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When my husband and I first left for Asia after working in junior high ministry for several years, we kept hearing people say, “If you can work with junior high kids, you can certainly work with Muslims!” I guess the level of difficulty in reaching these two people groups seemed about equivalent in everyone’s minds: hard to reach, difficult to start spiritual conversation, totally different view on life … and the list goes on.

After eleven years of reaching out to Muslims, I can say with confidence what I felt after working with junior highers-reaching out to them is not as intimidating as it may first seem. Here are some of the ways God used us to make inroads into the lives of these “difficult to reach” people.

The power of friendship. We intentionally befriended Muslim neighbors, coworkers and students, inviting them into our home. For many Muslim cultures, the highest virtues are hospitality and generosity. By practicing these virtues, we showed that our relationship with God is real. One of the main reasons Muslims come to Christ is because they are drawn by his love and the love of the Christian community.

Question. We found that one of the most effective evangelistic tools was to ask questions. When I met with my Muslim friends and observed their religious practices or heard their conversations, I followed up with questions. “Why did you wash your hands before praying?” or “Why do you wear your head covering?” or “What do you think will happen to you when you die?” or “How would you describe Jesus?”

I found that asking thought provoking questions often led to meaningful conversations. Asking questions in a way that shows genuine interest in their answers (even if they are contrary to our beliefs), often opens Muslims up to discussing spiritual issues. Eventually if they see that you are really interested in what they think and believe, they may ask the same questions back to you. Or you can gently suggest, “Would you like to know my thoughts about that?”

Dialogue. Instead of attacking or debating Muslim beliefs, we dialogued. We affirmed what we had in common with our Muslim friends before heading into areas of difference. Both Muslims and Christians believe in the virgin birth, high moral standards, reverence for God and prayer. We learned what our Muslim friends believed and what issues were important to them. We practiced the tension of holding firm convictions and still speaking with gentleness and respect (1 Pet. 3:15).

Natural avenues for friendship. I took lessons in the local music and thereby learned much about the beliefs of the people. By expressing an interest in their culture, I also earned the right to be heard. People felt respected and honored that I would not only take the time to learn their language but also invest myself in their music. I had many opportunities to share my faith because people wanted to hear what I had to say.

My husband coached a local high school basketball team and played soccer and volleyball with the men in our neighborhood. These were natural avenues for him to build relationships with Muslim men. When they hung out after the games, he often had the opportunity to engage in spiritual conversations with these men. Other ways that we were involved include attending aerobic classes, volunteering as a birth coach, renting rooms in our home to nationals, offering to teach English or host an English club, volunteering for neighborhood activities, frequenting certain stores and restaurants to befriend the employees, and taking lessons (sewing, cooking, music, sports).

The uniqueness of Jesus. Muslims will agree that Jesus is the only person who ever lived who had a unique and supernatural birth, a unique and supernatural life and a unique and supernatural end to his life. That makes Jesus the most unique and supernatural person who ever lived and worthy of further study. Muslims call the gospels the “Injil.” We encouraged our friends to read the Injil to find out more about Jesus. Although Muslims claim that the Bible has been corrupted, when we offer the Bible to our closest Muslim friends, they gladly receive it.

The simple gospel. In Acts, the gospel is repeatedly summarized like this: Jesus came to the earth as a man. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus saves. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy (see Acts 10:34-43). Jesus is the core of the good news. He is the one who frees us from our sin. We focused on him in our witnessing. For someone from a works-oriented religion, there is great relief in knowing that, through faith in Christ, they can be sure of their salvation.

For many people, sharing their faith with a person from another culture seems like an intimidating task. But we stepped out in faith and discovered that the Holy Spirit had already been working to bring openness to the good news in our Muslim friends.

Kelly K. is currently on home assignment from her ministry to Muslims in Asia.