How can a region which is predominantly Christian become suddenly packed by Islam adherents?
This was answered by Renod Bejjani, founder and president of iHope Ministries. in his brief piece for Charisma Magazine.
The Middle East and Africa reportedly experienced a mass shift from primarily Christian to 99% Muslim. Bejjani, who grew up in both countries, said that he's seeing the same problematic trend in the United States among Christians who are unknowingly contributing to the rise of Islamism.
He observed that as neighborhoods grow increasingly diverse, most Christians get paralyzed by fear. Understandably, they also lack the know-hows on how to be cross-cultural and to push religious boundaries so they could effectively share the Gospel to Muslims.
Nonetheless, Bejjani maintained that "muslims are responding to the Good News."
This happens when Christians also muster the courage and confidence to open their mouths and lead their Muslim neighbors and friends to the saving knowledge of Isa-Almasih (Jesus Christ, as referred to in the Quran). Wisdom, of course, would be needed so the presentation would be clear and uncompromising.
Bejjani also said that most Christians don't realize the need to be equipped with skills in sharing the gospel with Muslims. Most evangelism approaches involve a lot of Bible quoting which is counterproductive to a people group who regard the Christian Scripture as something that has been corrupted over the years.
But Bejjani remains hopeful seeing that more Christians are coming together to "change the way faith-filled men and women think about sharing the good news of Jesus with people of other faiths and cultures."
Population Growth as Another Factor
According Pew Research, Christianity could potentially cease to be the world's largest religion in the world in the next half of the century.
In their census, Muslims' population growth is estimated to grow twice as fast as the overall world population between 2015 and 2060.
"In 2015, Muslims made up 24.1% of the global population. Forty-five years later, they are expected to make up more than three-in-ten of the world's people (31.1%)," said the statement from Pew.
Aside from those switching religions, Islam's growth as a religious entity could be attributed to the fact that Muslims have more children than those with different religious affiliations. Pew added that Muslims' fertility rate exceeds that of the non-Muslims.'
Given these statistics, patriotic people may feel alarmed or threatened by the rising number of Muslims in their region. But for Christians, it's an invitation to a grand opportunity to lead thousands of Muslim souls to Christ by telling them the gospel.
iHOPE Ministries
Launched in 2011, the non-profit iHOPE Ministries have been developing free resources and materials for "everyday Christians" to share their faith with Muslims.
"iHOPE envisions a day in which every Muslim will have heard the Gospel of Jesus through an authentic relationship with a Christian," states their vision on their website.
They also offer online trainings for those who have the heart to reach Muslims but are at a loss for words whenever they are face-to face with one.
Also in Bejjani' book "Muslims: Five Biblical Essentials Every Christian Must Know and Do," he outlined five simple actions that Jesus taught, modeled, and commanded of his followers. These principles, according to him, have proven to be an effective way to engage Muslims by the thousands of Christians who applied them.
