Helpful Ideas for Sharing the Faith

February 9, 2022
4 min read

Do you know any Muslims in Calgary? Are you comfortable sharing your faith with them?

As an ESL teacher, I’ve always enjoyed my Muslim women students, and I was able to spend some personal time with a few outside of class. This social interaction increased after I retired in 2015. Even though I enjoyed spending time with them, I still had a sense of fear about sharing my faith too strongly.

A Book for Christian Women Desiring to Love Her Muslim Neighbor

I was drawn to Joy Loewen’s book, Woman to Woman, because she grew up in a Muslim country and spent many years working in Muslim ministry in Pakistan and later in the US and Canada.

In her preface, Joy states, “This book is written for the Christian woman who finds herself afraid of Muslim women but honestly desires to rise above her fear and learn how to love her Muslim neighbor or colleague and feel more at home with her (page 15).”

Joy takes readers on her own personal journey which started when she didn’t want relationships with Muslim women and even feared them. She eventually came to the point of feeling at home with a Muslim woman and comfortable sharing her faith (page 15).

It’s helpful to read about the problems and issues Joy encountered in her own journey. From her experiences, we learn about the culture and beliefs of Muslim women and how to share Jesus with them.

Learning Through Interaction with Muslim Women

Zarina invited Joy to join her family for Eid al Fitr, a special meal at the end of Ramadan. Joy quickly learned that Muslim women are very hospitable. While attending the dinner along with a number of Muslim women, Joy learned that they want to know where she was at religiously.

Another lady, Amal, showed Joy that Muslim women need to be able to “put you in a box” before they can move forward with a friendship. So, we need to expect to be asked blunt questions about ourselves. It may not feel comfortable to us as Westerners, but this is part of the important process of becoming at home with them.

Joy learned that in this process, there are many barriers, obstacles and offenses that can divide Muslims and Christians. Through a misunderstanding with Zohra, Joy said she’s always “learning how to jump the cultural and linguistic hurdles between us (page 63).”

Moving towards sharing her faith more, Joy learned that it often takes a long time for Muslims to understand and accept by faith the wonderful truths found in Christ (page 74). We need to be patient.

Through Karima, Joy learned that Muslims and Christians both believe in praying, but our praying is quite different (page 76). Basically, they have a master-slave relationship to God and recite prescribed prayers, whereas Christians have a father-child relationship, so we have conversational prayer.

Joy says that it’s a blessed privilege to pray for Muslim women. She’s found that they’re touched deeply when you pray for them in the name of Jesus. Many also enjoy talking about religious matters so this can open doors.

Many Muslims worldwide have heard the word Christmas but don’t understand it because our customs and traditions can be confusing to them. Few have heard about Easter. Joy stated, “We Christians need to remember the noteworthiness of these holidays and the importance of communicating that to our Muslim friends … as they are the heart of Christianity, and they provide a wonderful way to give Muslims the Gospel account (Page 102).”

One chapter in Joy’s book shares about Sakina and her husband Halim and their two children visiting Joy’s home. She says Muslims are often curious about what’s inside our homes. “Our goal is to ensure that Jesus is on display in our home so that He can touch their hearts (page 104).”

As Joy shared her faith in Jesus more, she gradually saw some women responding and understanding biblical truths. What a joyful thing it is when we become sisters in God’s family. Thus, we know that we will be together with Jesus in Heaven with those Muslim women who accept Him.

Sharing Jesus with Muslims in Calgary

There are over 75,000 Muslims in Calgary. Many are well-educated and have influential jobs as nurses, doctors, therapists, dentists, teachers, etc. Now Calgary has begun the process of welcoming about 5,000 new Afghan refugees.

Woman to Woman by Joy Loewen will inspire and instruct you. May the Lord open doors for you to meet some of Calgary’s Muslims and share with them, woman to woman.

Written by Mary Cummins

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