How Do We Establish Relationships with Muslims?

　　(Transcript of video above, edited for readability)

　　There are many things that a Christian can do to establish relationships with their Muslim neighbors and coworkers. Some of it's obvious. Some of it's the same stuff that you will do with any neighbor. Part of the problem is I think when we hear "Musli"m or we hear "Islam," boy, there's a lot of fear that runs along behind it. We fear the other and we fear the images that we've seen. So part of what we need to do is just crucify that fear and just put it to death, and to realize that actually they're made in the image of God just as we are. They have the same needs, human needs that we have. They're people, and they're people who need the Lord in the same way that we do. So first, it's just to conquer that in our own minds and our own hearts.

　　Then beyond that, in terms of building relationships, is to listen. Lots of Muslims, for example, Muslim students will be in the country. It's to our shame that many of them will never be in a Christian home in their four or five years of study in the country. I think just getting involved with a local university or a local community college where there may be some students getting involved in something like an English as a second language program, or a program where you sort of adopt an international student and become a resource parent or a resource family for them. Those would be ways of doing it. If you're a pastor, wonderful thing to do to love your Muslim, your fellow Muslim cleric, call 'em up and go out, have lunch, talk about Islam, talk about Christianity. You don't have to fear those conversations because honestly, it's the people who believe, really believe what they believe, who are best able to have honest conversations.

　　So if there's a Muslim man or woman who's faithful to Islam, that's actually the person you want to be in conversation with because you're going to have an honest, easy dialogue that comes from the confidence of believing in what you believe. So just call up a neighbor friend, invite them out to coffee, invite them out to lunch or dinner. Invite them to your home. Practice hospitality in that way. Look for those opportunities that really have to do with welcoming a stranger into our gates. That could be an international student, that could be a coworker, could be a neighbor or a friend, but it's reaching out and shaking hands and opening their hearts and engaging in that.