On this general subject, I received this important email today:
****
14th May 2008
Exaggerated Convert Figures Could Cost Lives
Converts from Islam to Christianity are increasingly concerned about
a=20 number of reports in recent months which have cited astounding
statistics on conversion. It is true =96 and a matter for thankfulness
to God =96 that more Muslims= are now coming to Christ than at any
other time in history. However, they are not converting on the vast
scale alleged in some reports. These false reports, often initiated by
non-Christians and then circulated by Christians, are a matter of
grave concern, not just for those who love truth and accuracy, but
also for the many individuals whose lives are being endangered by the
publicity given to the exaggerated figures.
Muslims view apostasy from Islam as bringing shame and humiliation on
the Muslim community. Publicising that there are large numbers of
converts deepens t= he shame and loss of face. Many Muslims believe
that shame is best removed by the shedding of blood and may therefore
set out to kill not only th e convert= s themselves, but also those
seeking to evangelise Muslims, whether nationa= l evangelists or
Western missionaries. Some may go even further and seek to get revenge
and restore the honour of Islam by attacking any available target they
associate with the =93Christian=94 West.
*Innocence and ignorance*
Why should someone exaggerate the number of converts? There are a
variety of reasons. Sometimes it is an innocent miscalculation when
making estimates in a sensitive context where there can be no firm
figures. For example, an estimate might have been made by asking
leaders of known convert churches or convert groups how many members
are in their particular group and then adding together the answers
given. The error here is that people may attend more than one church
or group from time to time and thus a single individual may have been
counted many times over. Owing to the need for secrecy and the
reluctance to name names, the overlap between groups is not known to
the researcher.
Another innocent mistake comes from cross-cultural missionaries
misinterpreting phenomena which they see. For example, an =93altar
call=94 in some African contexts may result in, say, 1,000 people
=93going forward=94. Someone who grew up in the individualistic
culture of the West may interpret this as 1,000 people deciding to
give their lives to Christ. But in the local culture, probably more
communal and community-minded, many people will simply have gone
forward because they saw others doing so.
Some extreme contextual models of mission, which emphasise very close
identification with Islam, make it virtually impossible to distinguish
converts from those who are still Muslims. Thus figures of
=93converts=94 may include many who are not really Christian
believers.
Sometimes reports appear to have been originated by people unaware
that a historic indigenous Church exists in many Muslim-majority
countries. So when a large Chri stian congregation is seen in, for
example Egypt, the observer assumes that all the worshippers must be
converts from Islam.
*Deliberate disinformation *
Other reasons are less innocent. When the Taliban were still in power
in Afghanistan, a report circulated of huge numbers of Afghan converts
from Islam to Christianity. This originated with a disgruntled Afghan
refugee who had been employed by a Western NGO. When he was dismissed
from his job for dishonesty he retaliated by going to a newspaper and
claiming that large numbers of Afghan Muslims had become Christians.
As he doubtless intended, the message, which was swiftly circulated
around the world by delighted Christians, turned the Afghan government
and people against Christian NGOs, and creating great danger for the
small number of genuine Afghan converts and increased risk for all
Westerners in Afghanistan.
A story that six million African Muslims are becoming Christians every
y ear resulted from claims made by Sheikh Ahmad al Katani of Libya in
a televised interview shown Al-Jazeera. The sheikh=92s aim appeared to
be to alarm Muslim viewers with high figures of Muslims leaving their
faith in order to persuade them to give more generously to Islamic
missionary efforts in Africa.
There has also been a very strong anti-evangelism move within Islam,
aimed at preventing Christian mission work amongst Muslims. By citing
large numbers of converts to Christianity, Muslims inflame Muslim
public opinion against Christian evangelism. Furthermore, since the
invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and the =93war on
terror=94, Muslim leaders have increasingly been arguing that
President Bush=92s policy is to transform the Middle East into a
Christian entity by Christian mission coupled with American military
might. This totally erroneous linkage has created more danger for
Western forces based in Muslim countries as well as for Christian
missionaries, whether expatriate or national.
Sadly, there are also examples of Christians deliberately circulating
inflated figures of converts. These are usually Western organisations
whose financial support depends on the enthusiasm of Christians in
their home countries. Some seem to have been newly created with the
specific purpose of caring for these converts, without having had any
previous involvement with them. It is presumably because of this that
some have claimed absurdly high numbers of converts. Such figures soon
become public and again inflame Muslim sensibilities.
Some Muslims come to Christ through dreams and visions. This has led
to wild stories of whole villages and whole communities becoming
Christians, stories which have never, to Barnabas Fund=92s knowledge,
been substantiated.
*Coming at the worst time *
It will never be possible to quantify how many lives have been lost or
how many ministries damaged as a result of fals ely high claims about
convert numbers. But it behoves all Christians in secure and free
countries to think carefully before publicising convert figures. In
April 1996 the Somali Islamist group al-Itixaad al-Islami announced
that they had succeeded in killing every Somali Christian in the
Somali capital, Mogadishu, and would now move on to eliminating Somali
Christians in Nairobi. Thankfully there are still Somali Christians in
Somalia, but al-Itixaad al-Islami may yet be trying to find and kill
them. Certainly, Somali converts have continued to be assassinated in
Somalia, including three last month: two on 13^th April and another on
22^nd April.
Converts are increasingly concerned at the way in which publicity in
the West is creating extra danger for them. They are further concerned
when some Western Christians have linked converts from Islam to the
political state of Israel. Muslim propaganda is always rife with
conspiracy theories, centring on M uslim converts functioning as
Zionist agents to penetrate Muslim society. The existence of the
internet and email make dangerous misinformation far more readily
circulated and accessed than ever before. Furthermore, this all comes
at a time when Islamic radicalism is on the rise and converts are as a
result facing threats, violence and martyrdom on a scale unknown for
many generations.
Many Muslims are coming to Christ through the faithful witness of
local evangelists, local churches and local ministries. In these
communities the new converts are nurtured and discipled. Others are
coming to Christ through radio and television, both of which media
have well developed counselling programmes to follow up enquirers and
converts. Muslims also find Christ through the miraculous, often going
on to ask local churches or Christian acquaintances to help them
understand their new faith. The idea that new Western initiatives will
deliver millions of Muslim converts who would be uncared for were it
not for the new organisations fails to recognise not only the
excellent work of many long-term Western missionaries and mission
organizations who are serving faithfully, sensitively and
unobtrusively, but also national Christian workers in the Muslim world
who minister unstintingly, sometimes at the cost of their own lives.
The present =93numbers game=94 is proving deadly. While it is good to
highlight in public discussions the issue of Islamic law=92s death
sentence for apostasy, the quoting of provocative numbers in the
Western media is not welcomed by converts. In any case there are many
secret believers known only to God.
*Dr Patrick Sookhdeo,
International Director,
Barnabas Fund*
*Links:*
Daily Prayer Point <http://www.barnabasfund.org/news/news_03.php>
New book from
Patrick Sookhdeo <http://www.barnabasfund.org/resources/resources_02.php>
Prayer Focus Update <http://www.barnabasfund.org/support/pfu.php>
--
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)
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