Union Baptist Association posted a review of my books
I am grateful to “Guest” for posting a review of my books on the UBA website at https://www.ubahouston.org/blog/2019/3/26/discipling-muslim-background-believers-by-abu-daud .
In part, the review stated:
Reaching out to Muslims who may be seeking Christ and discipling Muslim-background believers can be a unique challenge for those who are unfamiliar with it. One resource we have found particularly helpful [are] Abu Da’ud’s 5-book[s] … on Discipling Muslim background believers. From his own experience coming to faith in Christ and reaching out to other Muslims, Da’ud discusses common misconceptions about Christians, answers questions Muslims often have, provides a structure for discipling new believers, and creates specific study resources for those who are helping Muslim-background believers grow in their faith…. Discipling Muslim Background Believers is an excellent resource for discipleship.
Keywords: MBB, discipleship, Discipling Muslim Background Believers, evangelism
Why choose the uncommon path of discipling Muslim background believers?
Ministering to Muslims is becoming more popular, while reaching out to MBBs is not. It is an uncommon ministry path. Even given the low success rate of ministering to Muslims, Christians are willing to reach out to Muslims in evangelism, but have not yet been able to help indigenous MBBs become fruitful in a consistent and widespread manner. The desire is certainly there, but the materials have not been to this point.
There is also a sense that outreach will not be successful, so why try. The Muslim community will simply isolate and ostracize the MBB, so there is really no point unless there was a way to reach them and help them grow while they are isolated and ostracized. If that way was available, people would more easily be able to reach out to MBBs, and ministry to Muslims and MBBs would be more fruitful.
My materials provide a way to give isolated MBBs the ability to grow strong in the Lord and to reach out to Muslims and others in their community. MBBs in isolation can, especially using the e-book format, quickly learn practical, biblical truth from the handbook. They can then grow in the Lord, and live Christian lives in a Muslim context. MBBs can also use the Bible studies and overviews to effectively minister to their affinity groups as well as start and grow small groups and churches. That potential makes the uncommon path of ministering to MBBs much more attractive.
The materials are available for sale on my home page, accessible from the menu above.
Keywords: MBB, isolation, discipleship materials , uncommon path
Restoring a sense of wonder
Humans tend to get used to things around them. That can lead to taking good things for granted, including a relationship with God, marriage, friendships and other marvelous blessings. It is possible to restore a sense of wonder, as described in this excerpt from Discipling Muslim Background Believers (you do not have to be an MBB for this to apply to you):
2.29.2.1 When Amazing Becomes Too Familiar, You Should …
When amazing becomes too familiar, tempting you to unbelief, remember and refocus. I’ll elaborate in a bit, but first a story. Sometimes I walk in a park that is home to a family of amazing red-tailed hawks. I always stop and stare at them, completely amazed at how they fly and the way they relate to each other. My two children and I will often take binoculars to the park to see the hawks a little better.
One day a person walking in the park asked us what we were looking at. When we told him, he disappointedly said, “Oh, I see those every day.” He turned and resumed his walk, oblivious to the majestic, breathtaking feats of flying that he had just ignored. It was all a little too familiar for him. There was no more amazement. He had become so used to amazing that it held little or no value for him.
He had lost his focus on the birds’ ways and characteristics, and he could no longer really see them for what they were. All he would have had to do to see again was to choose to remember what he used to see and value, use that as motivation to look again, refocus on the birds, and he would have been captured again by their majesty, elegance, power and beauty.
How many times do we take things for granted, including God, the Bible, Christianity, our lives, spouses, family friends, jobs and other things? The tragedy is that the solution is so simple. We just have to choose to remember and re-focus. It may in some situations require some repentance (see 1.1.5.6 What Is Repentance?), but then all we have to do is to remember and refocus.
In a way, that is what the Israelites of old did in setting up stones of remembrance. They purposely choose to remember (see 2.16.6 Making, Marking and Celebrating Memories). It would not hurt us to do the same – to purposely remember. Being thankful also helps us not take things for granted. [Parentheticals contain hyperlinks in electronic versions]
Keywords: discipleship, restoring wonder
MBBs face an underappreciated life shift
MBBs need new structures in their lives because of an underappreciated life shift that occurs when they leave Islam. In the Quran and the Hadith, Islam contains over 3,600 commands and traditions that Muslims are to follow. Many commands and traditions govern specific day-to-day activities of Muslims, including how far up their arms they must wash prior to prayer. There is a tremendous shift in their lives when they become Christians.
While the Bible has some specific dos and don’ts, the Law and prophets are summarized in the command to Christians to love God fully and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The New Testament deals much more with principles than with specific actions. MBBs lose specific guidance, and need new structures in their lives, because much of what they used to do automatically is now gone and there is nothing to take its place. The lack of specificity can lead, in some MBBs, to a profound sense of disorientation. Most disciplers do not actively help MBBs develop new structures, partly because many are not aware of just how much the new structures are needed. Some of those that are aware may not know which structures are most useful.
In my MBB discipleship handbook, Discipling Muslim Background Believers (available for sale on the home page), there are descriptions of new structures that are helpful, two of which are spiritual disciplines and the Christian holiday calendar. These two structures give an MBB things to do every day and some meaningful celebrations to plan for, filling to some degree the lack of structure that they might otherwise feel. That sense of structure makes it much easier to deal with the upheaval and suffering that many MBBs face upon their decision to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Keywords: MBB discipleship, structure, spiritual disciplines, Christian holiday calendar
Discipleship standards for MBBs
All Christian disciples need to know at least the following:
- Who God is
- How much He loves them
- What He has done for them and in them
- They are in Him and part of His family
- What they are called to do (the first being to relate to Him)
- How to be fruitful and fulfill their calling
- How to conduct spiritual warfare
- That they need fellowship
Because of MBBs’ circumstances, the minimum standard for MBB discipleship is higher. Those discipling MBBs should teach the above and at least the following:
- How to live as a Christian in a Muslim context
- Understanding persecution, suffering, and how to endure them
- Preparing MBBs for problems they are likely to encounter
- How to remain in their culture and be fruitful
- How to grow in isolation, if necessary (the potential of isolation is there for all of them, so it is probably best for them all to know just in case they have to use the information)
My MBB discipleship handbook and its companion books do all of the above and more. Please click on “Home” in the menu above to purchase books. The relevant parts of the description associated with the handbook also apply to the other four books.
Keywords: discipleship, minimums, MBB, increase