July/August 2007
FEATURES
A vision for growth at Granger Community
Church Riley B. Case travels through the genesis of a
megachurch.
Social justice through the eyes of Wesley Irv A. Brendlinger celebrates the rich heritage of active holiness.
Praying people bring God’s answers Margaret Therkelsen offers a candid look at crisis and comfort.
Contract and covenant: In search of American identity Richard John Neuhaus plumbs the depths of a national theology.
Evel Knievel’s leap of faith Steve Beard applauds the baptism of a daredevil.
COLUMNS
Editorial General Conference and specific questions
Next Generation The dangers of transparency
RENEW Women’s Network Retain the label—before it’s lost
The Great Commission In the home of an Imam
From the Heart There’s no place like home
DEPARTMENTS
News Analysis Women’s Division showcases radical speakers
News
Cuban Methodists thrive but feel effect of embargo
State of the Church report reveals hope and concern
United Methodists join in Sudan water mission project
As we enter the humble home of the village Imam, I notice the prominent Arabic inscription on the wall. I later learn that it says something like "Great is Allah." We sit down around a low table and are served chunks of fatty lamb (which we eat with our hands, no napkins) and I am reminded of how grateful I am to be with my coworker Bill, who lives among this "unreached" people, speaks their language, and can cue me on what is appropriate to say and do. His wife Judy is not present for the exclusively male gathering. She has gone off to visit the women in this arid, dusty village, where other Westerners are almost never seen.
I am especially grateful for Bill's presence when we are asked the question by our host "Are you Muslims?" Now, perhaps if you placed yourself in that situation, you would imagine yourself-the missionary-boldly responding, "No, I am not a Muslim. I am a Christian." "Christian" to our host here in central Asia would not necessarily have the same meaning that you would intend. To the hearer, "Christian" isn't necessarily a follower of Jesus Christ, but rather someone who is unclean because he eats pork, is defiled because he may watch movies that are "R" rated or allows his wife to wear a bathing suit in public, and is polytheistic because he worships "the Trinity."
So, how did Bill answer the question? All week during my recent visit to this part of the world, I'd been marveling at how well Bill and Judy have been accepted by members of their host culture. Although their physical features divulge an obviously foreign heritage, their lifestyle and relationships endear them to all. They live in a tiny three-room home that is common to the area, and they wear appropriate clothing, including Judy's use of a scarf as a head covering. They travel the same way everyone else does; during my visit we took public transportation or walked between villages. I noted how these transplanted Americans have slowed their lives down to the pace of local time, which is often the greatest challenge for a cross-cultural worker. In fact, when a visitor recently offered to give Bill his cell phone that was email-capable, Bill politely declined.
But the most significant factor in Bill and Judy's acceptance by their hosts is how evident it is that they deeply love these people. If there is a difference between spending your life doing ministry activities and investing your life in developing redemptive relationships, the latter is certainly true for this couple. It is their deepest desire for these Muslims to know the Lord Jesus.
In The Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch rightly assert that our model of doing church is flawed, because it is more concerned with advancing Christendom than with sharing Jesus. This defective paradigm, they assert, is attractional when it should be incarnational. "By attractional, we mean that the traditional church.expects that people will come to it to meet God and find fellowship with others." Indeed, some Muslim immigrants in the U.S. reported that they have often been invited to attend church by well-meaning Christians, but rarely have they been invited into the homes of those same Christians. British Anglican Evangelist Dr. Michael Green once said, "We go for 'in-drag' and call it 'outreach.'" Frost and Hirsch point out that an attractional model is unbiblical and absent from the examples found in the lives of Jesus, Paul, the disciples, and early church leaders.
The earliest believers in Jesus were Jews. They were not called "Christians" and they retained their Jewish identity even after being born anew. The word "Christian" came later (in Acts 11) to describe the Gentiles in Antioch who had become believers. So, even from the Bible it is evident that one can be a believer in Jesus Christ without being a "Christian." Indeed, Jesus never taught that one must depart from his or her religious heritage in order to know him. He taught about the Kingdom, not Christianity. There are millions of people today who are becoming followers of Jesus while maintaining their religious and cultural identity as Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.
In response to the question, "Are you a Muslim?" Bill needed to speak the truth, yet avoid unnecessarily severing the development of a deeper relationship with this man. In other words, he had to emulate Paul's counsel in Colossians (4:5-6) to "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person."
So, when asked, "Are you a Muslim?" Bill responded, "I am a follower of the one true God." Bill's response to the Imam evoked an appreciative nod and an invitation to return, with the prospect of the Kingdom taking root in one more heart.
Note: The names of these workers have been changed because they work in a secure area.
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