EMQ » January–March 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 1
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder, EMQLibraryInstitution”]By Duane Alexander Miller
Regnum Books
98 pages, 2020
UK£8.00
Reviewed by Matthew Friedman, PhD, Professor and Program Director for Intercultural Studies, Kingswood University, Canada, and Adjunct Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary.
When I was just beginning in my journey toward service in the Muslim world, I remember seeing many volumes in print on evangelism techniques, strategies for church-panting, and even volumes about various missiological controversies which had begun raising their heads in discussions among practitioners and scholars alike. What was often missing seemed to be more wisdom, both theoretical and practical, concerning issues of spiritual formation and the discipleship of those who had already begun their own journey of faith in God’s Messiah, Jesus.
From the opening quotes from Isaiah and Temple Gairdner and throughout this focused text, there is a particularly important focus on discipleship in the context of community. Importantly, the author has not relied merely on anecdotes and observations from his own context but has interviewed believers with Muslim backgrounds from across a wide swathe of the Muslim world (2–3). He seeks to explore especially issues of identity which loom so large in the work involved in discipling those coming to faith in Jesus from Muslim backgrounds, and is addressing this in terms of core, social, and collective identity (6); certainly, together these circle back to already-noted issues of community.
The author’s suggestions on the use of local Christian history as well as the creeds could be very useful in many situations, but I wonder if this might bring to mind the oppositional nature of the relationship between Muslim and Christian communities in some settings in an unhelpful manner. That noted, however, I especially appreciated his presentation of historic practices of prayer and devotion as potential tools to help with the spiritual formation of new believers of Muslim background and his call for solidifying habits such as praying for a need immediately (25–26). His insightful discussion on the delicate topic of baptism balances cultural sensitivity with recognition that the offense of the gospel may have a useful place. Presenting Esther as an example of a believer tactically revealing his or her identity was very insightful.
While the author distinguishes between the personality of God in the Bible and in the Qur’an, it might be better to note that the Bible provides necessary correctives to the way God is sometimes described in the Qur’an. That noted, the central point that those coming to faith will need to understand these differences is still essential in the process of discipleship. The chapter on “Patronage and Money” is needed and insightful; it is a topic which is almost universally encountered. The same is true of the author’s observations concerning hospitality and welcoming new believers to the church as their true spiritual home.
This slim, practical volume will be well-utilized as a complement to earlier works on this topic such as those of Little (2015) and Jabbour (2006) and the many local, often vernacular books written for discipleship in specific contexts. Although this leans away from the insider approach to work among Muslims, a good deal of this material could be usefully integrated into such contexts because spiritual formation is an urgent matter there as well.
For Further Reading
Jabbour, Nabeel T. Unshackled and Growing: Muslims and Christians on the Journey to Freedom. Dawson Media, 2006.
Little, Don. Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices. IVP Academic, 2015.
