|
|
 |
|
|
First Baptist hosts missionary to Muslims
Heather Mays - Thu, Mar, 11, 2010
First Baptist Concord hosted missionary and author Phil Parshall for a breakfast and lecture detailing ministry to Muslims Wednesday, Feb. 17.
Parshall has served as a missionary to Muslim nations since 1962.
“Look for opportunities … just go outside your comfort zone and reach out to the Muslims,” Parshall told the audience of about 50.
“They’re all around you,” he added.
Parshall opened his session with a video, “The God Next Door,” detailing statistics and mission outreach to Muslim countries.
Worldwide, there are around 1.6 billion Muslims, translating to about one out of every four people. In the past 15 years, Islam increased 25 percent in North America, 142 percent in Europe and more than 250 percent in Australia, according to the video.
Muslims have “a fervent, radical dedication to a message,” Parshall said, a concept that should humble Christians, considering the Christian church’s early history of radical converts.
However, those statistics should not discourage Christians from evangelizing, Parshall said.
“More Muslims are coming to Christ than any other time in history,” he said.
“God is at work,” he added.
The video presented results from a survey done by Ken Perkins on the top eight reasons Christians do not place importance on evangelizing Muslims:
• Muslims cannot really become born again
• Muslims deserve to go to Hell
• Muslims convert only for financial gain
• Muslim converts revert to Islam when assistance ceases
• Converts will siphon off money from the traditional church
• If too many Muslims convert, they will take over church leadership
• Muslims will persecute Christians if they evangelize
• Muslim evangelism is not cost-effective
Parshall said the terrorism and fundamentalism often associated with Muslims is not typical.
“The majority, by far, would be Muslims more prone to nominality in practice but adherence to community values,” he said in the video.
“This would be the huge group. They don’t want to have jihad … they are really just wanting to get on with life. That is a huge majority,” he added.
However, he said, Muslims are encouraged to retain a homogenous culture as a whole religion, similar to the Christian concept of a universal church.
Muslims typically try to avoid pluralist interpretations of the Koran, which is why, Parshall said, many Muslims do not speak out against fundamentalism, even if they do not agree with it.
“Their community is so integrative, you don’t speak anything against Islam; you don’t speak anything against people who are waving the banner of Islam,” Parshall said.
But politics and culture should not be a reason to not evangelize and reach out to Muslims, he added.
Christians simply need to understand the point-of-view from which Muslims view Christians.
Parshall is author of nine books, including “Bridges to Islam,” “The Cross and the Crescent: Understanding the Muslim Heart and Mind,” “Lifting the Veil: The World of Muslim Women” and “Beyond the Mosque.”
For more information, visit www.fbconcord.org
|
|
|
