Monthly Archives: June 2023

Are you having a happy Wednesday? I hope so. Today is a holiday: Two of my favorite people return from a week in Guatemala tonight and I’m a happy camper! 

Of course it’s also a big day for Muslims: Eid al-Adha. 

1. It’s the second biggest celebration on the Muslim calendar after Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan. 
2. It falls toward the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that is currently underway. A record-breaking crowd of 2 million were expected to take part in the Hajj this year. 
3. Eid al-Adha commemorates Abraham’sdevotion to God and willingness to sacrifice (in the Muslim mind) Ishmael.
4. A key part of the celebration involves families killing a lamb, goat or cow. The family keeps one third of the meat, gives a third to extended family and the final third to people in need. (I think this may be a good model for our family’s Christmas budget. The percentages! Not gutting a goat!)
5. The Abe and Isaac storyhas a cartload of meaning for us too, doesn’t it? We see in it a foreshadowing of Jesus’s sacrifice, through which, in the words of Paul, “God was pleased. . . to reconcile to himself all things. . . .”

Would you join me in praying today that many Muslims would be given insight into the mystery of reconciliation within the sacrifice? Ask God to open doors and hearts so our sisters and brothers serving among Muslims would have the honor of adding fresh joy and hope to the happy holiday.

Do you ever wonder, “What if?” What if there was a fire and we were left with nothing but an insurance check? What if a wealthy old aunt died (in peace, after a long, productive life) and left me a huge inheritance? What if I went all rich young ruler with Jesus, but did decide to sell it all and give it to the poor? 

Let me invite you for a moment to think past the limitations of responsibility and prudence to briefly entertain some possibilities! Let your eyes get a little big and your heart race as you ponder these crazy ways to connect with Muslims and probably come up with a couple of your own.

1. Start a businessraising goats to sell to halal butchers. Haven’t you always loved baby goats?
2. Take a course and go on tour to debate Muslims. While polemics is outside the scope of my expertise and comfort, some friends assure me it’s working to connect Muslims to Jesus.
3. Get a master’s degree in India for cheap while building relationships among some of the hundreds of unengaged peoples there.
4. Text ten friends and ask them to prayerfully look over the Welcome Corp website. If you don’t feel called to go where Muslims live, perhaps God would use you to bring them here.
5. Join me in putting the Quran on your summer reading list. I’m not excited about it, but I’m gonna do it. Let me know if you’re with me. Here’s some rationale and Nabeel Qureshi’s wise caution and encouragement.
6. Download DuoLingo. Commit to learning Arabic. Spend next Christmas in Turkey impressing Syrian refugees.
7. This one you’ve got to invite me along for: Buy a boat (with your aunt’s inheritance or the insurance check), run a discipleship school on board as you sail along the Turkish coast, through the Greek isles to Sicily, reaching out to asylum seekers along the way.

If any of the “going” ideas above gets your pulse racing a bit, please check out my brand new Muslim Connect video on Going.

Most of my interactions with Muslims have been with those who are poor, facing life with limited choices, resources and status. Of course that doesn’t describe all Muslims. Some of the richest people in the world follow Islam and some majority-Muslim countries are quite pecuniarily proficient! 

This made me curious about who’d top the richest and poorest lists. 

Determining “richest” and “poorest” countries can be tricky. Experts disagree on how to quantify those designations, and I’m far from a demographic expert. Most will use gross domestic product per capita, with some adjustments to allow for relative purchasing power. 

That said, here are the lists as I see them:

Richest Muslim-majority countries
Qatar, Kuwait, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Turkey, Libya, Malaysia

Poorest Muslim-majority countries 
Somalia, Niger, Chad, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali, Yemen, Guinea, Tajikistan, Pakistan

As fun and gratifying as it may be to judge the rich countries (“It’s easy to be rich when everyone wants your oil. . .and you rule as, or like, a king!), that probably does no good. Further, since God loves them, their populations should not be overlooked in gospel outreach efforts. 

As for the poor, I’m sure I can’t imagine many of the challenges so many face. I want to avoid “white savior complexes,” but at the same time move in the flow of God’s heart for people who are marginalized and suffering. Further, while it’s certainly easier to wonder why the rich Muslim countries don’t make life easier for the poor ones, I want us to ask God what he would have us do. And I want to pray for his kingdom to come, for the justice, prosperity and shalom he desires for all. 

If you like your global Christian demographics served up factually with a side of solid research, you’d be crazy not to sign up for Justin Long’s Weekly Roundup. It will bless your soul while stretching your brain.

You know that classic dream where you’re trying to run, but it’s like you’re in mud? Or in real life you’re trying to get out the door to church and the teenager is still in the bathroom and the 7 year old shows up at the car with a jar’s worth of Nutella on his face and hands? 

Life is full of friction, my friend. Both yours and mine. 

When you make a mental move toward connecting with a Muslim, it seems like a multitude of barriers manifest themselves. Here are a few I’ve faced. Maybe you can relate to some of them. 

1. Fear: This has stopped more good activity in its tracks than the rest of the list combined. Fear of rejection, failure. Fear that people who dislike Muslims might be right! 
2. Time: There are real commitments and duties but, honestly, don’t some of us worship an idol of busyness that allows no margin for outreach? 
3. No Muslims: What if none live near me? Wait a little bit. Or try this or this.
4. Think we know too little: “What if they ask a question I can’t answer?!?”
5. Think we know too much: “I know those Muslims. They’re up to no good! Don’t validate them!”
6. Other ministry: None of us can do everything! You can’t die on every hill.
7. Hopelessness: Can anything I can do really make a difference? 
8. We prefer dominion to communion: Is it possible our national value on military spending and deployment seeps into our Christianity and we don’t befriend Muslims because we’d rather conquer them? 

If any of these make you want to raise your hand and say, “Yep. That’s me,” let me know and we can pray for each other.

Today is the last day of school! Summer’s here. The days are long and maybe you don’t want to spend so much time on email. Here are seven quick thoughts to keep Muslims on our minds this week. 

1. Jesus was closer culturally to many Muslims than to most of us. The way Jesus thought, taught and lived followed the cultural paths many Muslims still walk today. 

2. While the minority must find a way to thrive in a majority culture, the challenge of the Christian is to reach out to, care for and when necessary sacrifice for the minority, including Muslims. 

3. Muslims have insights into God and attitudes toward God that many of us (at least me!) could learn from, including a healthy sense of God’s transcendence and holiness. 

4. Muslims, like Jews and Christians, are monotheists. The question of whether we’re referring to the same entity when Muslims say “Allah” and Christians say “God” is still a live debate.

5. In my experience almost 100% of the Muslims I’ve asked to pray for have been cool with it. Of course, you don’t know about those you don’t ask. In my case, that’s been most of them, sadly. 

6. The set of humans who call themselves Muslims are as diverse as fish. They have variety among themselves in regards to looks and language, beliefs and practices. And like fish (and Christians!), they’ve been known to attack each other! 

7. Of this I’m as sure as anything in my life: God made the ~2 billion Muslims on the planet for the same general reasons he made you and me: To glorify him, to enjoy life with him and to partner with him to bring his kingdom to bear on the Earth.

He also made some for specific purposes like discovering coffee and baklava, scouting asteroids near Jupiter and helping people like me learn how to be hospitable.

Next week I’ll list some hurdles that keep us from connecting with Muslims. Shoot me a couple of yours?