An extraordinary global movement of Christians praying with love and respect for Muslim people during their 30 days of fasting during Ramadan can result in even more Muslims converting to Christianity.
Over the years, a growing number of churches around the UK have been welcoming new believers from Muslim backgrounds. A few years back, Dr David Garrison, who has spent much of his life studying the interrelationship of Christianity and Islam, attributed this shift to a combination of factors.
He said “the ageless story of men and women encountering the living Lord in humble submission” remains, of course, the key driver, but “the unique confluence of Bible translations, the prayers of God’s people, the rise in global interconnectedness through the internet, satellite television and radio, and the faithful witness of Christians” are responsible too.
Speaking about what he’s seeing on the ground in the UK, the Rev Canon Phil Rawlings, who is director of the Manchester Centre for the Study of Christianity and Islam, says a young Muslim lad recently walked into the city’s cathedral and asked how he could become a Christian; and he’s just one of many. “That same weekend a Saudi woman walked into a local church asking the same; and a young Somali man who had befriended a Christian, was so impressed with him that he asked the same question,” he adds.
“Since then I’ve come across a number of similar situations across the city, indeed across the country. It got me thinking: ‘How well-prepared is the church for the harvest that God is bringing? For what may be a trickle at the moment, God willing will become a stream, then a river and even a flood.’”
According to Dr Tim Green, who co-authored Joining The Family, there is huge potential for UK churches to benefit from “new infusions of spiritual energy and theological insight” that can come from believers of diverse backgrounds. “Already, half the regular Christian worshippers in London are not of British origin. Already, Iranian ex-Muslims are among the largest ethnic minorities in the Church of England. And, already, ordained ministers are rising up within these communities.”
It is crucial, we feel, that we understand the needs of these new believers from Muslim backgrounds, that we care for them and help them to grow in Jesus. And, we want to learn from them too. Though, above all, what excites us is this: in our day, for the first time in history, believers of Muslim background are becoming a significant stream in the world Christian movement.
But, in a generation’s time, will the stream still be growing stronger? Will today’s believers be multiplying the message through their Muslim friends and families? And will each one of us, today, play our small part in this vision? Will we love, encourage and equip that precious believer of Muslim background whom Jesus has entrusted to us?
Joining The Family wants to help you to do all those things. We enable churches to be places of welcome for believers of Muslim backgrounds by providing resources, training and support to church leaders and those who disciple believers of Muslim backgrounds in the west.
Start by obtaining your copy of 30 days of prayer for the Muslim world and, if you would like to find out more, contact Roxy, the Joining The Family coordinator.
Ramadan 2019 runs from Sunday, 5 May to Tuesday, 4 June.
This article was written by a staff writer at Interserve, which exists to see the lives and communities of the people of Asia and the Arab world transformed through an encounter with Jesus Christ.
