Over the summer some members of Hope Church have shared two meals with members from Medinah Mosque, one hosted by us, the other by the Mosque. Future meals are anticipated, as everyone involved has been very positive about the experience. In my position as chair of Churches Together in Luton, I am looking to encourage other churches and Mosques to develop their own relationships and seek to build relationships and friendships across the faiths.
I shared about this on social media and overall received positive feedback from both people of faith and those without. However, there were some Christians (none from Luton) who questioned the appropriateness and validity of meeting over a meal with Muslims and building friendships with them. I was surprised by the strength of feelings expressed, as were others who read them. I therefore felt it appropriate to explain why I feel encouraging friendships across faith divides is important and to answer the objections that have been raised.
Below are some of the objections I received.
“[Jesus] would also preach truth and point out their futile beliefs. Most of the apostles faced imprisonment or death for doing so.”
“Exactly. You are close to living in a muslim majority town….that is islamification … not like christian evangelism. I suspect you are befriending those who are slowly imposing islamic culture values across the uk. Great relationship building, are any repenting from Islam and turning to Christ.”
“I guess I’m wondering what the goal and purpose of these gatherings are. Is it just to be ‘nice’ and ‘love’ people? Or do these things lead to sharing the gospel?”
“I wonder how peaceful these gatherings would be if a Muslims converted to Christ… it seems like all hell would break loose. Are we trying to just have ‘peace’ and unity or are we seeking to share the gospel and call Muslims to Christ. I don’t honestly know how you can have peace if you are truly calling Muslims to Christ in a majority Muslim town. If one of their members leaves, there will be much persecution.”
“Such naivety. Such a lost cause. You really should study the Koran.”
It is worth engaging with these concerns.
Firstly, should our only engagement with Muslims be confrontational evangelism?
We are called to introduce people to Jesus, sometimes that does involve confronting error, but not always. I believe we need to build relational bridges over which we can gain a hearing for the Gospel. In shorthand we need to help people see that “God is good and we are ok”. The hostility that many Muslims feel from Christians becomes a barrier to the Gospel. We need to demonstrate and offer an alternative. Eating together, building friendship does this. It is part of the journey to help Muslims discover the true Jesus. That is what Jesus did and was condemned for doing. Jesus ate with all sorts of people; he reached out to everyone. As his followers, we should too.
However, we are called to do more than evangelism, we are to bring the kingdom of God to earth. For God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is expressed in Jeremiah 29v7 where the exiles are told to seek the welfare of the city. Jesus says we are to be salt and light. The Pharisees were condemned by Jesus in Matthew 23v13-15 for seeking just to gain followers, missing the point of what it means to be a follower and setting an example. I think we need to have a full understanding of what the gospel is, not to limit it to believism, but to model it, to seek to make Luton, the UK, the world, a better place. Building friendships across divides is one way of doing this. We are called to show the world an alternative to the divisions and hatred that we see all around us. We need to seek to work towards a world described by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, where those the world scorns are blessed, including peace makers!
The second objection is that we can’t trust Muslims, we shouldn’t be naive. I have always found Jesus’ comment recorded in Matthew 10v16 intriguing and helpful: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” I suggest that Jesus is not calling us to avoid difficult contexts but to be wise as we go, but also do so in a trusting way, giving people the benefit of the doubt. We must always recognise that everyone is made in the image of God, there is something good in us all. However, we should also consider that we are all flawed, we must be realistic. As followers of Jesus, we carry a special treasure, but even we carry it in jars of clay, 2 Corinthians 4v7. So we should never be naïve, no-one is perfect, however we also need to be willing to be wronged!
I came to Jesus from an unchurched background and my early experience of the church seemed to encourage me to distance myself from my previous life and my unbelieving friends. The concern seemed to be that my previous friends and context would somehow contaminate me and draw me away from my new found faith. I struggled with that at the time and now better understand why that attitude is wrong. As John says in his first letter chapter 4, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” We do not need to fear that we will be contaminated, rather we need to trust that we will be able to impart something to those we are in relationship with. They will benefit and be changed from our friendship. My experience is that I have benefited too. I will continue to build relationships with those outside the church, including Muslims and will keep encouraging others to do the same. I will never give into the temptations that Christians should withdraw from the world, we need to fully engage with it, as Jesus did.
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