Urbana Interaction Paper: Urbanization

This seminar addressed an increasingly important issue within mission and one which I know relatively little about. The speaker started with a lot of helpful background information; he defined a slum (a community lacking in infrastructure and appropriate and affordable housing), presented the relevance of ministry in slums (1/6 of the total population of the planet currently lives in slums), and went on to describe a lot of the demographics of slums and how quickly the earth moved from being largely composed of rural populations to urban ones. After defining the challenge that urban communities present to Christian mission, he then went on to explain strategies that are being used and have been effectively used to respond to this challenge, outlining four key strategies (changing world views, seeking the Shalom of the city, restoring broken relationships, and aiming for reproducibility).

I found the meat of the presentation to be the second half, in which he discussed ways that Christians and organizations can respond to urban poverty. Many times presenters can overwhelm their audience with facts and figures that lead to a feeling of hopelessness since no method of response is presented as well. Because of this, I really appreciated that the speaker focused a good half of his presentation on how we can respond to urban poverty. Granted, it mostly focused on strategies that NGOs can employ rather than on individuals, but it was important for him to emphasize that there ARE ways to address these issues and several of these strategies can be effective on the individual level (most notably the emphasis on restoring relationships). I disagreed with his assessment of needing to find solutions that are reproducible in other contexts. While I agree that this would be ideal, I am unconvinced that what works in one particular context can be successful in another. I think there are too many variables that change between cultural contexts and economic situations to allow for that. I think that the search for reproducibility is somewhat of a quest for the Holy Grail, ultimately doomed to fail. I also think it can easily become a form of colonialism, driven by Western ideas of efficiency and success.

His discussion of the need for reproducibility, however, has made me more open to the idea than before, since there is also an urgency in helping to overcome poverty. Simply because I believe it probably cannot be done does not mean that it actually cannot or is not worthy of pursuit. If there is a way to develop successful, reproducible programs for addressing urban poverty, we need to find it. As future missionary to Muslim contexts, it is important that I become aware of these developments as well, since many of the megacities and slums of the world are located in heavily Islamic countries, from Indonesia and the Philippines to Bangladesh and Egypt. Wherever I end up in the Muslim world, I will no doubt be near urban poverty and I will need to know how to engage with Muslims in that context.

Urbana Interaction Paper: Muslim Followers of Jesus

This seminar was largely addressing the Insider Movement that is occurring in many Islamic contexts. In short, the Insider Movement is the movement of many Muslims to become Jesus followers while still remaining culturally Muslim. These Muslims have both accepted Jesus as saviour and have found a way to continue to be legally and culturally Muslim. Rather than presenting a lot of fact or figures on the movement, the presenters instead gave a background as to why it can be so important to remain culturally Muslim, used dramas as demonstrations as to how this process works, and explained what keeps this movement biblical.

This movement stretches me by making me reassess what it means to be a Christian, to be a Muslim, and to be a follower of Christ, as well as what is essential to being saved. It makes me ask questions which I cannot readily answer and am still processing. These questions are regarding things like whether one must reject the Quran, whether rejection of the name “Christian” means rejection of salvation, and whether the Trinity is an essential doctrine to salvation (this particular question was not addressed by them, but comes out of my experience with a Muslim friend). My inclination is to answer these questions in the negative, but it is definitely spiritually stretching. My inclination is affirmed by the distinctly biblical qualities of the movement: rejection of certain Islamic beliefs about Jesus (that He didn’t actually die on the cross, that He cannot save, that salvation is through works, and that the Bible has been corrupted), reinterpretation of the purposes of prayer and fasting, and diminishing the roles of Muhammad and the Quran compared to Jesus and the Bible. Despite my questions, I am really excited about this movement and the possibilities it has for bring Muslims to Christ.

This was one of my favourite seminars at Urbana because I know comparably very little about the Insider Movement, though I had heard of it before, and will most likely be working with these communities a great deal in my future ministry. Ultimately, I think, it is not up to me to be able to decide whether or not the Insider Movement is a “Christian” movement, but it is up to God who is able to break down all imaginable boundaries. My job is to simply help others encounter and experience Jesus so that they can be drawn closer to Him.

Urbana Interaction Paper: Intro to Islam

The “Intro to Islam” seminar at Urbana was taught by Fouad Masri, the founder of an organization called The Crescent Project, which seeks to help North American Christians reach out to Muslims in love. The main point of his seminar was to provide a basic overview of Islamic history, beliefs, and practices, as well as to point out some similarities and differences with the Christian faith. He structured his talk accordingly, beginning with the life of Muhammad and continuing through into basic Quranic interpretation and Islamic practices, such as the five pillars of Islam.

Coming from Fuller’s Islamic Studies emphasis, very little of what Masri presented was new to me and most of his presentation consisted of relating facts rather than methods of evangelism. There were a few points at which he did discuss methods of interaction. In my experience within evangelical circles, I have found that a good deal of Christian interaction with the Islamic faith consists of denigrating its beliefs and especially Muhammad. I have found these tactics to be largely alienating and counterproductive. Masri, however, made a point that Christians need to emphasize the good things that Muhammad accomplished, which I really appreciated. At other times, Masri seemed to set up false dichotomies in his polemics which I believe to originate in slightly different understandings rather than inherent differences (for example, three of the 99 Names of God – the source of death, the schemer, and the God of vengeance - that Muslims acknowledge would be rejected out-of-hand by most Christians, when I think that the fundamental beliefs those names come out of are probably shared, simply extended in different ways).

Despite the lack of new information, it was interesting to hear the way in which the information was presented, since both Fouad Masri and my professor Martin Accad grew up in Arab Christian families in Beirut, Lebanon, yet have different approaches to interacting with Muslims. Masri’s approach is much more polemical, almost abrasively so, than Accad’s. This is probably due more to personality differences, however, it was interesting. Personally, I prefer the dialogue emphasized by Accad over polemics and apologetics, but both can be effective and both have their place. In my own experience, most Christians do not know enough about either Islam or their own faith to effectively do polemics, and so should be encouraged to engage in relational ministry over polemics until they are capable of doing so. This is, indeed, a large part of what Masri was doing in his talk, both empowering ordinary Christians to engage in relational ministry while whetting their appetite to learn more about Islam. I found it to be a helpful model for what I will probably be doing as a missionary to Muslims during furlough years.