We hope this testimony from our very own missionary evangelist, Daniel Bayssassew, will encourage you in your gospel witness with followers of Islam!
Since the school semester came to an end, my GO Team has moved from McMaster University and has relocated to downtown Hamilton. It is a heavy foot traffic area with so much brokenness! One of the features of our evangelism these days is the number of Muslims we engage with.
On our YouTube channel you can find several conversations with Muslims over the years, including THIS ONE.
Sometimes when people hear that I do street evangelism they will ask about conversations with Muslims, and they find it surprising to hear that we have mostly pleasant, respectful conversations with them.
Muslims are often easier to engage with because from their perspective they believe they need to evangelize us! In Islam they call evangelism “dawah”. Sometimes, to appeal to their responsibility to share with us, I will say to a Muslim, “I have questions about Islam”, which will get their attention.
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with a young Somalian man named Zach.
It is said that to be Somalian is to be Muslim. According to Open Doors, Somalia is the second most dangerous countries to be a Christian, only topped by North Korea. It is estimated that only 0.1% of Somalians are Christians. At one point in my life, I was burdened to pray consistently for Somalians. I have a personal connection with Somalia. My dad was a refugee from Ethiopia in the 80’s and he spent 5 years in a Somalian prison. He introduced me to Somalian food, which is really good. Somalians eat everything with bananas, which they call “moos”. After I expressed my appreciation of Somalian cuisine to Zach, I engaged him the way I do all Muslims.
Focus on the Historical Event
My approach with Muslims is always the same. Laying out the historical event of the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, I stress that the gospels record eyewitness accounts of these events, including the 40 days that Jesus remained on earth after his resurrection. I proceed to explain how the disciples obeyed the great commission, and that the books of the Bible were codified. Then I will say, “600 years after all of that, a man named Muhammad was in a cave, and an “angel” came to him and told him a different story. I will then ask, “Why do you believe the angel’s account over the eyewitness accounts?” Then I will point to this verse:
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8)
Over the years I have realized that Muslims do not have a category for fallen angels, so sharing this verse with them is very helpful. Then I begin teaching the biblical gospel. With Zach, I also opened a Quran to show him that it affirms the Bible.
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O People of the Book! You have nothing to stand on unless you observe the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.” (Surah 5:68)
This approach is called “The Islamic Dilemma”, popularized by Apologist David Wood as seen HERE.
After we spoke with Zach, we gave him a Bible and some gospel tracts, as well as our church contact info. He expressed reservations about having a physical Bible since his mother might find it and freak out. So, we helped him download a Bible app on his phone so that he could read it discreetly.
We Didn’t Even Need a Plane!
We have been trying to keep track of all the nationalities of people we engage with so that at the end of the year we can see the scope of nations from here in Ontario. Here are some of the majority Muslim nations our GO Team has interacted with so far this year:
