The Differing Female Experience (Part 7 in the “How are Muslims coming to Christ?” Series)

Previous posts in this series: How are Muslims coming to Christ? Introduction, Part 1: Conversion is a Contextual Process, Part 2: The Prominence of the Affective Dimension, Part 3: The Silent Witness of Love and Integrity, Part 4: A Patron – Client View of the Gospel, Part 5: Conversion in Layers of Identity, and Part 6: The Congruence of Cultural Values.

I believe that perhaps the largest unreached people group in the world is Muslim women. It could be possible that 80% of MBBs around the world are male (just a guess).  Most of our outreach/strategy/teaching is geared towards men. This is partly because Muslim women are, by the nature of “Islam,” more inaccessible.  But we need more research on how women are coming to faith.  And we need to be more intentional.  From my view, there are three things to consider in female MBB conversions (from this article):

7. The Differing Female Experience

Unfortunately, most studies on conversion haven’t considered the importance of gender (Gooren 2007, 348). It does appear, however, that there are in fact significant differences. North African women MBBs in Evelyne Reisacher’s research felt that gender related issues in the Muslim world created more barriers to conversion for women than men, but they also felt their faith was more resilient than male MBBs because of the price women paid to follow Jesus (2006, 110-113). Women are more concerned about how their conversion will affect their social relationships, particularly with males in their immediate families. A positive factor influencing conversion was the honor Jesus gave to women. “Women were attracted to Jesus because they were touched by the way he dealt with women in the Gospels” (2006, 113).

Similarly, Miriam Adeney notes that Muslim women come to faith for many of the same reasons as men, but it is the “awareness of Jesus’ affirmation of women” that strongly influences women (2005, 287).[i] Adeney also notes the significance of familial social relationships in conversion. In a study of South Asian Muslim women who were coming to faith, Mary McVicker found that while theology is important, “participation and experience are essential” (2006, 136). Strähler found that female MBBs in Kenya were shaped more by affective elements than were the males (2010, 67).

Thus, female conversions are strongly influenced by an awareness of Jesus’ treatment of women in the gospels, include greater degrees of practical and experiential factors, and are complicated by the role of males in their immediate families. Hanaan’s father, a devout Muslim and loving man, eventually became convinced the Jesus was revealing himself to Hanaan. He gave her the intellectual freedom she felt she needed to investigate further, although he never followed Christ himself. As with other female MBBs, Hanaan’s experience would be dramatically different had her father persecuted her curiosity of Jesus, rather than foster it.

Implications?

The Differing Female Experience – In ministry to Muslim women, we should:

1. tell the specific stories of Jesus’ treatment of women in the Gospels,
2. pray with them and for their needs, and
3. pay attention to their relationships with males in their families.

One book my wife really likes is A Worldview Approach to Ministry Among Muslim Women.

Next: Part 8, The Beauty of the Written and Resurrected Word.

Longing for Community: Church, Ummah, or Somewhere in Between?

[UPDATE: Longing for Community now available on Kindle.]

One book you’ll want to read in 2013 is Longing for Community: Church, Ummah, or Somewhere in Between? forthcoming. Edited by David Greenlee. Pasadena, CA: William Carey.  I’ll link to it when it releases later this year.  It’s a collection of essays from the second “Coming to Faith Consultation” in 2010. The first consultation in 2004 also resulted in a book: From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way: Journeys of Faith (2006) which is a key contribution to the field of MBB conversions in missiological research.  

David Greenlee wrote an article detailing the highlights of the 2010 conference which gives a glimpse into the themes and topics covered in Longing for Community.  Here it is below from this source.

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Identity, Discipling Women, and Diversity:

Highlights from the Second Coming to Faith Consultation

One of the major themes of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is centered on the phrase “in Christ.” To list a few of Paul’s expressions, we are blessed, chosen, and included in Christ. We hope in Christ and are marked in Christ in accord with God’s plan purposed in Christ to bring all things in heaven and earth together under Christ. We were once far away but now in Christ are brought near to God, Gentiles together with Israel sharers in the promise in Christ.

Six years ago, at the first “Coming to Faith Consultation” (CTFC) the focus of research and reflection tended to be on the processes and factors involved in how our Muslims neighbors are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. As presented in From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way (Authentic 2006, and just released in Korean), three key, typical factors emerged: those Muslims who come to faith in Jesus Christ have generally experienced a touch of God’s love, seen a sign of his power, and encountered the truth of God’s Word.

Early in 2010 a similar consultation, CTFC2, was held, both events having a focus on understanding what “coming to faith in Christ” means from the perspective of the believers. At CTFC2, Dudley Woodberry helped us to see how this “emic” approach complements the approach of the Fruitful Practice Research (described in the article by John Becker in this journal), in which the emphasis is on understanding the fruitful approaches and attitudes of those witnessing among Muslims. Combining their findings, as Woodberry has done, gives a fuller picture of how God is at work.

At CTFC2 we observed a shift in the theme of many research papers as compared to the 2004 consultation. Rather than focusing on how people are coming to faith in Christ, the core questions were centered on issues of identity: who we were and are in our society, and, as believers, who we are in Christ and how this affects our social identity.

Selected papers from CTFC2 are now being compiled and will be published in 2011 - notice will be given in this journal. However, as a preview, let me point to the themes of some papers that will appear in that book.

Social identity is multi-dimensional. The one-dimensional C-Scale is helpful to describe a range of practices of communities of believers. However, it is not adequate when we try to extend it to describe the complexities of human identity - corporate or individual.

Jens Barnett suggests that we describe identity in terms of dialogue or multiple narratives.

This is true not only of those who suggest that ‘converts’ should be fully identified with the established churches as well as those who argue for new believers to remain, to the extent possible, within their birth community. As he notes,

In practice then, a purely Muslim ‘insider’ identity, free from all other cultural influences is both an impossible and a misguided ideal. Every believer has internalised a unique combination of narratives from multiple cultural sources. Each of these narratives contains its own scripts, roles, and belongings, and each of these in turn, can appear as a voice of identity within the dialogical self.

The son of a prosperous Muslim businessman added to the discussion, reflecting on the experience he and other Indian believers have shared in attempts to assimilate into the Christian community.

Understanding the strength and unity of the Umma and the role of the Umma in an individual’s identity is essential to understand the struggles that a Muslim seeker will undergo. His life within the Umma has been a place of security, acceptance, protection, and identity. For a seeker it is an enormous sacrifice to lose his place in the Umma. As a Muslim seeker moves into fellowship with the Christian community, it is important that his sacrifice should be acknowledged and understood. The community of Christian believers should become a new place of belonging and inclusion.

In comparison, Enoch Kim noted the changes among the urban Hui of China who, through the impact of modernization and social network changes, have developed multiple identities or “faces” that grant more freedom to make individual choices.

The most important and ultimate decision-maker in [China’s] modern world is “I.” The Hui used to make decisions by what “we” or “others” want, but now it is by what “I” want. . . . the community pressure that the Muslim individual feels has lightened up because now “I” have more rights and abilities than before. As community pressure lessens, individuals will choose what they want.

Discipling women. Often we have emphasized the limitations on women in Muslim societies, perceptions that affect our approaches in evangelism and contributions to teaching and discipling. Mary Davidson noted, however, the important role of women both in private as well as in da’wa, in their homes, at shrines, in rites of passage, and even in impromptu Qur’an recitations she observed on the Cairo metro! Such religious gatherings have many roles, including community and connection, an acceptable reason chance to get out, as an opportunity for leadership, finding blessing and God’s power, and maintaining or challenging community norms. Davidson’s work concludes with questions and suggestions of how such existing social roles for women should be recognized and built on in our evangelism and discipleship.

Complementing Davidson’s insights, writing from Bangladesh Christine Shepherd relates her surprise when several rural women told her that they could freely travel to a village some two hours from their home on a regular basis - “We will just tell people we are visiting relatives,” they explained. Shepherd draws our attention to “the alarming fact that women followers of Jesus … are not typically receiving training through intentional discipleship programs.” Given their important role in leading their children as well as women friends to faith in Jesus Christ, not giving women adequate honor, discipling, and opportunity to fulfill their important role as followers of Jesus, she says, “may lead to a disastrous future for the Muslim background church.”

Shepherd concludes with the words of a Bangladeshi women, nothing that change can take place,

• As men and women, based on biblical teaching, recognize women’s value from Jesus’ teaching and from his example;
• As male leaders give the opportunity for women to take an important part in the jamaat; and,
• As women are taught that they are created in the image of God and that they have an important role in the kingdom of God-they need to know they are necessary to the life of the jamaat. When they are aware of their identity in Christ through receiving proper Bible teaching, men will refrain from oppressing them and women will be able to share their opinions in appropriate ways.

Diverse, and yet one in Christ.

John Kim updated us on the story of “Anotoc,” one situation in which God is at work among “insiders.” (The original story told first in From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way while the updated paper appeared in an earlier edition of this journal.) Others described situations in which the new believers express their faith as part of the existing community of Christians.

While we rejoice in the variety of positive responses to the gospel, we were concerned as an Azerbaijani told us of his research among university students who, though evangelized, have not yet believed. While many Muslims of this region would consider Jesus to be “the God of Russians” this writer notes other reasons for their failure to come to faith, some of them factors that apply to youth in many settings, not just among Muslims.

Traditions of strong family bonds, respect for parents and elders, as a part of local culture, make embracing Christianity costly and troublesome for Azeri youth. Other non-theological hindrances are their indifference, their love of secular and sinful lifestyles and a belief in their own security. . . . The greatest challenge is that they do not want to believe some facts in the Qur’an and in the Injil regarding Christ, the message and authenticity of the Bible, interpreting them as it suits them.

We celebrate our diversity, but remember that it is not an undefined variety. Our identity, whatever outward expression is given, is grounded and deeply rooted in Christ that we might be “to the praise of his glory,” living carefully and wisely as children of light (Ephesians 1: 12-14; 5:15-16).

As Jean-Marie Gaudeul observed,

As we discover the many ways in which Christ, ‘lifted up from the earth, draws everyone to himself’ (John 12:32), we are struck by the extraordinary variety of the ways in which people, finding new faith in Him, discover their new identity: they are changed and yet the same. And we know that this diversity is only a small part of God’s infinite skill in leading us to His house where Unity will combine with the fulfilment of each person's originality.(AFMI)

The War on Christians and the Arab Spring

Along with other followers of Christ, I am among the first to stand up for Muslims whose human rights are violated (just read some of my earlier posts).  However, why the silence from others when Christians' rights are violated?  Once again, Ayaan Hirsi Ali gets it right regarding the true nature of what is going on around the world in the Feb. 13th issue of Newsweek.  If you live in the Middle East as I do, you are accustomed to regular, first-hand accounts of Christians being massacred by Muslims.  These stories are real.  And they happen every single day.  It's time for the media to take note.  Thank you Newsweek.  Thank you Ms. Ali.  I'd love to see some Islamic voices come out and condemn this violence as well, but I won't hold my breath.

Incidentally, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, expect this persecution to increase dramatically.  Democracy is not on the horizon for the Muslim World - increasing religious fanaticism is.  Trust me.  Or at least trust John Bradley.  The Islamists are better organized, and more importantly, better armed.  The student initiators of the revolutions don't stand a chance against them.  We must pray that as people in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and beyond are brought face to face with Islam in its purest form (i.e. the Wahabi and Salafi brand), they will see that neither democracy nor Muhammad is the answer to their hearts' desires - Jesus is.  In the mean time, let us plead for strength for our brethren in these lands who already follow Jesus.  And keep praying for Ayaan Hirsi Ali to become a follower of Jesus herself. The peace and decency she seeks as a former Muslim is not to be found in America, democracy, or agnosticism, but in Christ!

Aquinas on Islam

Here is Thomas Aquinas' take on Islam in a nutshell.  What do you think?

The point is clear in the case of Mohammed. He seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teachings also contain precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. 

In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. On the contrary, Mohammed said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. 

What is more, no wise man, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning. Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Mohammed forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms. . . . he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. 

It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly. 

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, Chapter 6 (trans. Anton C Pegis, University of Notre Dame Press, 1975, pp. 73-75)

I have long said that the best way to know that Islam is a man-made religion is to ask any man to sit down and dream up his perfect system/religion - the result would look a lot like Islam.  This hypothesis is helped even more when picturing men in 7th century Arabia.  Think al-wecht al-Jahaliyya "the times of Ignorance" (i.e. before the coming of Islam supposedly brought knowledge to heretofore uneducated desert tribes).  A similar argument could be made for Mormonism and Joseph Smith - another good deal  if you are a man.

Related Post: Islam and Mormonism

I Against My Brother: A Somali Story - video resource

Here is the website, Somali Story.

This story is increasingly common, thanks to the diaspora which is exposing more Somalis to cities and the outside world.  May the Lord bless and build his church among the precious Somali people!  Amen.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Christianity and Islam

For those of you who don't know about this courageous and fascinating young woman, you should read her memoir, Infidel, a New York Times bestseller published in 2008.  In the memoir, Ali recounts her life as a young Somali girl born in a war-torn land, and eventually her flight to Holland.  In the process, she gives penetrating insights into Somali culture, Islam, and the treatment of women.  Ali also shares how she lost her faith in God (or at least the god that she knew in Islam), hence the title of the book.

While Infidel leaves the reader with a bit of a sour taste in one's mouth because of Ali's loss of faith in God, her new book, Nomad, published in 2010, reveals some striking new thoughts on Christianity and Islam.  She says:

I have a theory that most Muslims are in search of a redemptive God. They believe that there is a higher power and that this higher power is the provider of morality, giving them a compass to help them distinguish between good and bad.  Many Muslims are seeking a God or a concept of God that in my view meets the description of the Christian God.  Instead they find Allah. They find Allah mainly because many are born in Muslim families where Allah has been the reigning deity for generations… (p. 239, emphasis added).

The Christian leaders now wasting their time and resources on a futile exercise of interfaith dialogue with the self-appointed leaders of Islam should redirect their efforts to converting as many Muslims as possible to Christianity, introducing them to a God who rejects Holy War and who has sent his son to die for all sinners out of a love for mankind… The Vatican and all the established Protestant churches of northern Europe believed naively that interfaith dialogue would magically bring Islam into the fold of Western civilization. It has not happened, and it will not happen…. To help ground these people in Western society, the West needs the Christian churches to get active again in propagating their faith. It needs Christian schools, Christian volunteers, the Christian message… The churches should do all in their power to win this battle for the souls of humans in search of a compassionate God, who now find that a fierce Allah is closer to hand. (pp. 247, 249, 250, 251, emphasis added).

Even as we consider and marvel at the keen insights of this former Muslim who now claims no faith, let us pray that this dear sister will move from Infidel, to Nomad, to Daughter of the King!

HT: KL, DL, Seedbed

Polygamy and Creation

Recently I was in a discussion with a close Muslim friend in the Arabian Peninsula.  He was listing all the benefits of polygamy and talking about how virtuous it was to protect women in such a way, when finally I had enough.  I asked, "When Allah created the world, how many wives did he give to Adam? One, that's right.  And since Allah is perfect in all he does, that must include his original design for marriage - one man and one woman."  Then I said, "So what does this mean for polygamy?"  He said, "You are right, somewhere along the way Allah's plan for marriage must have been corrupted."  I said, "Well, you know what Jesus said about marriage - one man and one woman."  He just nodded his head and became silent and smiled.  Then he said, "You're right!  I'm only going to have one wife."  We just started laughing.

Sometimes we just need to appeal to God's creative order to get the point across!

Miniskirts, Mothers & Muslims

From David Mays’ book notes:

Miniskirts, Mothers & Muslims: A Christian Woman in a Muslim Land, by Christine A. Mallouhi | Monarch Books, 2004, 184 pp. ISBN 978-0-8254-6051-7 | Order this book here.

Christine Mallouhi, an Australian, is married to an Arab Christian. She has lived for nearly 30 years in many different Muslim cultures and authored Waging Peace on Islam. Christine’s experience can help Christians live honorably among Muslims. I hadn’t intended to take notes on this book, but when I was nearly half way through I had run across so many valuable insights, that I couldn’t resist it.

“Conservative Muslims’ sense of right and wrong is more acute than that of Western Christians. In spite of the fact that we consider ourselves to have a strict spiritual/moral worldview, we are surprised to discover that conservative Muslims do not view us as a spiritual people because of our behaviour and dress. Clothing is an important, and necessary, way to make a statement. If you live in a Muslim community you will notice the different clothes used for weddings, circumcisions, mourning, and to show religious affiliation.” “Local people often asked me why I dressed so conservatively for a Westerner, and many enquired if I was a Muslim. I usually told them that the Bible teaches that godly women should dress modestly, and since I have submitted my life to God through Christ, I want to be modest in their country as well as my own. So, if they recognize godliness and decency by a certain type of clothing then I will wear it while in their country.” (83-4)

“If we want to be respectable then we need to know what decent and indecent dress in other countries is. I have seen some Christian women in conservative countries, where most women wear a veil, appearing in the street in shorts. The Western equivalent would be to go out completely naked.” (86) “My advice is to be sensitive to the culture, because it is helpful for your relationships.” (92)

“Women and men worldwide use voice inflection to show interest in each other. … When speaking with the opposite sex you need a cooler manner. Westerners tend to be a bit naïve about this, but Muslims are aware of these boundaries. … avoid lengthy eye contact, adopt modest postures, watch the tone of voice, keep your general demeanour more reserved.” (99)

“By voluntarily submitting to the same restrictions that our Muslim friends live under, Christians can walk in their shoes. There are few ways in which Western Christian women can truly identify with Muslim friends, or can understand their struggles, because our life is different, but we can choose to try to take on their point of view and live in their world. Identify with Muslim women in as many ways as possible and share Christ’s life within those boundaries. This seems to me, to be what living the Gospel means and leaving a model of faith that can be copied.” (118)

“If secular and Muslim women can give up personal preferences and submit to Islamic customs that they do not agree with, surely Christian women can do the same for our testimony. Christ left all his glory to become one of us, in order to show us the way home to the Father. We have an opportunity to lay down self for the sake of Christ. We have an opportunity to follow in the steps of the One who laid aside everything to enable us to receive his word.” (119)

“Typically, Christians arrive in foreign cultures intending to ‘disciple’ others. It’s not too long before they realize they need to learn a lot from those they came to teach. We must be guests before we can be hosts.” (124)

“Being like Jesus does not mean confronting everything all at once, even if we do not agree with it. …Jesus always treated individuals with honour and dignity, whether poor or rich, but he did not forcibly turn the class-system institution upside down during the years of his ministry. He turned it upside down by leaving an example of redeemed relationships for his followers to implement at the opportune time. … As unknown outsiders, Christians need to adapt to the culture in order to gain a hearing.” (128)

“We keep our bearings in Christ by not taking on an attitude that discriminates or denigrates people on the basis of status, yet all the while understanding its importance in the culture and manoeuvring within it.” (130)

“Friends will never say they cannot help. They may not come as they promised, but they will not say ‘No.’ … Arabs do not belong to themselves; they belong to each other. …In the Arab world there is no individual; there is only community. The Western attitude of being an individual in control of your life, and not dependent on anyone, is totally foreign and seen as deviant and dangerous to the group. … Arabs define themselves in terms of the groups they belong to. … It is groups that are unique, not the individual person. Any group member represents the whole group.” (136-37)

“Muslims tend to live in collectivist societies. These societies believe few things need to be spelled out, as people are socialized to learn them from childhood. … But this fact is invisible writing between the lines and is not obvious to an outsider. European society is individualistic. Everything is spelled out, leaving little to the imagination, and life is described by the legalities…. When individualistic members come into a collectivistic societies they do not know what is assumed between the lines. This will take a lot longer to learn than the language…. We may not realize that we don’t actually know what’s going on.” (138)

“The bottom-line value for relationships in family and society, and in theology, for Muslims is honour. For Westerners and Christians it is love.” (140) “Moreover, a call to make an individual decision to follow Christ as a personal Saviour in response to his love for us is just not in their frame of reference. If it is perceived as changing camps and joining the Western Christian camp then it is naturally viewed as dangerous, and more commonly as traitorous! It breaks the cohesive bond to others in the community. This presentation of the Gospel threatens all the most sacred foundations of Muslim societies: honour, authority, and loyalty. Following Christ will challenge our loyalties. But that is after we have understood what the Gospel is all about. We first have to hear it as good news, before we work out the implications on our particular family and culture. We need to understand the web of society, and the deeply held beliefs of people, in order to work out how to tell the story of God’s news so that it sounds like just that: good news.” (141)

“When Christ glorified God on earth, he poured his life into his disciples. This is how we also glorify God on earth. We pour our lives into others, and receive from them, until we both manifest the character of God.” (147)

“Follow Christ’s example and live with your friends, joining with them in all the affairs of daily life under their conditions. People do not only need the Book in their hand with instructions how to live. They need your hand in theirs, sharing their lives along with the Book. This is the heart of the Christian message. God did not rely on a book of instructions. Christ came and lived with us.” (149)

“For Muslims to feel comfortable with our spirituality they need to feel comfortable with our hospitality. … Hospitality is not just serving food; it is a lifestyle, … a generous heart. …The community Jesus lived among did not divide life into secular and religious; neither do Muslims. … Scripture asks us to have the same humility to do things ‘their’ way that Christ had to do things ‘our’ way.” (153) “Hospitality and an open home are crucial for anyone who wants to demonstrate Christ’s love to Muslims.” (155) “If you want deep relationships with people you must invite them to eat with you.” (162)

“Christians need to beware that we do not come to the Muslim world tainted by the arrogance of the secular West: saying by attitude that we are leading the world in science and technology and are going to teach these people how to live. We cannot afford to be arrogant. … Muslims distrust the motives of the West.” (164) One way to embody grace is to listen to their point of view. If we enter a house where there is pain and anger, we should care enough to hear and learn their story and try seeing things from their point of view. (165)

“Muslims do not want to hear the theological beliefs of not-very-nice people. Neither would anyone. If by your non-verbal communication you told your Muslim friend that he or she is not important to you, and by your appearance and actions that you have few moral or spiritual aspirations, then there is no point in telling him or her about your faith that changed your life and made you into a new creation. This new creation may not be looking so good! We embody the message. When Muslims do not believe our creed, nor understand our message, the truest witness is our lives. We need to live in a way that looks godly to Muslims if we want them to listen to our message.” (178)

Women in Islam (A couple links)

Some Misconceptions about Women in Islam (Discovering Islam)

Islam gave women rights and privileges at a time when only barbaric manners and values dominated… 

Polygamy in Islam (Discovering Islam)

Islam is criticized for allowing polygamy, for popular culture in the West views polygamy as relatively backward and impoverished.  For many Christians, it is a license to promiscuity, and feminists consider it a violation of women’s rights and demeaning to women.  A crucial point that needs to be understood is that for Muslims, standards of morality are not set by prevalent Western thought, but by divine revelation.  A few simple facts should be borne in mind before any talk of polygamy in Islam…

Related: Polygamy and Discipleship

Where does the Hijab come from? (Islam and Christianity)

What Islamists do not admit is that the custom of the veiling of women in early Islam was not part of the dress code until Muslims conquered Persia and the Byzantine territories in the 7th century. It was only after this assimilation of the conquered cultures that head covering and veiling were viewed as appropriate expressions of Islam practice. Since the veil was impractical attire for working women, a veiled woman was a sign that she belonged to the upper class and that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle.

Review of Woman to Woman: Sharing Jesus with a Muslim Friend

Woman to Woman: Sharing Jesus with a Muslim Friend, by Joy Loewen   Forward by Brother Andrew   (Buy)

Chosen Books, January 2010, 208 pages, ISBN 978-0-9483-5

“I believe this book will revolutionize our approaches in reaching the Muslim women with the genuine love of Christ.” – Samuel Naaman, D.Miss., Department of World Missions and Evangelism, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago

“This book is more than delightful - it is a `must read' for men as well as women. Why? If we fail to grasp the message of this book we will never really understand Muslims or their culture at all. So, whatever good books are on your reading list, move this one to the front. It will be worth it!” -Dr. Ed Hoskins, Physician and author of "A Muslim's Heart"

Woman to Woman is a book that primarily uses narrative to show how to help Christian women befriend and share Christ with Muslim women who are living in North America.  The book has a dual purpose; (1) to introduce the reader to the personal lives of Muslim women, and (2) to introduce the reader to a North American woman’s journey of discovering and embracing the lives of Muslim women.  So the book is as much about the author as it is about Muslim women. 

Thankfully, the author Joy Loewen is a shining example of a missional Christ-follower who has more than 30 years experience in Muslim ministry.  Woman to Woman is not a formal treatise on Muslim evangelism, but a series of enjoyable and interesting stories that pauses frequently to explain issues related to the lives of Muslims that average church-goers in America might not understand.  The tone of the book and Joy’s approach towards Muslims is irenic, sensitive, and respectful. 

The intended audience of the book is for those who care about Muslims but who have little or no understanding of non-western culture or the Islamic worldview.  In a time where approximately 20% of Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) in the world are female, more books like this are timely.  (I have heard the most unreached bloc of people on the planet are Muslim women.)

Being of such an introductory nature, I think the book would be more accessible if it were shorter.  I would have also appreciated more discussion around the issues of trying to integrate MBBs into the church, and more examples of contextual witness and church planting.  But again, the book is mainly a first read for a Christian woman who is curious about the Muslim women living around her.  For this kind of reader I recommend Woman to Woman because it could help many “move from fear to love and compassion.”