During my final year at Medical School, I attended an CMF/UCCF 'Answering Other Faiths' day conference. The aim of the day was to give Christian students a 'taster' of the beliefs and doctrines of other world religions. I ended up in the seminar dealing with Muslim student outreach. It was led by a junior doctor from London who had started sharing the gospel with Muslims as a medical student. To be honest, I had never been particularly interested in witnessing to Muslims. The whole idea seemed particularly daunting. I was a young Christian myself and felt I knew precious little about the contents of the Bible, let alone the apologetics of the Qu'ran!
Getting started
We started off with a brief historical overview of Islam, before moving on to the practices of Islam or the five main 'Pillars'. We ended with a run through several apologetics issues that frequently arise in Christian - Muslim debate. It was a truly fascinating seminar and I started to feel challenged to find out more.
Our group leader then illustrated the necessity of witnessing to Muslim students on campus:
'Suppose you took a two pence coin for every Muslim living in the Asian Sub-continent and laid them side to side in a row. They would stretch from this room, right the way across Russia and the Bering Strait into Alaska. Now suppose you did the same thing for every Christian missionary working among them. The row would stretch about thirty feet.' This is quite a statistic! Many of these countries are largely closed to Christian missionaries and a high proportion of Muslims living in them have never heard the Gospel. Here in the United Kingdom, our Universities and Colleges receive a proportion of students from these countries every year. As Christian students on campus, we have an incredible opportunity to befriend these young people and demonstrate Christ's love for them. We are lucky in this country to have the freedom of speech to proclaim the gospel without fear of reprisals. This short period of residency in the UK may provide these students with their first and only opportunity to hear about Jesus.
Sitting in the seminar, I was starting to feel uneasy. God had put this challenge on my heart and I doubted my ability to fulfil it. I felt very much like Jeremiah when the word of the Lord first came to him and appointed him as a prophet. 'Ah, Sovereign Lord,' I said, 'I do not know how to speak;for I am only a child,' (Jer 1:6).
Prayerful preparation
At the end of the day I met up with a friend of mine who had been leading one of the other seminars. She is a medical doctor with a passion for world mission. She had been thinking about starting a group dedicated to reaching Muslim students. I decided that I really should get involved. Five students from various faculties signed up that day. We decided to commit ourselves to praying for Muslims every week and learning more about their faith.
That night, I took the time to read Jer 1:7-8. 'But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child'. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.' So greatly inspired, I went.
Our meetings took place at a mutual friend's house. We would pray for students around campus, asking God to show us effective ways to reach them. The remainder of the time was spent studying theological topics that frequently cause contention in Muslim-Christian dialogue: biblical corruption, the existence of the Trinity and the authenticity of the crucifixion to name but a few. Our numbers grew and we continued to pray for God's guidance as to the next move.
The Lord was very gracious in providing us with several experienced leaders, all of whom had spent a great deal of time studying Islamic apologetics and dialoguing with Muslims around the country. They had all recently arrived in our city and were keen to take an active part in our group, sharing their knowledge with us. We also found the material on the Answering Islam[1] and Christian-Muslim Debate[2] websites very useful.
We had been meeting for a few weeks when God spoke to us through that beautiful passage in Romans 10, so often quoted in response to world mission. 'How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?' (Rom 10:14). We first needed to make contact with the Islamic Society!
The next day, I left a note in the Islamic Society pigeon hole stating who we were and asking them to make contact with us. We hoped to set up single sex discussion groups, addressing the key differences between Islam and Christianity. This would be a marvellous opportunity to build relationships with Muslim students and share the gospel. I received a telephone call from the Head Sister that evening. She was enthusiastic, and told me that the society had been thinking about setting up a dialogue group with Christian students for some time. This was a real answer to prayer. It was so encouraging how God had enabled us to clear the first hurdle.
Our campus has a very active Islamic Society with around 800 members of which 15% are international students. The Brothers run a weekly bookshop in the Guild foyer during lunchtimes. This is a focus for a number of the Muslim students. We prayed for protection and decided to attend, introduce ourselves and let the Holy Spirit lead us in dialogue.
Taking opportunities
Our first attempt at evangelism didn't fill us with confidence. We split into single-sex pairs with a Bible and a Qur'an (a handy thing to have for reference) at the ready. The aim was to engage students of the same sex in conversation and build relationships. It was difficult. 'Your Bible is full of contradictions,' said one student. 'How can you prove that Jesus is the Son of God?' said another. Worse still, there was no mention of the proposed dialogue groups.
We trudged off, spiritually winded with our tails well and truly between our legs! I personally made a mental note never to go back.
That evening, the Lord decided to speak to me fairly sharply regarding my decision through Hebrews 12:1: 'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.' Perseverance was the name of the game here. Muslim outreach was a part of our race and we had a responsibility to God to run with this mission. The Lord blessed us in many ways in the weeks following this episode. Of particular note was the debate that was organised by our group and the Islamic Society. The idea was first suggested by the Muslim students. They had a speaker booked to speak at the campus in the next month - did we want to turn it into a debate? We committed the request to prayer and decided to go ahead with the idea. The title was to be 'The historical accuracy of the Bible versus the Qu'ran'. Our speaker was a medical doctor from London. It was his first formal debate with Muslims. The Muslim speaker was also said to be from London. We had a name for him and apparently he had never debated publicly with Christians before. The logistics of the event were going well and the two speakers seemed perfectly matched.
In order to prevent any foul play, we asked for written confirmation of the Muslim speaker some weeks before the event. We were aware that in some past debates, the Muslim speaker had been changed at the last moment. We had a hunch that something similar was happening with our debate when the Muslims were unable to categorically confirm that their speaker was the one we were expecting. We knew that a world famous Muslim debater was running a seminar in the same city on the same day as our event. It transpired that this gentleman was to be the opposition for our debate.
We immediately decided to pull out as we had been misled and the speakers were no longer evenly matched. Unfortunately, this is the reality in many debates of this kind, and an issue to consider for those thinking of undertaking a similar venture. Honour and shame are deeply bound up in Islamic culture. To lose a debate brings shame on the speaker akin to public humiliation. We must assume that this is the reason behind the 'change' of speakers. This event was not the disaster it first appeared to be. We were able to expose publicly the dishonesty and refuse to partake in it, stating that to do so would not be glorifying to our God. This was a terrific public witness to the Muslims and many respected our decision.
Building relationships
We returned to the bookshop and started to build lasting relationships with several of the students there. A number of Christian sisters started to attend the Sisters' Circle cooking group. This invariably led to discussions over dinner as both parties then had to eat the food they had prepared!
The Ishmael group became a regular fixture at the Society's evangelistic events. Several times, we were encouraged to embrace Islam as the only true religion. We used these occasions to testify to our hope in Jesus Christ; our Saviour. It was very tempting sometimes to give up. Any suggestion that Jesus was anything other than a prophet of Allah causes offence to many Muslims. I remember once almost having to leave an evangelistic talk after declaring to one Sister that Jesus was the Son of God. She appeared shocked, refusing to continue the conversation.
This example hammers home the costly business of dialogue evangelism. Communicating the message of the gospel from creation to salvation or judgement can be very difficult. I have to confess that I have been guilty of compromising the gospel message in the past so as to avoid hurting my listeners' feelings. It was during this time of 'front-line evangelism' that many of the group realised what it truly meant to 'count the cost' of being a disciple.
Speaking the truth in love
Far from being just a nice historical story, the gospel offends. An accurate presentation leaves people in no doubt that they have a choice to make, to accept or reject God's offer of salvation. Rejection equals judgement. For Muslims acceptance of Jesus as Lord more often equals rejection by the individual's family and consequent isolation from their community. Jesus, himself laid bare the consequences of accepting him in Matthew 10:35-6: 'For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household"'. It is therefore supremely important to have insight into the consequences of a conversion to Christianity for these students if we are ever to dialogue successfully.
God has been, as ever, extremely faithful to us throughout our ministry with Muslim students. I feel it is important to close with a personal testimony of what, for me, was one of the most amazing encounters with the living God I have ever experienced. I had trawled through passages of the Bible in my earlier years - reading them but not really knowing what it was actually to live them. One such verse was 2 Corinthians 12:10: 'That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'
Pressing on
I was able to get alongside Paul in this one evening following an Islam and science convention on campus. I was tired and most of the seminar had gone over my head. As we finished, I noticed one of the Sisters leaving on her own. I wandered over and asked her if she wanted a lift. She gladly accepted.
We arrived at her house and she invited me in. Now I had half a dozen phone calls to make, an essay to write and a house to clean - there was no way I was doing any more evangelism that night. God does this sort of thing all the time. When you are all geared up and itching to share the gospel with someone, nothing happens. When you are tired, fed up and a useless instrument for Christ, an opportunity like this arises. Yes, I accepted her offer and went in to find not one but four people waiting to talk to me.
The girls immediately started questioning me about Christianity. One Sister stated that she didn't understand why Christians wore crosses. She felt it was bad taste to celebrate someone's death in this way. This provided a perfect opportunity to talk about salvation and the uniqueness of Christianity. Coffee gave way to dinner and we continued talking. We touched on the Islamic rituals for prayer before moving on to the place of prayer in Christianity as a humble recognition of our dependence on God as sinners.
'You have a personal relationship with Jesus?' one Sister said, 'Tell us how you became a Christian'. So, out came my testimony and silence descended on the room once I had finished. 'That's incredible' they said. That was the power of the Spirit in action. There was no way that I could have witnessed to those Sisters for three hours with my own strength. God used my weakness for his glory as he will do with anyone who seeks to do his will.
The Ishmael group has now been established for a year on campus. God continues to move in many exciting ways and we hope to start the dialogue group next term as the next stage in our work with students. I have written this article primarily to raise awareness of Muslim student outreach and to encourage those thinking of starting similar groups. Our group's prayer is that others will catch this vision and reach out to these students on their campuses. It's challenging, difficult at times and requires constant prayer for protection and guidance. It does, however bear much fruit. We wait expectantly to see what God has in store for us next term!
