Selected Resources for Ministry to Muslims

Here we focus on ministry elements that drive multiplication:

[A separate list of ministry resources can be found in relation to Kevin Greeson’s “Camel II” training elsewhere on this site.]

The Jul/Aug 2013 issue of Mission Frontiers focused on how to Start Movements Among Your Muslim Neighbors.

That issue was inspired by Mike Shipman’s 2013 book Any-3: Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time—Lead Muslims to Christ Now!, and then informed by David Garrison’s 2014 book A Wind In The House Of Islam: How God Is Drawing Muslims Around The World To Faith In Jesus Christ.


Through preparing that issue Mission Frontiers, we became aware of the strategic resources below for those interested in starting or fueling movements among Muslims.

These resources focus on sharing the Gospel with Muslims in ways that empower new believers from Muslim backgrounds to bring their families and households to Christ in a rapidly reproducing movement.

There are many other effective ministries to Muslims. Some aren’t listed here because we don’t yet know about them. Others aren’t listed because they focus on approaches which don’t lead naturally to movements, such as apologetics and polemics, reconciliation, long-term friendship evangelism or community development.

Revealing spiritual hunger by presenting the Gospel

  • Any-3Any-3—Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time:
    Lead Muslims to Christ Now!     by Mike Shipman
    (order from ChurchPlantingMovements.com)
    This book details how to start a conversation with a Muslim and determine their spiritual state through a comfortable Gospel presentation which may lead them to Christ, or to discovery study such as described below.
  • Illustrate the Gospel as you Present the First and Last Sacrifice
    A field missionary asked God how to present the “First and Last Sacrifice” story recommended in Any-3 in a way that could be left with someone. The Lord led him to develop this presentation of the Gospel.

Leading from the Qur’an to the Bible

  • CamelThe Camel Method by Kevin Greeson
    (Order from CamelMethod.com)
    Kevin Greeson introduced this approach in 2004, updated the material in 2007, and has continued to refine it while training missionaries around the world to start with the Muslim worldview and lead them in a reproducible way from the hints in the their recognized authority (the Qur’an) to the God and Jesus of the Bible.
  • Stepping_StonesStepping Stones to Eternity by Don McCurry
    (Order from Ministries to Muslims)
    In 2012 Don published an approach similar to Kevin’s, explaining:

From years of study, I have learned that the Qur’an contains hundreds of allusions to biblical characters or thoughts, but always the references are distorted, truncated and, in some cases, devilishly misconstrued. In my early years of ministry, discovering these manglings of Bible stories, characters and doctrines led to anger, disgust and a refusal to have anything to do with the Quran.

But because the Qur’an is part of the warp and woof of the Muslim mindset, even among illiterate people who get it preached to them from the mosques, it gradually dawned on me that instead of rejecting this book out of hand, it could be used as a starting point for bringing our Muslim friends to want to read the original material in the “Ancient Books,” meaning, the Bible, for themselves. Or in the case of illiterates, to have it read to them.

Finally, it struck me that these qur’anic allusions, retellings, and erroneously quoted citations of biblical material could be used as stepping stones to walk the Muslim from where he or she is into the glorious light of God’s inspired word. (p. 3)

  • This YouTube video illustrates one way of appealing to the Qur’an and Hadith to interest Muslims in Jesus. However attention must then be given to leading them to what the Bible teaches, and to the Jesus of the Bible:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/0eiAx-bcu5Y[/youtube]

Adapting our gospel emphasis to the local context

Honor and Shame: Unlocking the Door by Roland Muller
Newer books have addressed the topic of honor and shame more broadly and in greater depth, but Roland Muller’s classic works are still the best resources I know of for understanding the critical role of honor/shame dynamics in Muslim ministry, from evangelism to discipleship and community formation.

(Get the electronic 3rd edition alone, or integrated into Muller’s later volume: Messenger the Message and the Community : Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural Church-Planter. For less expensive electronic copies, search SmashWords.)

Approaching Muslim Leaders Directly

  • How to start a Bible Study in a Mosque
    Most Muslim cultures are authority-based, meaning higher value is placed on trusting the authorities who have studied a subject than on thinking for oneself. This means that acceptance of the Gospel by spiritual leaders can lead others to become far more receptive. This paper describes one approach to finding spiritual receptivity in the mosque. And as of August, 2013, the university professor who developed this approach had received a positive response in 16 of the 17 mosques around the world where he had tried this. His difficulty has been in finding local Christians brave enough to follow up on the interest he discovered.

Discipling through Discovery Bible Study from God’s word

  • Contagious Disciple-Making: Leading Others on a Journey of Discovery by David Watson and Paul Watson
    David Watson and his son Paul are among the early pioneers and champions of the discovery approach, which has now grown into a large global network of movements and adaptations. From their rich experience they have just released Contagious Disciple-Making, distilling all they have learned—not just about the core discovery process, but about how to work with God to start prayer and discipling movements. Nothing in this book is specific to Muslims; these principles are universally relevant and essential.

    Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus     by Jerry Trousdale
    This book reports on how the principles in David and Paul’s (later) book are working out in practice in the Muslim world, as God answers prayer and faithful servants lead Muslims into discovering God through His Word.

Integrating evangelism, discipleship and leadership development

  • T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution: The Story Behind the World’s Fastest Growing Church Planting Movement and How it Can Happen in Your Community! by Steve Smith with Ying Kai.
    This book, and the movements it is empowering around the world, has been covered repeatedly in Mission Frontiers. Again, nothing in this book is specific to Muslims, but the principles apply just as well among Muslims as anywhere else. One chapter of this book distills the Any-3 model mentioned above, and Any-3 is one popular model of evangelism employed in the context of T4T movements.

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