We continue to be faced with the question "what is the best way to reach Muslims for Christ?" Many voices have joined this missional conversation, but one of the most respected is Phil Parshall.
He served as a missionary in Bangladesh for 21 years. He founded the Bangladesh Bible Correspondence School, and served as Vice-president of the Bangladesh Bible Society. He has also served Muslims in the Philippines with SIM for almost 20 years, as Director of the Asian Research Center.
He completed his Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1980, and also studied at Yale and Harvard and has authored nine books on Islam, including The Cross and the Crescent.
Many today look to Parshall when it comes to wisdom for navigating the challenging waters of contextualization (living incarnationally in the Muslim cultural reality).
I invite you to watch and listen carefully to this fascinating conversation between J. D. Payne, author of Discovering Church Planting, and Phil Parshall.
With the 'big' news this week about Scott Brown's victory so many Christians were almost giddy thinking this was a great victory for the cause of Christ, or was it? I wonder as revelations about Mr. Brown's pro-choice voting record as well as his 'not so right' political views have become more known, if Christians are as elated. Or perhaps the elation was and is more about being able to stop the potential health care legislation, who really knows. It seems to me that many Christians use up a lot of emotional energy on this debate when I think we should redirect our passions and focus...as Christians. Bob Sjogren, author of Cat and Dog Theology, has done something that I really like and think is spot on for addressing the political realities of our nation. Bob has set up a website inviting people to fast and pray for our President and country. Bob states on his site that they have focused in on asking one question, here is what Bob says:
“What does God get?” Through this, we have learned to be concerned primarily for God’s reputation far more than ours. We seek to make God famous. (Remember, from Romans 11:36 we learn that everything is from Him, and through Him and to Him.)And because the world sees America as a Christian nation (whether we are or not), a big part of God’s reputation comes through the President of the United States. As a result, we began mobilizing the body of Christ for the holiness of the president beginning in the year 2000. What the president does and how he reacts will represent Christ to the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus and all other non-Christian religions.
So, here's the missional minded challenge, let's take Bob's offer and sign up to fast and pray. Just go to Bob's website, www.fastforthepresident.com and sign up today, let's do something that really bring about change we can believe in.
James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar is setting all kinds of box office records. It is a very well crafted and fascinating movie, but what does it have to do with being missional? While we might not agree with parts of the movie’s storyline, elements of it are profoundly missional, as they speak to assimilating into another culture.
History is full of not-so-great stories about how missionaries have gone into another culture with way too much of their own cultural baggage and done far more harm than good, Avatar points this out in a profound way. Jake Sully’s mission is to live with and learn all about the Na’vi people and gain their trust. When he first gets to Pandora, the place where the indigenous Na’vi people live, he struggles to fit in. Neytiri (in the photo) says to him: "You are like a baby! Clumsy! Loud!" When Jake asks to be taught the ways of the Na’vi, Neytiri’s mother says: "We have tried to teach the Sky People (those from Earth). It is hard to fill a cup that is already full."
Historically, missionaries or those being missional, while full of passion and great zeal, have been guilty of what both of the quotes refer to, an ethnocentric missional model.In a recent article in the Lausanne World Pulse, the author wrote this:
A missiologist I admire and respect read a paper at a conference. He decried an ethnocentric missionary practice in a remote Asian village. He mentioned, almost as a footnote, that the village had recently received a road for the first time, and westernization was flooding its pristine culture. The main point was that the missionary wasn't doing enough to ensure that a context-ualized Christianity would root. At the very end of the Q&A, somebody asked the question on my mind: "What about the inevitable advance of westernization into this village because of the road? How should that affect the practice of the missionary?" The presenter replied, in so many words, "I have nothing to say about that."
Sad to say, this reality is repeated more often than we would admit. An example of how 'missions' has been done without thinking through the impact of the actions. However; it does point out the need, our need to first assimilate into another culture first, through listening, learning, observing and then after we really understand the complexities of that culture, begin to reflect Christ in and to it.
We can avoid mistakes that were illustrated in the movie and in this article, whether we engage in being missional overseas, or engaging in other cultures in the US. We can all learn from the words of Moha, one of the Na'vi people, who said: 'Do as we do, and learn it well. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured'.
e to be faced with the question "what is the best way to reach Muslims for Christ?" Many voices have joined this missional conversation, but one of the most respected is Phil Parshall.
