In the Christian witness to Muslims, love is the most important. One must show God’s love and one’s own love to the Muslim. We, like the Muslims, are fallen men; therefore we need to humbly listen. We need to share their grief and their joy. We should not quickly denounce Islam, Muhammad, or the Qu’ran as tools of Satan. This will make quick enemies.
Action is key. We should live a life of “show and tell”. Witnessing comes natural in explaining our actions. We also need to willingly work and fellowship in the Islamic cultural pattern. One may even worship in Islamic fashion. This will ease the transition for new converts and bring the focus on the meaning of the actions. Doing things the “Christian” way is not what saves. Rites do not earn merit. On the other hand, Muslims may not distinguish the differences on the outside and will have no reason to suspect that they mean anything different from the traditional Muslim practices.
Another way of seeing this issue (often called “contextualization”) is that we need to meet the people at their level like Jesus did. But there should also be limits, such as the Biblical example when meat sacrificed to idols could be eaten at home but not at the temple of sacrifice. God meets us where we are, but calls us to transform in order to more faithfully honor Him. By not requiring a cultural conversion, the difficulty of a Muslim conversion to Christianity will be made easier.
Tim Matheny suggests several innovations (new ideas) that take place in Muslim conversion. Here are a few of them: 1. God has communicated to man through His word, the Bible. 2. The Bible is still a valid guide for people today who want to obey God’s will. 3. One must accept Christ as Savior and Lord through faith, confession, repentance, and baptism in order to be saved. A very surprising fact is that most Muslim converts do not feel as though they meet a new God (Parshall). They feel as though they have been awaken to the idea of a personal, loving, and close God.
