (Muslims think that after they commit sins, they just need to pray to God or do some good things, then God will forgive them)
g. Using testimony to touch people:
Our testimonies of enjoying God and God expressed through our living are the best gospel for them.
h. Comparing the Bible with Quran:
Performing this with educated Muslims, and let them read or study it together with us. (Because most Muslims do not know what is written in Quran, they just follow it blindly).
5. To know more about information about Muslim and Christian, we can visit Islam, Christian and truth: http://www.answering-islam.org/chinese/index.html
F. The best way to propagate among Muslim(s):
Perfecting some key ones especially Muslim(s) to do whatever we do. They themselves are strong testimonies, who can use deeper words to touch Muslims’ heart.
G. Some testimonies of the conversions
1. Collection of the conversion from Muslim to Christian testimonies
http://www.answering-islam.org/chinese/topic17/tc-17-a.html
2. Examples:
a. The Story of a Muslim Brother’ converting to the Lord: Find Jesus while Seeking Allah
b. BREAKING – Prince Al-Shaba Converts to Christianity and RENOUNCES ISLAM!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKicNzoPsaU
c. How did I become a Christian from Muslim?
III. How to nourish Muslim saints
A. Principles of the nourishment:
1. Cherishing them in humanity and nourishing them in divinity)
2. Do not to expose their identity in the process of nourishment
B. Materials of the nourishment:
1. Series of materials (from Bilingual Readings)
a. The Bible: the New Testament-One chapter per week
b. The Knowledge of Life; the Experience of Life
c. 96 Lessons (A Pattern of the Healthy Words)
d. 365 topics for new believers
e. 12 Lessons for new believers
2. Instant materials
a. Treasure chest: http://21century.us/
b. Bilingual Readings:
c. Resources from Islam, Christian and truth:
http://www.answering-islam.org/chinese/index.html
C. Goals of the nourishment:
1. Letting them leave their original religious activities and ritual
2. Perfecting them to be vitalized ones
3. Perfecting to function organically to preach the gospel to Muslims.
D. The process of the nourishment:
1. Accompanying them to have morning revival face to face or through Twitter.
2. Inviting them to have meetings in our house
a. Reading the Bible with them, accompanying with Quran if necessary.
b. Entering into the nourishing materials and sharing more about our own experience of life
3. Sending them some nourishing words or testimonies every a few days through Twitter, Line or other social media.
4. Blending with them often in daily life, such as shopping and outing.
5. Inviting them to join us in preaching the gospel
6. Sending them to other countries to attend special conferences and training.
E. How to nourish them according to their needs
1. How to use the New Testament-One chapter per week
a. Preparing materials according to their situation one day in advance:
(1) Gospel friends
(2) New believers
(3) Dormant saints
(4) Keen seeking one)
b. Reading with them the Bible of any version in 5~10 minutes;
c. Supplying them lively with our preparation in about 5 minutes.
2. How to answer their questions
a. Replying, “Good question! I will give you an answer tomorrow. ”
b. Preparing related materials from Bilingual Readings especially 365 topics for new believers, the Spiritual Food
c. Sharing lively with them our preparation the next day.
