living to serve among Muslims

"Communicating the truth to Muslims for understanding."

A guy who lives in the Middle East spoke in chapel today. I am not identifying him for security reasons... he spoke about connecting with Muslims. These are the notes I took, they sound exactly like connecting with PMs

You need to be sure that the words are understood.
The speaker must understand what the listener is hearing.

To Muslims the deed weighs as much as the word.

Historical context is important to understanding and communicating the truth.
Collective identity, not individuality is important in understanding context.

Job, life choices and activities are our idenity in the West
verse
family, family heritage and relating to Muhammed in the muslim world.

In the West - choice
In the East - history

Religion is a birth thing not a personal choice.

Muslims are taught that the decline of the islamic empire was the result of straying from correct teaching... [Compare to modern jihadist teachings that are dividing muslim generations in west
how to reach? I need to blog about this]


some steps
1) understand identity
2) importance of language - live in the language
3) respect Islamic culture and history


living in a middle eastern ctiy
1) provide a safe and familiar environmment... Be aware of what is happening around us
2) permanance
3) community - being in community
4) orient our lives toward culture
5) relationships in the language and culture

I think there are amazing parallels to working among PMs

a talk on postmodernism

At a missions conference recently, I was able to hear a speaker who really seemed to understand postmodern folks (like me?).
"A Message from America's Future"

The 'emerging generation' is postmodern (PM) in thought.

There is no return... [hense, we are where we are and we will not go back to modernism]

from the middle ages to the enlightenment
authority was seen in the person [Pope] and changed to knowledge [as authority]

[NOW] the new basis of authority is what I deem so

the European Church bought into values of the enlightenment...

WWI and WWII showed the failure of modernism and the church which emphasized reason was off track and had failed, thus the church died in the UK and elsewhr in Europe

4 tenants of PM

1. rejection of absolute truth

no one really believes this... There is plenty of wrong and everybody knows it... It really is a rejection of the claim of having absolute truth - especially against the church... RESULT: We need to learn to listen... it's not about me being right, it's about Jesus being right for Me... its the church more than the Gospel that PM mocks... we don't give up on truth, we need to be humble to know we do not have a corner on it

2. anti expectation, sorry, I didn't get this

3. cynicism, hopelessness, pessimism

modernism failed, PMs become anti optimistic

PM began in EUR after WWII, WHY? WWI AND WWII shwd modernism failed ...

being not just talking

show Jesus is real

4. rejection of objective and emphasizing of subjective

we cannot explain everything, we must emrace mystical things and realize that we cannot answer all questions, show them how to love Jesus not just the truth about him

The speaker was Alan Waldecker.