Evangelism through the eye of a needle

Christians who use the "Camel Method" in an attempt to evangelize Muslims refer to God as Allah, a practice that has caused a great deal of controversy, but that's not the only reason some oppose it.

The strategy, in which a Christian uses the Quran to talk to a Muslim about Jesus, was highlighted in a June 2007 article in the Christian Index, the state Baptist newspaper in Georgia. Jerry Rankin, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, talked about the Camel Method, which his organization promotes.

The Index article mentions several objections to the method, including Christians using the name Allah for God. Some think that using that term means that missionaries are affirming the Muslim view of Allah, according to the article.

Rankin calls that notion preposterous.

"In a cross-cultural witness you use the language of the people and you use whatever terminology they have for God."

Some Muslims take great offense at Christians using Allah to refer to God. Violence broke out in Malaysia when a judge ruled that Christians there could continue the practice.

Another criticism of the Camel Method is that it does not require Muslims who become Christians to renounce their Muslim identity, suggesting that they continue to view God and Christ through a Muslim worldview.

“The Camel Method does not advocate that, but advocates being Christian while retaining your ethnic identity in that Muslim culture,” Rankin said.

The Index article prompted a letter from David Mills, assistant professor of evangelism and associate dean for applied ministries at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mills compared the Camel Method to how he said Mormons use the Bible when talking with their neighbors.

"The Mormon does not believe it, but he knows the neighbor does, so he portrays himself as a Bible believer."

Mills encouraged missionaries to forgo the Camel Method and instead "use some of the superior methods of Muslim evangelism our seminaries offer."

Mills' letter led to a "clarification" from IMB executive vice president Clyde Meador.

"Helping a Muslim to see that his own book tells him that he should be interested in Christ is often an effective way of opening the door to a gospel witness. It is a proven method that has opened the door to Truth to untold numbers of Muslims in many parts of the world, and continues to do so today."

Mike Morris, a Baptist blogger in Tennessee, used the Camel Method in a conversation with a Muslim imam, who is an Islamic leader. The imam, who obviously knew his religion, didn't respond as literature for the evangelism strategy suggested a Muslim might.

For example, the Camel Method suggests talking about a Muslim festival Korbani Eid, which includes a sacrifice as a way of beginning a conversation about the New Testament concept of salvation. The imam said, however, that the festival was about obedience rather than a transfer of guilt.

"For solid, well-trained Muslims such as the imam, the festival cannot be utilized as a bridge to the Christian understanding of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross," Morris said.

Bart Barber, another Baptist blogger, has written a number of posts that deal with the Camel Method. (A list can be found here.) Barber believes the strategy violates the IMB's own guidelines.

In the Christian Index article, Rankin reveals the Camel Method's origin.

“This is not a method of witness that we have contrived in order to reach Muslims. It is something that Muslim-background believers were using effectively to share their faith within their Muslim communities."

But a strategy that works well for former Muslims with an established level of trust can seem downright deceitful when practiced by Christians without that background.

The Camel Method's web site has four endorsements of the strategy, including one from David Garrison, who edited a workshop based on the method:

Every great work of God provokes a predictable backlash from Satan, as his domain is threatened. The Camel method has been no exception.

Neither the Camel Method's supporters nor its detractors have acted in a manner that indicates they're in league with the devil. But the method itself is the wrong way to accomplish what well-meaning people believe is the right thing.

Evangelism repositioned, de-acidified, sugar- and money-coated

Gone are the halcyon days of Jerry Falwell declaring 9/11 the result of "throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked." Evangelism, writes Sarah Posner in the Guardian, has been "rebranded:"

The re-branding was the product of evangelicalism's survival instinct in the face of the parody-ready Falwell prototype. One of America's leading evangelicals is now Rick Warren, whose mega-bestseller, The Purpose-Driven Life (2002), begins:

"This is more than a book; it is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important question: What on earth am I here for?"

The new evangelicals write books not about how God will smite you, but how God loves you and wants nothing more than your greatest personal, spiritual, and material fulfillment. The middle of the decade saw the publication of televangelist Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential (2004) and TD Jakes' Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits (2007). Joyce Meyer's Seven Things That Steal Your Joy: Overcoming the Obstacles to Your Happiness (2004) and Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone (2005) are equally at home at Bible study and coffee klatch, in the church bookstore and at Wal-Mart.

Oh, my.

Unspinning Lifeway/North American Mission Board survey

Spinning a survey which shows evangelism is surpassingly difficult, the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) LifeWay Research and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) both say "most people would attend [church] if invited in the right manner."

The sometimes credibility-challenged NAMB commissioned the survey in preparation for its national "God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS)" evangelism drive, to be launched in 2010.

Buried in the body of the "spun" NAMB summary is a plain statement that the survey of more than 15,000 adults in December 12-22, 2008, found that "personal invitations from family members or friends is the only method that a majority of Americans say would effectively draw them to church." And by ubstituting could for would and you get a straight, unspun lede for the story.

Your see, presentation data provided by Lifeway director Ed Stetzer shows that 34% of those surveyed are "somewhat willing" and 22% are "very willing" to receive information from a friend or neighbor about a local church or religious community. From family members, it's 37% and 26% respectively.

"Somewhat willing," the largest positive group in both cases, may include everyone who is willing to listen politely, rather than either change the subject or just get up and go home.

A little field experience with these conversations will teach almost anyone that it is a long step beyond persuading wayward family members and neighbors to (perhaps impatiently) receive information, and having them show up at church.

The friends (22%) and family members (26%) who are "very willing" to listen aren't necessarily willing to attend church in response either.

That may be why "Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it," as Stetzer put it. A lot of Baptists are likely to have had had ample try-and-fail experience with unchurched family members, neighbors and others. Especially, as the survey suggests, others.

If GPS is a hard sell, the current difficulty of evangelism isn't the only reason. Years of controversy over SBC numbers -- not just the NAMB but also the International Mission Board and some state organizations -- make this a good time to be as transparent as possible.

Actions like Stetzer's provision of additional data [PowerPoint] are the best medicine for skepticism. As former North Carolina Biblical Recorder Editor R.G. Puckett often put it, "Tell the truth and trust the people."

Baptists worry if enough spent on evangelism

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

Geoff Hammond, head of the denomination’s North American Mission Board, based in Alpharetta, told Southern Baptists at its national convention last summer of the launch of a long-range evangelism program with $1 million in initial funding, according to a Baptist Press report. But the budget presented in late 2008 showed zero dollars for that program.

A national missions committee leader resigned his chairmanship in protest over the new budget, and the mission board scrambled to say it was all a misunderstanding.

The Baptists will spend $750,000 on the program in 2009 on training and advertising in five states, including Georgia, mission board spokesman Brandon Pickett said. The money was not on the budget because it is left over from a 2006 program.

Still, that is less than the $1 million announced by Hammond, and some Southern Baptists think they see less emphasis on the evangelism that helped them add members and grow churches for decades.

We recommend the entire story [Here].