This section and the following are largely adapted from Roland Muller's text on reaching the Muslim community through the messenger, message, and community. Each area is briefly outlined.

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