God’s Heart for all the Nations

This weekend I attended a conference on sharing the Gospel with Muslim peoples. This was really an amazing day and a half of stories and learning from former Muslims who have found the Truth of Jesus Christ. We had some good times of singing, speakers, and breakout workshops.

God is doing some amazing work among Muslim peoples, but there is much work to be done. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, and is taking over Europe and even the United States. There are 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. In France for example, one out of every 6 people is a Muslim.

Muslims who become Christians face many difficulties. They must confront their families and face possible rejection. Many of the Muslim background believers face threats on their life because they will not go back to their Muslim faith. One girl who lives in Los Vegas told the story of when she became a Christian, her uncles came from India to question her. They beat her with a hard-back copy of the Qur’an, the holy book for the Muslims, and she was in the hospital for quite some time. Her father beat her up in a grocery store parking lot. But her faith remains strong, and she is committed to telling her story so that people will know persecution happens even in the US.

So what can we do? First of all, we need to pray for God to continue to reveal himself to the Muslim people, so that they will know the Truth. Second, we need to build relationships with Muslim people. This is really the best way to share the Gospel with them. This takes much time, patience and great love. We need to invite them into our homes and get to know more about their culture and religion. Many Muslims believe that Christians are no different from the movies they see of Americans and consider them to be hypocrites. We need to show them we are different by loving them with Christ’s love. Also, a huge need in many other countries is for discipleship of new believers. In Iran, for example, thousands are coming to Christ, but with no one to shepherd them and teach them the Bible, they are being led astray by anything that might have the label “Christian” on it. We need to look beyond just “converting” someone, to really teaching them to obey Christ’s commands.

This conference continued the learning process for me on outreach to Muslim peoples, and I’m excited to see what opportunities God gives me to live out what I’ve learned.