Day 22: Sharing the Gospel with Muslims, part 4 — A growing opportunity By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ   Pilgrims performing the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. (Wikipedia) Right before our eyes, the general Muslim population is increasing in number, influence, and position all around the world. As of 2010, the Religion of Islam made up almost a quarter of the global population, according to the Pew Research Center. They predict that if current trends continue, the Muslim population will increase by 73 percent by the year 2050. ...
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Day 21: The honor/shame culture, part 3 — For His purpose By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Honored to “feast” with Muslim friends in eastern Turkey. (Photo by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Ararat 2014) The Open Doors ministry prayer calendar for Ramadan says today: “Many secret believers are forced to take part in Ramadan rituals. Pray for opportunities for them to share their faith.” Muslim-background believers may continue to go to the mosque and participate in daily Islamic life after converting to Christianity. It cou...
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Day 20: Entering rooms in the House of Islam —Indonesia By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Sunda women thresh rice in West Java. The Sunda are the 10th-largest unreached Muslim people group in the world, numbering more than 37 million. (Photo by Rendy Bayutrilaksono, Mission: Indonesia 2007) Pastor Rebekka Zakaria and two lay assistants were imprisoned in 2005 for two years in West Java for teaching Sunday school, violating Indonesia’s 2002 Child Protection Act forbidding missionaries to preach to children. During Zakaria’s trial pr...
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Day 19: Muslim extremists — praying for our enemies By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Our Nigerian brother in Christ and another pastor were abducted last Friday by Fulani herdsmen, who demanded a ransom of ten million Naira (about US$30,000). Many in our network of ministries bowed their hearts and fell to their knees on behalf of these two men. C4C Canada coordinator Brandy Fisher felt the need to ask her church family to stand and pray for this crisis on Sunday morning. After worship a man approached Brandy. “He was sweating he was so n...
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Day 18: Overcoming obstacles, part 2 — A history of conflict and contempt By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ Centuries ago, a war raged between those who fought under the Cross and those who fought under the Crescent. Brutal and bloody battles were waged under the flag of Christendom and that of the Muslim world. Both supposedly waged war in the name of God. Not only was each side driven by their devotion to God, they were compelled by duty, honor and fear. In the end, after nearly 200 years of conflict, an estimated 1.7 million people died. This war &mda...
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Day 17: The honor/shame culture, part 2 — Who I am By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Harran, Turkey near the border of Syria. (Photo by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Ararat 2015) Roland Muller wrote of having served among Arabs for 20 years when he was sharing with a fellow missionary about his struggles communicating the Gospel with Muslims. “His offhand comment completely changed my world: ‘That’s because Arabs live in a shame-based culture.’” It was the first time Muller had heard the term “shame-based culture.” As ...
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Day 16: Sharing the Gospel, part 3 — Persevering in prayer By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ Praying for a Muslim woman in Indonesia. Although we covered a handful of basic similarities between Islam and Christianity on Day 11 of Project Prayer: Ramadan 2016, there are many more considerable differences that can seem almost insurmountable. These obstacles can seem like mighty mountains making it nearly impossible for a follower of Islam to become a follower of Jesus. But, our Lord has some interesting things to say concerning His ability to move mountai...
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Day 15: Understanding Islam, part 3 — Beliefs and duties By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ The principles and practices of the religion of Islam are vast. Any honest Imam or Islamic scholar would likely admit that there is much that even he doesn’t know about the Muslim faith. One could spend a lifetime of study and still have much more to learn. That said, there are six basic doctrinal beliefs and five key duties of Islam. Six beliefs We briefly covered the six basic beliefs of Islam on Day 10. They are: Belief in the absolute unity and s...
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Day 14: Entering rooms in the House of Islam – East Africa By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Delivering sleeping mats and food during Mission: Malawi 2016 in March. (Photo by Gary Fallesen) When southern Malawi flooded in January 2015 Muslims flocked to help those affected by troubling water. Many Christians converted to Islam after receiving help from these Muslims, said Damson Samson, Climbing For Christ’s missionary to East Africa. “In Malawi, many Muslims are observing Ramadan (in 2016) and their population is growing more t...
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Day 13: Something is happening! New ways for new movements Used with permission of “30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World” (www.pray30days.org)   Islamic State! Al-Qaeda! Boko Haram! These radical Islamic terror groups invade our news every day in stories of destruction and fleeing refugees that will make history. But there’s an even greater story unfolding across the Muslim world. Islam is the fastest growing major religion, and has been growing since its inception in the Arabian Desert nearly 14 centuries ago. Every year, Islam adds more than the populatio...
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Day 12: Overcoming obstacles, part 1 — Family, familiarity and fear By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ Just imagine… As far back as your mind can take you, you have fond memories of going to church with your parents and siblings. At Sunday School, you sang Christian songs and recited Bible verses. You watched your mom and dad practice their faith, and learned to do the same. They’ve always been devout Christians and would talk to you often about stories from the Bible – especially when you had a problem. It always seemed to help you un...
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Day 11: Sharing the Gospel, part 2 — Simply Jesus By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ With Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and its many denominations of Protestantism, the whole of Christendom contains vast variety. The House of Islam (Dar al-Islam) is no different. Among the world’s Muslims we find various traditions, beliefs and social nuances. Unfortunately, many of these differences result in a house divided even to the point of violence. In Islam, there are two main sects: Sunni and Shi’a (or Shi’ite). According the Pew Research Cent...
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Day 10: Understanding Islam, part 2 By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ There are many routes up mountains such as Kilimanjaro. But, Matthew 7:13 tells us, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.” (Photo by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Kilimanjaro 2008) My Muslim friend sat on a boulder looking up at the peak of the mountain we were climbing. He pointed to the distant trails ascending toward the summit and noted how they all ended at the ...
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Day 9: Entering rooms in the House of Islam — Turkey By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   Sign of the times: burned-out vehicles litter a trail on Mount Ararat. (Photos by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Ararat 2014) The story goes: the government started building a road up the lower slopes of Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey until it was blocked by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The PKK, long branded a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States, allegedly set construction vehicles on fire to stop the road work. The burned-out veh...
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Day 8: Entering rooms in the House of Islam — Nigeria By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ He was forced to appear before the District Head of Koma, a Muslim leader in northeastern Nigeria. Pastor Chris Joseph had no idea what awaited. “On reaching the Muslim monarch’s palace, I saw stern-looking people entering his palace with their shoes or sandals removed for half a kilometer,” Chris recalled in a report on recent Climbing For Christ ministry. “I also removed my shoes and entered his palace. “We all sat on the carpet in his ...
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Day 7: Entering rooms in the House of Islam — Pakistan By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ Our Pakistani brother in Christ started Ramadan with a prayer request: “As you know, we are working to reach the lost souls with the Word of God. He chose us to serve Him. Praise the LORD, me and my whole family are serving the LORD. We are serving the LORD since 2008. We are reaching many people with the Word of God and preaching to them. Praise the LORD (that) every day many have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. “(But) every day we are facin...
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Day 6: What’s so radical about loving Muslims? By John Becker Walter Casper IV reads to students tutored by C4C Indonesia. (Photo by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Indonesia 2007) Some evangelicals are building bridges into Muslim communities as they willfully refuse the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has proliferated public media and opinion post-9/11. What’s the motivation? Simply taking seriously Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as our self. Loving our Muslim neighbors should be no more radical than loving any other neighbor; it’s the most fundamen...
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Day 5: The Muslim unengaged By Mike Latsko A Sunda man receives a New Testament from a C4C Indonesia member. The Sunda are the 10th largest unreached people group in the world (at 36.7 million), according to the Joshua Project. (Photo by Gary Fallesen, Mission: Indonesia 2007) Ministry in the Muslim world is a bundle of contradictions. Never in the history of the world have there been so many Muslims coming to Christ! Or churches planted among them. Or Christians burdened to pray, be trained in witness, or proactively pursuing Christ-like friendship. On the other hand, 52 ...
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Day 4: Sharing the Gospel, part 1 — Truth and love, no compromise By Jordan Rowley, spiritual coordinator, Climbing For Christ   Gary Fallesen prays for a blind Kurdish man, Yusuf, whom he befriended on missions to eastern Turkey from 2013 to 2015. He prayed that Yusuf, a Muslim, would have dreams about Christ and through them realize Jesus is the One true God. (Photo by Elaine Fallesen, Mission: Ararat 2015) When we’re talking about witnessing for Jesus Christ, truth and love go hand in hand. They are two sides to the same coin. United they stand, divided they f...
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Day 3: The honor/shame culture, part 1 By Gary Fallesen, founding president, Climbing For Christ   All cultures are not created equally. (Infographic by Global Mapping International) Sean Ranger, as the Climbing For Christ member came to be known, spent more than three years serving in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco (a nation of 33.6 million that is 99.6 percent Muslim and 0.2 percent Christian). He was part of our first Mission: Morocco team. Sean came from a guilt-based culture in the West and found himself in a shame-based culture in North Africa. Cultural differences ...
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