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After several months of weekly discussions on our front porch, Hussein was beginning to open up to me a bit more. He had been indicating that his Islamic faith was not "alive" to him, and he was now beginning to sense that Jesus was the answer to his spiritual emptiness. "What specifically about a life in Christ do you think is drawing you?" I asked. In the back of my mind I recalled the question he had posed the previous week about the Trinity, and with some measure of pride I wondered if my explanation about this common doctrinal stumbling block to Muslims had brought him closer to the Kingdom. But his answer surprised me. In fact, there is a lot about Muslims today that would surprise most Christians.

Lately I've had conversations with a couple of Mission Society workers who've had firsthand experiences in the "Muslim world," and their comments have all pointed in the same direction. I'll refer to these servants only by first name to avoid jeopardizing their continued ministries.

Adam is a Mission Society staff member who has just returned from a ministry trip to one of the "_____stan" countries of Central Asia. He was impressed to see that most of the people he met in this Muslim country were not hard-line Islamists, similar to those we see in the evening news causing violence and threatening westerners. In fact, most of them know that they are Muslims, but "they wouldn't know a Koran from a cookbook." They are the "folk" Muslims, who know that they are not Christians, but aren't really sure what it means to be a Muslim apart from a vague sense of cultural identity. That is one reason, as Adam observed, many are open to the Gospel. He says, "they are just looking for love."

He gave one recent account of a home group meeting where a missionary was sharing a testimony. All of a sudden one of the young women excitedly said, "Hey, you are talking about Jesus? We've heard a little about him, but we don't know him. Tell us more!" We would be amazed, Adam said, by the spiritual hunger among these people, and by the remarkable zeal for Christ in the hearts of those who became believers. Adam told me one of the things that most impressed him during his visit was the way that young believers, once they have discovered the love of Christ, are willing to face the disapproval, and even scorn, of their families for the sake of their new life in Jesus.

Alan is a Mission Society missionary who has served in ministry to Muslims for about 20 years, during which time he and his family lived in two different "______stan" countries. In response to my question, "What is the key to reaching a Muslim for Christ?" he replied, "There is nothing magical here, just good old fashion prayer and incarnational love." He went on to say that, while you won't see it on the evening news, "there's gobs of good news about what God is doing among Muslims in Central Asia." Churches are being planted, people are being loved into the Kingdom of God, and many who are in bondage-especially to fear-are being released in Jesus.

Over the past three centuries, Central Asia has been treated by certain international powers as a strategic gateway to India and other parts of Asia. (For a very readable history, see Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game). As a result, we must be careful that our attitude toward Muslims and our ministry among them is not seen as merely another chapter of attempted conquest. Indeed, there is an essential difference between an approach to missions as "religions in competition with each other" or, as D.T. Niles said, "one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread." The demeanor of the latter perspective will better serve the one who seeks to win Muslims to Christ. After all, it's not about religion-I was a religious Methodist for 18 years before I met Jesus. It's about a risen Savior through whom we experience God's love.

We need to look beyond the televised stereotypical face of Islam that comes into our living rooms each evening, and into the hearts of folks who simply long for "the Father heart of God," in Adam's words.

And Hussein's response to my front porch question about what specifically was drawing him to Jesus? He simply replied, "I want a family like yours."

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Muslims and the Love of God by Frank Decker

Muslims and the Love of God
by Frank Decker