According to Joshua Project, approximately 1 percent of missions funding is given for outreach to unreached people groups. Less than 1 percent of that funding is given for Muslim evangelistic efforts. This staggering reminder comes at a time when outreach to those who claim Islam as their faith is pivotal.
Speaking from Lebanon, the president of the Crescent Project Fouad Masri spoke to Greg Yoder. He says this point in the history of outreach to Muslims is second to none: “The openness has never been this way. It’s unprecedented that people are interested in knowing about Christ. God is on the move. We’ve never seen them open for the Good News, not only in the U.S., but here.”
Masri is leading a team in Lebanon as they are talking openly about Christ. The team has primarily been talking to college students there. The American team has been surprised. “There’s so much openness. They are talking about Jesus, about God, about who Christ is and what He came to teach,” Masri says. “So praise the Lord, He’s opening their hearts!”
Unfortunately, the lack of funding is hampering Muslim outreach worldwide. Masri likens the lack of funding to Peter’s lack of faith: “Peter stepped out of the boat, and Christ said to him, ‘Come and walk on the water.’ And many times when we look at the Muslim world, we think it’s like walking on water, but guess what? God is saying, ‘Come, they are open. Come get involved.'”
According to Masri, funding is the lifeblood of their ministry because once Muslims read about Jesus for themselves, they “hear the gospel, get saved, change their life around and they begin reaching out to others.”
One Muslim-background believer is now talking to his family about Jesus, “explaining to them that what they’ve heard about Him is not the truth. They need to hear about Christ from the Bible, from the ‘Injil’—from His own words.”
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