USA (MNN) – In the midst of legislative discourse among congress members who oppose Islamic cultural influence and those who welcome it, Americans are grappling with whether sharia law and constitutional law can, or will, coexist.
But Pierre Houssney with Horizons International poses a broader, yet more personal, question: how can American Christians engage with the increasing numbers of Muslims living around us?
“For me, that is the secret to this whole issue,” Houssney says. “Let’s share the Gospel with these people.”
Raised in a family dedicated to sharing Jesus with Muslims, Houssney says he has witnessed countless conversions from Islam to Christ.
“And I’ve just seen how the Gospel can actually transform a life from the inside out no matter what background somebody is from,” he explains.
Horizons International’s training program Engage Muslims with Christ has already been utilized by more than 15,000 people interested in learning how to share the Gospel with Muslims.
“It gives a basic crash course in what do Muslims believe? What are their attitudes? What are their worldviews? How do we have conversations about the gospel?” Houssney says.
While American Christians support a variance of legislative policies surrounding immigration and Islamic influx, Houssney says ongoing fomentation of these issues has led to ideological extremity in opposing camps.
“First there’s the inclusion and diversion side where we want to accept people,” he says. Those in the other camp are “afraid that accepting these people is going to be changing our culture and changing our regulatory landscape and even introducing sharia law into our society.”
Without downplaying the real tension here, Houssney encourages believers to have Gospel eyes rather than worldly ones. Horizons International is driving this perspective shift through in-person conferences that include the Engage Muslims with Christ training.
Houssney says the outcomes are meaningful.
Courtesy of Masjid Pogung Dalangan via Unsplash. Header image courtesy of Yusron El Jihan via Unsplash.
For example, many of the 200 attendees of Horizons International’s “The Legacy Conference” in Dallas this month began to see that – by the grace of God – we can think of Muslims in our neighborhoods as a blessing, a challenge, and an opportunity, rather than a threat.
“We can share the gospel with these people instead of just being afraid of them and trying to use the avenues of political power to suppress them or stop them,” he says.
Are you interested in bringing this perspective to your own community?
“We’ll either bring out a teacher or use the video teaching,” Houssney says. “It’s really easy to facilitate a training where you and a group of people from your church can get this basic course that really is all you need to start sharing the gospel with Muslims.”
Alternatively, check out the list of upcoming conference locations here.
In the meantime, Houssney says, if you find yourself confronting fear-based narratives, political or otherwise:
“Just turn that back and say: there is no fear in love. Speak the scripture over those headlines, pray about it, and ask the Lord: what can I do to take a part in your Great Commission, in what you are doing in this?
Because Jesus is the only hope for this situation.“
