EMQ » January–March 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 1
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]By Thomas W. Seckler
Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series
Pickwick Publications, 2020
192 pages
US$25.00
Reviewed by Julie Scott, PhD student in Intercultural Studies, Center for Missiological Research, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
An increasing number of people from Muslim backgrounds are becoming followers of Christ, including those in Cambodia. What is attractive and personally meaningful about the gospel message to these Believers from a Muslim Background (BMBs)? Previous studies have focused on general factors in the Christian faith which BMBs find attractive, such as miracles, answered prayers, or Christians’ virtuous lifestyles. However, in this book, Seckler focuses on BMBs’ experience of conversions and the Christian message itself.
The substance of the book is Seckler’s PhD dissertation, including a literature review of relevant research, methodology, summary findings, and recommendations for communicating the Christian message. The writing is nonetheless clear and accessible for academics and non-academics alike. Seckler writes about his findings from interviews with forty Cambodian BMBs. His main argument is that the Christian message itself is vitally important in evangelistic interactions. He reports that multiple means of communication were used in sharing the gospel, including film, audio recordings, group studies, Bible distributions, and personal conversations. The message was also contextualized in various ways, including translation into the recipients’ mother tongue, use of meaningful terms and concepts for the recipients, and communication in people’s “existing framework of understanding,” for example, in relation to their Muslim faith (74). The interviews revealed several themes especially significant for the BMBs’ conversions, including the themes of “sin and cleansing,” “heaven and judgment,” Jesus’ identity, ministry, and continued work in the lives of the participants, and the Bible (167). Seckler has identified several implications for mission, including that people convert to Christianity for a number of different reasons, and that the Christian message, its contextualization, cultural and personal contexts, individuals’ experiences of the message, and God’s interactions with them are all impetuses for conversion.
Experiencing the Gospel clearly and succinctly analyzes forty conversion case studies among BMBs, adeptly integrating relevant literature from established mission thinkers in the conversation. Seckler develops a well-developed argument for the self-reported importance of the Christian message in evangelistic practices. His research findings are well summarized and analyzed, and the material is effectively organized. Evangelists should be especially interested in the themes and factors that BMBs found personally meaningful in their conversion processes. The methods of communication and contextualization in the reported evangelism practices should also be particularly noteworthy for evangelists and students and scholars in missiology. Seckler’s argument for the primary importance of the Christian message in conversion could have been strengthened by incorporating a more thorough analysis and critique of opposing or divergent conversion theories. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book for its valuable contribution for students and scholars in missiology and its practical implications for evangelists, especially those working among Muslim believers, Cambodians, other Southeast Asians, or members of any culture with beliefs in spiritual agents.
For Further Reading
Chan, Sam. Evangelism in a Skeptical World: How to Make the Unbelievable News about Jesus More Believable. Zondervan, 2018.
Yong, Amos, and Clifton Clarke. Global Renewal, Religious Pluralism, and the Great Commission: Towards a Renewal Theology of Mission and Interreligious Encounter. Emeth Press, 2011.
