LONG BEACH, Calif. – An evangelist from northern Ghana encouraged Christians in America over the weekend to reach out to the Muslim world by first getting to know Muslims near to them and not “sniping people with Bible verses.”
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(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)
In America, “we know Muslims as immigrants from other countries,” noted Dr. John Azumah, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
“In my country, they’re at worst a neighbor,” added the former Muslim who says he still has friends who follow Islam.
He reminded hundreds of Christian leaders gathered for the recent Inside-Out Conference in Long Beach that Muslims are “not a nameless, faceless creature somewhere.”
“A Muslim has a name, has a face,” he said. But many Christians “don’t know them.”
“They’re strangers to us,” he confessed.
During the plenary session Saturday, Azumah shared four steps that Christians can take to reach out to followers of a religion which 24 percent of the world adheres to.
The first step, he said, was to know Muslims as people, as individuals, as neighbors.
“Show interest in knowing their beliefs, fears, and joys,” he said.
Second, Christians need to engage with Muslims as “light” and “salt of the world,” not as “flashlights” or “fires.”
“Light and salt are only meaningful when they come in contact with food or darkness,” he said.
But Azumah discouraged believers from being “flashlights,” which he said some Christians tend to be, because pointing light directly into people’s eyes will more likely make them cover their eyes or turn away.
“Do not go sniping people with Bible verses,” he exhorted. “Engage them and show that you love them before you show verses.
“Stop the flashlight approach and become lanterns,” he said, noting how lanterns provide light in a non-imposing way.
The third step for Christians to take is to be “Barnabases,” according to Azumah, who pointed out how personal testimonies are more powerful when people know the one involved.
He used the story of the Samaritan woman that is recorded in John 4 as a case in point, noting that the Bible records how “many of the Samaritans from the town believed in him (Jesus) because of the woman’s testimony.” (John 4:39)
Samaritans, Azumah said, were to Jews as Muslims are to Christians.
But Azumah noted that even as a believer gets to know a Muslim, reveals the love of God to them through their life, and testifies to them, ultimately the change takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Wait upon the Lord!” Azumah urged, citing from Ephesians 6.
“You might have the resources; you might have enthusiasm and all the knowledge, but wait for the Holy Spirit to come to you,” he exhorted. “It’s a spiritual business.”
Before concluding his address, Azumah urged Christians to offer four prayers to God for the advancement of the Gospel in the Muslim world.
“First, pray for ourselves for a heart for Muslims. Second, pray for Christian minorities in the Islamic world. Third, pray that God may open up the Muslim world for the Gospel. Finally, pray for individual ordinary Muslims wherever they may be,” he said, adding that he had prayed for his uncle for 15 years before laying hands on him and baptizing him three years ago. Continue >>
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Did Obama support the murder of Christians in Kenya? Aparently he raised $1 million dollars to his uncle who did.
The people who helped lead me to the Lord were far
from perfect, so please quit underestimating the
power of the Holy Spirit. God planted seeds of His
Word in me, through people, many years before they
took root. Muslims are people too. Some of their
actions have brought fear to the whole world.
The word "snipe" is quite an assumption. Christian
martyrs would be surprised at this. Most Christians
are doing their best to follow Christ, these constant
put downs are not doing anyone any good. I am glad
for the times I was sniped at.
I am from Indonesia and 85% of my friends are Muslim. No problem in discussing verses from the Bible with them, as long as they do not fulfill their 5 pillars of Islam, i.e. short in hajj, fast, zakkat or most importantly their 5 times dua prayer toward that black stone in Mecca.
I learn a painful lesson from failing to convert others. First you have to make yourself a model example to others before helping them. People tend to listen to "great" people rather than mere losers blabbing.
Good thoughts here, but just one comment.....
Christians could first try this approach on their own brothers and sisters, then extent the love to others.
To the Jew first, then the Gentile.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6
itsallaboutjesusnotme.blogspot.com
No one was ever saved by being hit over the head with a Bible.
And yes, I have been guilty of sniping.