1.
Islamic Studies
Church Planting
Thoughts
Part I
Dr. Robert Patton adaptation of materials
of Roland Muller

2.
Three considerations
 The messenger – must be considered
authentic
 The message – must be in context to
be understood
 The community of faith – must replace
the umma of the Muslim faith

3.
Part I
The Messenger

4.
The messenger
 Gaining acceptance is key
 Learning the language well is a
must
 For Arabic speakers, this
automatically commands respect

5.
The messenger
 Learning the culture and its basis
 Fear-based
 Shame-based
 Guilt-based

6.
Who are you?
 The role in society is important to
know for the church planter
 Good to be seen as a specialist in
religion eventually
 But often best to start as a learner if
you are new in the culture

7.
Who are you?
 Show godliness in your life
 Build bridges into the lives of
others

8.
Godliness
 Study and know the Bible
 Death to self – we must be
broken and not proud of
ourselves, but confident in our
God
 Life-experiences help

9.
Godliness
 If we use teacher-based
evangelism
 We need to know ourselves as well
as the material
 We need to know the culture
 Preach and teach

10.
Spiritual status of the
individual helps our
approach
 Not interested, or even hostile
 Somewhat interested
 Seeker
 Convert
 Disciple
 Leader

11.
When not interested
 Seek opportunities to challenge their
viewpoint, worldview, etc
 But many do not go farther = at this
point, do not invest inordinate time

12.
Somewhat interested
 Answer objections if they are serious
 Do not be surprised if they go deeper
into their own religion
 I have seen this presenting the gospel
to nominal Christians as well

13.
Seeker
 Must reconcile differences between
Christian belief and his current
teaching
 You may become the teacher, or take
him to someone as the teacher
 Teacher must show that the real
authority is the Word of God

14.
Learn to be a teacher
 Study the methods of teachers in the
culture
 Be culturally appropriate –
 As an example, never point your feet
at someone if you are teaching
Muslims

15.
Learn to be a teacher
 Note what Hudson Taylor did
 Not just Chinese clothes, but
 Clothes of a Chinese teacher or
scholar
 He used methods which were
appropriate
 Thus he dressed appropriately

16.
Teaching
 Be careful about notes – they may
focus on them rather than the Bible
itself
 Be careful that you handle the Bible as
your Holy book with respect

17.
Teaching
 Muller recommended six one hour
sessions on basics
 Usually a few days between lessons
 Repeat – memorization is good

18.
Teaching was focused
 Two or three main points
 Often teaching one on one best -
or two good friends
 Avoid men teaching women – it is
culturally offensive

19.
Teaching
 Parables and proverbs are good
 Sometimes for the hostile
 Often for the interested
 Used to teach wisdom
 Be careful that the parable or proverb
clearly illustrates Biblical truth

20.
Nearness in Muslim culture
 Blood relationship
 Marriage
 Adoption
 Hospitality requirements
 Language also marks you as to
closeness
 Conformity is expected in close relation-
ships

21.
Honor & shame
 Occur in strong group cultures
 Groups make basic decisions in life –
like education, marriage, religion
 Honor for the group higher importance
than individual rights
 Family gives support to those inside it,
but expects conformity to its demands

22.
Trust
 Usually trust those who are near
 Often hard to trust a God who is
considered far away
 Hope – for a Muslim, placed on your
own actions. You want your good
deeds to outweigh your bad
 Ultimate destiny basically depends
on your works and actions

23.
Group honor
 The group is his insurance as
well as everything else
 Losing a group = losing identity
 If one dishonors the group, the
eldest son must restore the honor

24.
Situation for new Muslim
convert
 Can abandon faith and go back to
Islam
 Can abandon Islam and may get killed
 Secret believer
 Become mentally unstable
 Integrate through the Holy Spirit

25.
Goals
 Keep convert alive
 Unite faith as true believer
 Spiritual growth
 Come out as a follower of Jesus
 Integration of fellowship

26.
Goals – how to integrate?
 Understand how the believer related to
family
 Recognize those who will be opposed
and pray for them

27.
Goals – how to integrate?
 Recognize group weaknesses & sin &
how deal to with them
 Recognize the new believer’s
weaknesses & sin; confess and
abandon sin & yield to the Lord
 Help believer see that he cannot live a
two-faced life

28.
Discipleship support
 Often requires daily contact
 Believer must have new group of
friends and support
 Believer needs daily spiritual input
 He may need to discuss non-spiritual
things

29.
Coming out & making a
stand
 Very important
 Be a model in the family
 Demonstrate positive effects of
Jesus living in the new believer

30.
Coming out & making a
stand
 Perhaps approach the most
sympathetic person in the family –
explain that he wants to serve God
and also honor the family
 They may try to dissuade him, but then
see that there is an improvement

31.
Discipleship
 Try to get him to read the Bible himself
and spend time in prayer
 He may need a place of refuge
 May want to memorize verses, and
later stories
 Learn to pray based on the claims of
the verses or point of the Bible story

32.
Part II
The Message

33.
Worldview
 Central to
 Values
 Beliefs
 Feelings
 Biblical worldview – see what
happened when sin entered

34.
Major effects of sin
 Guilt – conscience bothered them
 Focus of western civilization
 Shame – before God
 Focus of eastern and mid-eastern cultures
 Fear of God
 Animistic cultures
 Note – God solves all 3 problems

35.
Guilt
 Focus is on guilt vs. innocence
 Focus is on securing our rights
yet avoid feeling guilty

36.
Guilt
 Weakness in the west – anything is OK
as long as it does not hurt another “I’m
OK, you’re OK”
 Roman law – the law is above even the
emperor

37.
Eastern church
 Question - how can I stand before
a Holy God and be in relationship
with others? Focus more on
shame than guilt

38.
Eastern church
 Islam is more like this
 They cannot conceive of a man
that can make laws for everyone
= this is God’s perogative
 Unity of religious and civil affairs

39.
Problem for shame based
culture
 Shame based culture – problem
of seeing sin occurs even when
not found out
 Confession is wrong if it brings
shame to your family

40.
Fear-based – Note that is
true in folk religion too
 Fear of man
 Enemies
 Dictators, the state, etc.
 Fear of the supernatural
 Demons, etc.
 Answer – Power

41.
Power
 Secular world – power comes from the
material universe
 Religious – power comes from outside
the material universe. Some use:
 Protection by rules (taboos) to avoid
offense
 Appeasement by sacrifice

42.
Confrontation in folk
religion
 There is real power backed by Satan
 Witchdoctor, shaman may partially
control the power
 Jesus Christ has all power, and lives
within the believer
 Ultimate complete victory comes
through Jesus Christ

43.
Confrontation
 Often a power struggle with Satan by
the believer, who should show that
Christ has greater power
 The lost are turned from the power of
darkness to the power of light

44.
Shame-based
 Dominant mode – shame versus honor,
rather than guilt for breaking God’s
standard of right versus wrong
 Shame comes when the sin is exposed,
but is a different emphasis from guilt
for hurting a third party

45.
Shame-based
 Shame – frequent responses in a
shame-based culture
 First covered up
 Second, denied
 Third – avenged if it cannot be denied
 Thus resentment at being exposed
directed against those who exposed
them

46.
Shame treatment
 In the middle-east – avenged
 Accuse someone of giving shame
 Make him pay, even death
 May need to pay blood money
 In the far east – often suicide, as
for example, Japan

47.
Lying in a shame-based
cultureculture
 If lying protects the tribe or group, it is
OK, because it is a lesser wrong than
bringing shame to the grop
 If it is for selfish reasons, it is wrong

48.
Lying in a shame culture
 Sometimes in the west with the young,
it is to be cool. “not cool” is shameful
 Sometimes people in this culture
criticize to keep you from being proud
= a kind of backhanded compliment

49.
The Bible & shame
 I was surprised! Muller stated that
there are more references to shame
and honor than to guilt and
righteousness in the Bible
 God raised His people from slaves to
holding their heads high – Lev. 26:13
 Only God can elevate to honor – not
the person themselves: I Peter 2:6

50.
Mankind is defiled
 We are guilty, but also defiled (totally
depraved and totally defiled)
 We must be cleansed (with the blood of
Christ)
 Muslims believe that prayers are more
honored in honorable places – mosque,
Ka’aba

51.
Mankind is naked
 Mankind is naked before the Lord, but
now clothed in Christ’s righteousness:
2 Cor. 5:1-2
 In Leviticus 18, sexual sins is
combined with “nakedness”

52.
Mankind is naked
 Sin separated us from God because we
are naked and shameful and God is
honorable
 But God clothes us in the
righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ,
who is totally righteous and honorable

53.
Restoration
 Only God can restore honor
 God uses a mediator, Jesus Christ

54.
Restoration
 God adopts us, considers us sons, and
elevates us to joint-heirs with Christ.
 The heir is in a position of prominence
and honor
 We must balance this with Christ’s
preference for humility and service

55.
HIS power
 God moves us from weakness to
strength
 But not our strength, but HIS
strength, which is stronger than the
strongest

56.
His healing
 We are sick but He heals us
 Not only physically
 Also spiritually
 You may be able to start with honor,
and then show redemption from guilt
to innocence

57.
The root of honor is not
Pride
 God will not honor the proud – they
will swell with pride
 He honors the humble – which brings
HIM honor

58.
All cultures
 All cultures are a mixture
 But often one area dominates
 Scratch where they itch
 To be continued with Part II