TIME.com’s provacitively titled “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” is an interesting look at the state of missions in the Middle East.
Three thoughts:
1) Of course Christians should convert Muslims - spreading the truth of your beliefs to others is an integral part of many religions. I also believe Muslims should feel free to convert Christians to Islam. May the Truth be known.
But I don’t think that’s what the title meant - I think the title would be better stated as “Should Christians Evangelize Muslims RIGHT NOW?” In other words, given the current political and economic situations in differest parts of the Mid-East, Christians would be wise to heed Jesus’ teachings to be as sly as a snakes and as innocent as doves in spreading the gospel.
2) There’s no mention of the native missionary movement. Led by organizations such as Gospel for Asia, the native missionary movement is often overlooked by over-eager evangelicals.
Consider this: a native missionary requires none of the language and culture training, and is much more likely to be readily accepted into the mission field. I could go on and on about why Westerners need to wake up to the reality that we may not be the best candidates for field evangelism. If you’re interested in reading more, I’d recommend GFA’s “Why Native Missions?”
3) The article touches on the tension between evangelical organizations that characterize Islam as evil is some way or another, and the Bush administration’s stance that “Islam is a religion of peace”. I believe many Christians are overzealous in their demonizing of the Islamic faith - I believe there are lessons we might learn from them.
That being said, I also believe Satan, being the master of lies, knows the best lie is the one with the most truth. Truth is such that it must be 100% pure - even 0.05% of a lie taints the entire batch. But something with 99.05% truth in it is a lot harder to detect as a lie, and thus is far more successful in diverting people from the Truth than a blatant lie.
I believe Satan has mislead many well-intentioned people by poisoning God’s Truth with just a hint of lies, so that they might not come to God’s Truth. This method has given rise to many of the world’s religions. They contains much of God’s Truth, for Satan is not a creator, but only a twister of God’s creations. I believe this to be also true of Islam, though, no doubt, many Muslims would say the same about my Christianity 
June 30th, 2003 at 7:53 pm
A very intriguing article. I think many evangelicals see the aftermath of the war in Iraq as a huge opening for them similiar to the collapse of the iron curtain. The big difference there being that was from internal forces instead of the US.
I think any missionary going to that area needs to be sensitive to the culture and needs to take the time to properly train. I think the unknowledgeable missionary could do more harm than good in such countries. However fear of persecution should not dilute the message of Christ or the boldness in which it is taught. Persecution will occur because following Christ is not without cost. There is not one method of proper evangelism, but several, some respond to a more direct approach, others need to see Christ’s love demonstrated. In “Tortured for Christ” by Richard Wurmbrand, a book about religious persecution in communist Russia, some local Pastors were vocal about their faith and put in prison or put to death while some went more underground and secret, but both methods were needed to reach the lost.
As far as native missionaries, there just aren’t enough of them in Islamic dominated regions and they need Biblical training. I know of one missionary my church supports that is trying to make new converts, but is also training the current converts to reach out. In reality all new Christians should know how to share their faith so instead of an addition to the faith there is a multiplication.