You are the friend I can share most openly with, because I trust you more than I trust friends from my own country. . . . Thank you for all you have done for my children . . . . I know you are a kind person who cares about other people. . . . Wherever I am in the world, I will always remember what you have done. . . . I feel so much strength coming into me when you pray. . . . These are comments from Muslims whose lives have been touched by a Canadian Christian friend.
God's Initiative
As we watch the number of Muslim immigrants to Canada grow past 750,000, we are compelled to ask, "Regardless of the reasons motivating Muslims, what is God up to in all of this?" His motive is spelled out, "so that [they] would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him" (see Acts 17:26-27).
God is bringing Muslims from countries where they would be persecuted or even killed if they became followers of Jesus. Here we have freedom to share the Good News of Jesus, and they have more freedom to respond. What a new challenge for the Body of Christ across Canada.
Our Response
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Muslims in Canada
Many Canadians think Muslims are all Arabs, when in fact, the majority is not. They come to Canada from many countries including Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Middle Eastern countries, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan. |
Many Canadians feel unsettled, unsure of how to respond. For those of us who love Jesus, the response he is asking of us is clear, "Do not exploit the foreigners who live in your land. They should be treated like everyone else, and you must love them as you love yourself" (see Leviticus 19:33-34).
When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, he demonstrated that the neighbour God calls us to love is NOT just the person next door who may be similar to us in race, religion or culture. The neighbour in Jesus' story was from an ethnic group hated and looked down on by the man he sacrificially loved. The neighbour God calls us to love is anyone, from any race or religion, who comes across our path with a need God will empower us to meet.
God is sending us a lot of new Muslim neighbours who need to 'taste' Jesus' love through us. How can we begin to respond, both individually and as a church?
Lord, Open Our Hearts
Put very simply, we honestly tell God how empty we are, how unable we are to respond to his commission to love our Muslim neighbours. He already knows, but we need to agree with him. Then we can give him permission to give us HIS love for Muslim people. We invite him to open up our hearts to these new neighbours.
Lord, Open Our Eyes
We can also ask God to open our eyes: to see the specific individuals he is asking us to love and to see how they need to be loved.
When we moved to an area with a significant Muslim population, we asked God to give us divine appointments - to lead us to people he wanted us to meet. He did, in his usual creative ways. I met one Muslim woman through a hair appointment; another was walking in my neighbourhood.
One family we met by taking the initiative to phone them and introduce ourselves after we heard about their need. We had no idea we would immediately bond because of factors we had in common. But God knew. Recently we have reconnected with Muslim friends we had not been in touch with for quite a while.
You may meet Muslims at work, in school, through your children's activities, in your neighbourhood or through programs. Not all contacts turn out to be long term relationships. We are just called to seek to love wherever Jesus sends us and to leave the results with him.
As Jesus leads us to Muslim acquaintances, we need him to open our eyes to see how best to meaningfully love them. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes not.
Many Muslim immigrants need help with their English. Children often need help with their homework.
Immigrants and especially refugees often need an advocate - someone to go to government or legal or medical offices with them or to help them fill out forms. They may need help in finding agencies for job assessments or job hunting, or in writing their resum?.
Many women are lonely and would love to have a trustworthy woman friend who is willing to get to know and enjoy them and who can help them understand Canadian life. They place a high value on relationships and hospitality.
Men often need help in finding work. They may come with education and professional experience but become frustrated or depressed when they can only find menial jobs.
Parents become concerned for their children when they see the low morals among Canadian youth. They look for help in parenting their children who are caught between two cultures.
Spiritual needs are pervasive. Even if they are devoted to performing all the rituals required in Islam, Muslims live in an atmosphere of fear ? fear God will make something bad happen to them, fear of the spirit world, fear of curses and the evil eye, fear of the time of death.
