David Dunlap in his newsletter of Sept. 1, 2008 writes that the main news media has missed one of the more important stories to come out of the Arab world. "Firsthand reports are indicating that Muslims are converting to Christ in large numbers in Arab lands. The news media continues to report that Islam is the world's fastest growing religion." There certainly are statistics to demonstrate this and one of the main reasons is because of a high birthrate among Muslim families. But Dunlap goes on to write, "the truth is, however, that Islam as a religion, when measured by conversion increase, is not growing but rather decreasing.More and more Muslims than ever before are becoming disillusioned with Islam. An increasing number of Muslims are questioning the validity of the Qur'an and the extremist teaching of Islamic teachers. Many are finding that the mechanistic rituals of praying five times per day, reciting verses that they do not understand, and frequent fasting are not a means to becoming more spiritual, and are taking a serious look at Christianity. Every day thousands of Muslim intellectuals are leaving Islam."
What I found to be very informative were the reasons that Muslims were drawn to the Christ of Christianity. Here are the three major reasons as listed from the research of Dr. J. Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic Studies at Fuller Seminary in California.
1. The Number One Reason why Muslims chose to become Christians was the lifestyle of the Christians living among the Muslims. Muslim converts noted that "there was no gap between the moral profession and the practice of Christians" they knew. There was a significant contrast between the love demonstrated by the followers of Christ with the unloving treatment among Muslims. Other converts were impressed that in Christianity women were treated as equals and enjoy loving marriages. They also noted that Christian workers chose to live a simple lifestyle and not to intentionally offend their Muslim neighbors.
2. The Second Reason why Muslims chose to become Christians was that they saw the "power of God in answered prayer." Christians prayed for their neighbors even though they were Muslim and God had intervened in situations. Many converts mentioned an unhappiness with Islam itself with the uncertainty of salvation. Most of the emphasis in Islam was upon punishment and Christianity told of a God who loved them and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for sins. Obviously the picture of Christ in the Qur'an and that found in Scripture is very different.
3. The Third Reason (and identified as the most important) why Muslims were choosing to follow Christ is that "when Christ's love transforms committed Christians into a loving community, many Muslims (identified) a desire to join such a fellowship." Woodberry writes, "When the church is being the church, testifying of the love of Christ and his transforming power, then Muslims are drawn to salvation in Christ" (J. Dudley Woodberry, Russell G. Shubin, and G. Marks, "Why Muslims Follow Jesus," Christianity Today, 24 October 2007, pp. 80-85)
What can we learn from this in order to reach our own neighborhoods, regardless of religious background for Christ? We see the importance of living out Christ's desire for His church to be a caring community. We see the importance of living out our Christian beliefs in the world -- that we truly are followers of Christ and His teachings which affects every dimension of our lives. We also see the importance of demonstrating care through prayer for our neighbors, coworkers and their needs -- even if they are not followers of Christ, but asking if we might have the privilege to pray for their need. Included in that is looking for opportunities to tell people of God's love for them as demonstrated through the Christ. Christianity is designed to be attractive to any people, in any culture, when it is truly lived out. May God help us to do that for Him!
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