Reaching My Muslim Neighbors

I always thought sharing the Gospel was easy.

Except with Muslims. I was afraid to talk to them and didn’t know what to share. Even if I did share the Gospel, I didn’t think they would listen.

Then my pastor met a Frontiers team leader whose team trains believers to share the Gospel with Muslims. My pastor asked him to train people in our church.

They said anyone who has a Muslim friend can come to the training. I didn’t have any Muslim friends, and I felt sad that I couldn’t go. Then I thought about all the Muslim families living around the church and in my neighborhood, and I decided to attend the training anyway.

I was afraid to talk to them and didn’t know what to share.

The first thing we learned about was the importance of prayer.

So a Christian friend and I started a prayer meeting in her home, right on the edge of a Muslim community. We wanted to pray for Muslims and invite them to join us. One day on my way to her house, I met an older Muslim woman named Saayida and invited her to join the prayer meeting.

Saayida came and sat with us. We offered to pray for her in the name of Isa Al-Masih, which is the name for Jesus Christ in Arabic.

As we prayed, she kept her eyes open with her hands held out and turned upward. After each of our prayers, she said amin in agreement.

She said she liked us praying for her because we used spiritual words that made sense to her.

I knew in my heart that this was where a gathering of believers of Jesus Christ would someday take place.

The next week, we visited Saayida in her home. At first, we hesitated to go into the Muslim community. We felt vulnerable because Christians never go into that part of town. We wondered what people in the neighborhood would think of us. But in our training, we learned that relationships are an important part in sharing the Gospel with Muslims. So, despite our hesitation, we went to visit our new friend.

Saayida welcomed us in. As she served us tea, she said that all her neighbors are her sons and daughters and grandchildren. When she told us that, I knew in my heart that this was where a gathering of believers of Jesus Christ would someday take place.

We started visiting Saayida’s home every week. We chatted and drank tea. And we invited her and her daughters to pray with us.

Saayida must have felt hesitant and afraid in my neighborhood—just like I did the first time I visited her.

We also shared Bible stories with them. The first one we shared was the creation story. First, we asked if they knew how heaven and earth came into being. They said God made it. When we asked how God made it, they said they didn’t know. They were fascinated when we shared what the Bible says about creation.

We asked them questions that they tried to answer from the Quran. They could never come up with a full answer. “Here’s what’s written in the Bible,” we’d tell them, showing them what it says. They love reading for themselves what God’s Word says.

One time, Saayida and her daughters came to visit my family. It was the first time women wearing headscarves had come to visit us. All our Christian neighbors were probably really curious about them. Saayida must have felt hesitant and afraid in my neighborhood—just like I did the first time I visited her.

Another time, I brought my whole family to visit Saayida. While in her home, the entire neighborhood came to see us because they were curious about us Christians.

After getting to know them, I see that they really want to know Christians.

Now Saayida always insists that my whole family visits her. This has become a family relationship, and we are good friends.

I always thought Muslims wouldn’t welcome me or want to be friends with me because I am a Christian.

But I’ve made many Muslim friends, and they’ve always invited me into their home. It’s been wonderful. After getting to know them, I see that they really want to know Christians. They want to pray with us, learn about Jesus, and hear God’s message from the Bible.

My Christian friend and I still have our prayer meetings with Saayida. We also pray with other Muslims and study the Bible with them too. We believe these gatherings will grow. And we pray that our Muslim friends will accept Jesus Christ.