Part of my testimony provides useful insights into evangelizing Muslims:
[Please] let the [Muslim] seeker know that they will not see all of Christ in a single person. Also, you cannot be all of Christ to any individual. Even though I could see the likeness of Christ being formed in my Christian friends, no single one of them carried Christ’s entire image. It was seeing many Christians loving each other and me that showed me much of Christ in them. I could see that He was transforming them, and recognized that I could not expect any one of them to be perfect. Neither do you have to be perfect to be effective in sharing the gospel.
Before I became a Christian, people at the university I attended knew that I was a Muslim. They also knew that there were not many Muslims that became Christians, and those that were Christian wanted to see Muslims come to the Lord. In fact, some were determined to see me come to the Lord. However, in their zeal, they did not use the best of methods.
At first, they simply tried to argue with me. When they were not trying to convince me, they really did not pay much attention to me. I am very independent, and did not need attention, but I was examining their conduct to try to find out if Christ was who He said He was. I was searching for the truth at the time. They did not know that. One day, after they had confronted me with the Bible, I told them that they would be much more effective if they actually started living the way that they believed and loved me rather than trying to force me to become a Christian. I also told them I felt that they were trying to cram the Bible down my throat rather than reason with me, and their entire approach lacked love. I told them, not wanting sympathy but to tell them the truth, that their approach made me feel like I was to them simply an object to be converted – a potential notch on the belt – rather than a person. I also told them that if becoming a Christian would make me treat people like that, I did not want to become a Christian. I thought that would be the end of their attempts at trying to convert me.
Thankfully, my words had the opposite effect. I later found out that what they did was they listened to what I had said, realized that they needed to change how they were doing things, and spent some time in repentance and asking God to show them how to love me properly. They started including me in things that they were doing and actually showed care and concern for me as a person. I started to see Christ in them, rather than people who were trying to convert me. Seeing the change as they begin to actually live out their faith was a powerful testimony to me, and part of the reason that I continued to seek understanding regarding the nature of Jesus. For any person wanting to share the gospel, please show the love of God to the people you are talking with, even if it is just for a few seconds. That love will be remembered, and is an extremely powerful way of drawing people to Christ. It is also part of obeying the Lord.
The above excerpt is from my book, Discipling Muslim Background Believers, available in digital format from this website (EPUB and MOBI) and on Amazon (Kindle (MOBI)). The printed version is only available on Amazon.
A more detailed testimony, including how God answered my three main questions (asked by most Muslim seekers) about the virgin birth, the Trinity and the nature of Jesus, can also be found in the book.
Keywords: insights, evangelism, Muslim, salvation