Part II of church planting requirements among Muslims. The umma or community is vitally important, as is adapting to a shame and fear-based cvulture

1. Islamic Studies
Church Planting
Thoughts
Basic outline from
The Messenger, The Message, The
Community
By Roland Muller

2. CHURCH PLANTING
Part II
04/19/15 Les 1 Santa Jejej 2

3. Summary of Arab culture
 Think as a group
 Define people as near and far
 Conformity of those close-by and
brings
 Honor
 Social prestige
 Secure place in society

4. Arab culture
 Rivalry in relationships – high benefit
in ability to dominate
 Groups will stick together – dishonor
on entire group
 Conformity is honored – notice the
prayers and meaning of Islam –
conformity required

5. Right & Wrong - Arab
 Defined by the Qur’an
 But because many things are not laid
out, what the group says is usually
key

6. Right & Wrong - Arab
 Shame is not necessarily wrong –
Allah has created both good and evil
 If there is a wrong, it must be
concealed to avoid shame

7. Shame
 Often avoid risks
 When shame occurs – deny or blame
shift to something/someone else and
react violently

8. Shame
 Often Arabs are easily offended
and expect special treatment
 Honor MUST be restored, even at
the cost of one’s life.

9. Revenge
 Revenge is sanctioned in the
Qur’an: 6:173
 Peace – only in the house of
Islam with
 Muslims
 Dhimmi

10. Honorable acts
 Hospitality – both guest and host
 Flattery to guest
 Often – gift to guest

11. Honorable acts
 When people come, insist that
they eat and drink
 Honor blood relatives, people
near you – especially the eldest
son

12. Honor and education
 Especially elder son = educational
honor
 Doctorate – a high honor for the
family
 It is the degree and not the effort or
knowledge that is important

13. Honor
 Marriage raises honor of son, and
especially after the birth of a son
 Language is very important – Arab
will listen to anyone who speaks well

14. Honor
 Poetry is very important as an art
and defense against shame
 Arab hero – defiant & boastful

15. Honor
 Wealthy are honored
 They can be hospitable
 They can be generous
 Gets respect and covers many sins

16. Honor
 Heritage – proud of it
 Dishonorable are forgotten
 Age and wisdom – know old
stories

17. Honor
 Physical strength
 Charisma – may be good
communicators
 Alliances to strengthen the tribe

18. Honor
 Bravery
 Loyalty – never question elders in
front of outsiders

19. Honor and violence
 Honors strength, no compassion for
weakness
 Violence to obtain honor
 It is honorable to reach down to help
the helpless – and Jesus showed
incredible honor when He reached
down to us

20. Can you honor yourself??
 No – but people usually do not honor
someone without a cause
 Jesus is the only one who can bring us
to God
 God honors the one who serves Jesus:
Jn. 12:25-26

21. Summary of Salvation
 We need to see that God deals with
guilt, fear and shame throughout the
Bible
 We in the west trace the guilt through
the Bible. But we need to see the
others too

22. The Holy Spirit
 Convicts of sin, righteousness
and guilt
 Guilt – convicts of sin
 Shame – exposes. Remember John
3:20 – that we don’t come to the
light, because it exposes our sin

23. The Holy Spirit
 Guilt is before God
 Shame is before society
 God deals with our sin

24. God’s dealing with sin
 Propitiation – an act which satisfies
God’s anger at sin. It satisfies the
requirements of the law
 Sin of man wrath of God
judgment of God

25. God’s dealing with sin
 God’s wrath places people and nations
and groups under his judgment
 His answer – sacrifice. Wrath on the
sacrifice

26. Sin and redemption
 Redemption cleanses us clearing
our guilt (guilt based cultures)
 Redemption works through a
mediator to pay for our sins
(shame cultures)

27. Sin and redemption
 God is offended
 We cannot pay
 Jesus paid for us

28. Reconciliation
 Reconciliation is restoration of Father-
child relationship
 Shame is removed and honor restored
 Fear is gone and we are accepted
 Again – sacrifice is required

29. A paradijm
 ju
 Propitiation – God’s wrath – fear
 Redemption – God’s justice – guilt
 Reconciliation – God’s honor

30. Repentance
 Acceptance of God’s way for us
 Turn from sin
 Turn from our own innocence
 Turn from our own honor
 Turn from our own power

31. God’s dealing with sin
 Propitiation – God’s wrath – fear
 Redemption – God’s justice –
guilt
 Reconciliation – God’s honor

32. Repentance
 Acceptance of God’s way for us
 Turn from sin
 Turn from our own innocence
 Turn from our own honor
 Turn from our own power

33. Christ’s sacrifice
 God deals with all aspects on the
cross
 Satan will attempt to undermine the
total victory of the cross in our minds

34. Honor before whom?
 We need to seek God’s honor, and
not man’s honor
 It is the same as rewards in heaven
are different from earth

35. The result of the
resurrection
 I Cor. 15:42-43 So also is the
resurrection of the dead
 It is sown in corruption, it is raised in
incorruption (guilt – innocence)
 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in honor
(shame – honor)
 It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power
(fear – power)

36. Three-fold salvation
 Fear, guilt and shame dealt with
 In Eden
 In the temple offerings & ceremonies
 By the prophets
 In Isaiah 53
 Calvary
 Pentecost

37. Expect conflict
 The gospel is going to challenge
every culture in some areas
 We are sinners
 It is our culture which we have created

38. Part III
The community

39. Community is strong
 Islam – umma, or community, is
very strong
 Shame based culture
 Shame based religion
 Shame based community

40. Community is strong
 Everyone is responsible to care for
others
 Seekers want to know about
community, its rules, etc.

41. Difference in approach
 The Qur’an spells out do’s and don’ts.
If it is not mentioned, it is probably OK
 The Bible gives principles which we
need to apply to different situations

42. Difference in approach
 Bonding is very important
 The Qur’an allows bonding and still
ethnic or international rivalries to
occur

43. Bonding
 At family or tribal level – not too
difficult.
 But more difficult with changes in
language, culture, etc.
 We tend to want people made in
our own image (people like us)

44. Four images of
community
 The kingdom
 The bride
 The assembly
 The body

45. The kingdom of God
 The king and subjects – we are to
do the will of the king
 The king gives responsibility to
his subjects

46. The bride
 We are in a love relationship with
Jesus
 We have service in loving
relationships

47. The ekklesia – the
assembly
 Scripture reading and teaching
 Fellowship and edification
 Breaking bread
 Prayer
 Music is an important part

48. The body
 Each member has gifts
 The gifts are to build the body
 We are to carry on the physical
presence of Jesus in the body – He
indwells us, and we are the temple of
the Holy Spirit

49. Community
 We should not expect the
government to care for everything.
 We should be careful not to have a
business model of the church in
action

50. Bible teaching to others
 The natural man needs propitia-
tion, a sacrifice for sins
 The carnal man needs the
termina-tion of an independent
life style
 The spiritual man needs the
pattern of daily dying to self

51. Carnal vs. spiritual
believers
 Carnal believers – concerned about
their own comfort, welfare & security.
 Focus on getting good things.
 Alive to physical things

52. Carnal vs. spiritual
believers
 Spiritual believers – in tune with
God’s desires, and the needs of
others.
 Focus on leading others to Christ,
discipling and serving them
 We need to be others-focused

53. Our false assumption
 Because we are so individual focused,
we assume that the individual will opt
for salvation first, and then check out
the community

54. Our false assumption
 But for a community based culture,
they will want to see what the
community is like, and how it functions

55. Danger
 New converts may assume that
they can join the community of
the expatriate missionary rather
than the national church

56. Working with contacts
 They will want to identify who you are,
and what your role is in society.
 Do you have marks of godliness?
What are these marks in your target
group?
 We need to have a correct message
contextualized as needed

57. Is the community valid?
 Be transparent in relationships,
struggles, ways to relate to God,
and how God helps through a
Christian community
 Do not underestimate the
importance of the body of
believers to a shame-based
society

58. Is the community valid?
 We must work so that our church
is open to all types of persons
with different types of cultures,
including shame-based
backgrounds

59. Islamic communities
 It is difficult for Muslims to start
their own communities as
Christians from scratch
 Let them come into the church
and see how it works for
themselves

60. Adjustments
 Muslims may assume that we are very
free with sex because separation is not
rigid
 Some of our feasts (Christmas, Thanks-
giving) are more restricted to families
 Often a seeker will test the community

61. Spiritual growth
 Eventually –the power of the Holy
Spirit must become personal
 We need transparency,
repentance & forgiveness

62. Spiritual growth
 Old sins need to be dealt with
and forsaken
 Confession is an important
question in a shame-based
culture

63. Spiritual growth
 He may want to test your hospitality,
your tolerance of other religions, your
materialism, and your interest in him as
a person, as well as your spirituality
 If financial challenges come, suggest
that the community will approach the
problem

64. Changed order
 Sometimes it is like this:
 Community Discipleship
Saving faith
 A transparent community reflecting
Jesus will attract unbelievers

65. Difference in community
 Islam – not a closed community with all
having rights to leadership. They have
many in quasi-Islamic status looking at
the group
 Thus many look at the west as
intolerant in terms of community