Caring for Converts

Reaching Out 

Through the Caring for Converts Fund, your gift provides for the needs of converts from Islam.  We always partner with a trusted National leader, ensuring that the funds are used to meet the real needs of a new believer in the Islamic world.

 

Give now to the Caring for Converts Fund; enable local ministries to give food and safe shelter to converts, and provide Christian instruction and community.

 

 

Anyone who leaves Islam to follow Christ is a target; he or she may be persecuted by state officials, fired by their employer, disowned by their parents, and ostracized by their friends. Islam is a religious and political system that encompasses every aspect of life. Often, you are a Muslim because you were born a Muslim; leaving Islam will earn you the label "apostate" and your life is forefeit. 

The stakes are high, yet God is drawing many Muslims to Himself! Through the testimony of Christian believers, radio and television broadcasts, and Bible correspondence courses, the Gospel is being proclaimed!  

 
Here's the latest news about this project . . .
The Unseen Idol of Islam
October 1, 2012

Converts from Islam face internal confusion as well as external persecution. Progressive imams and scholars, especially in the West, maintain that Christians and Muslims essentially worship the same God. Our Turkish ministry partner “Amir” vehemently disagrees. Here he unpacks some of the difference between the God of the Bible and the Allah of the Qur’an. 

 

“First of all, Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. The Muslim's god, Allah, was a name of an idol in Mecca. When Mohammed destroyed the idols he made a declaration proclaiming that the only god was Allah. You see, he had destroyed the seen gods (idols) and replaced them with an unseen god…but still an idol. (Of course, if you say these things to a Muslim he won't be happy with you; he’ll probably get very angry).

When we read the Qur’an and the Bible, we see the differences between their god and our God. For one thing, the Qur’an does not recognize Jesus as God. It only recognizes Him as one of the prophets. It also does not recognize the salvation brought to us by Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. If God and Allah are the same, can we say that Allah and Jesus are the same?

Our God explains Himself in three persons who are still one God - but we certainly don't see this in the Qur’an. Muslims do not believe the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? Is He not God (Acts 5:3–4)?  If God and Allah are the same, can we say that Allah and the Holy Spirit are the same?

Does the god of the Qur’an explain any way we can receive salvation from our sins? No! Instead, it teaches that even if you are a Muslim you may first have to go to hell and pay the price for your sins and then Allah may choose to put you in paradise.

Their god does not providean absolutely certain way for salvation, even if you are a good Muslim! So, how can we say that their god and our God are the same?

In the Qur’an, Allah says that he created hell to fill it with demons and people. In the Bible God says that He wants to give life in Jesus and He desires to save all people (2 Peter 3:9). Are God and Allah the same?

To those who think Islam is “close enough” to Christianity that all good Muslims will be in heaven – no. Those who trust in Allah will not be in heaven because they do not have salvation in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (Acts 4:12).  Islam is not “close enough” to Christ’s salvation; in fact, you cannot find salvation in even a bit of Islam!

In the Old Testament we see that people (Jews) tried to be “close enough” but they were not able to obtain salvation through trying to follow the commandments of the Lord (Galatians 2:21). Then how can we say that Muslims will be in heaven?

The Qur’an is a man-made way for people try to reach up to God, but the Bible is the way God reaches out to people. Salvation is only found in Jesus Christ. It is not in Mohammed. It is not in the Qur’an.”

“Amir” and his wife “Ceyda” are engaged in church planting and evangelism in Turkey. 

Report from Chad
December 8, 2011

Pastor ‘Mbarra,’ our ministry partner in Ghana, recently visited a very poor community in Chad: 

I preached to about 1,000 believers, encouraging them from Jeremiah 1:1-19. I reminded them that the prophet’s father was a failure, a rejected priest from Anathoth, a town reserved for rejected people. Yet God called the prophet from this rejected town to speak to five kings! When Jeremiah lost everything and was persecuted, his only encouragement was God’s promise (v.8): ‘Don’t be afraid, I will be with you and rescue you.’  Age, gender, tribe, experience, etc., are not the most important things. What matters most is God’s presence in our lives to accomplish great things to honor Him!

Even though it is not wrong to feel inadequate, our inadequacies should not lead us to despair. God chooses us to qualify us for what He wants us do wherever we find ourselves. Wherever God’s finger points, His hand will provide. But we all need to take heed of two cautions in the passage before us:

1.     Never underestimate God and His Word. God’s word would surely come to pass. God never goes back on His word.  Jesus is coming soon! We need to be ready!

2.     Never overestimate evil. Evil cannot triumph in the end. Evil will disappoint us. It does not last. Clever alliances, cheating, and cutting corners will not help us.

If God gives the strength, no power of the enemy shall overcome (v.18). Like Jeremiah we should never fail to share what God has given us. We must be engaged in organic evangelism, having intentional love for others to bring them to Christ, making sure everything we do is an act of worship to God.We need to engage in critical thinking and be creative. Plan for the future. Take risk. Diversify the use of our resources. We need to work hard and depend on God until Jesus returns!”

To crown my sermon, I told them the story I heard about a king, who had an assistant who saw something good in every bad situation. 

One day the king and his assistant went hunting in a far-off country. As they pitched their tent, the king buried his gold pot in the ground. They hunted several days to no avail. Then they had an antelope. In attempt to cut the tail of the animal, the king cut his thumb off. Guess what the servant said? He said: ‘It was very good you cut your thumb!” Furious the king insulted the servant and drove him away. Later that night, some armed robbers attacked the king and stole his gold. Before they left, one of the robbers proposed that they sacrifice the king to their idol. Just before they slaughtered him, they discovered his missing thumb, and decided it made him unsuitable for sacrifice. Thus the king’s life was spared. When morning came, he went searching for his servant. Seeing him under a tree, the king begged him to forgive him and recounted how he was spared by the thieves. The servant asked the king to stop thanking him! Instead, the servant thanked the king for insulting him and driving him away, because otherwise the robbers would have sacrificed him to their idol as he had both of his thumbs!

Whatever happens to us in life can be used for good if we walk with the Lord. It was no accident for Jeremiah to hail from Anathoth – a town of nothingness. And just as the Lord changed Jeremiah’s situation, in the same way He can help us today! We can be the Jeremiahs of our times!

Urgent Opportunity! Send a convert to pastor training!
August 18, 2011

"Paul," a Christian convert from Islam, knows what it's like to be persecuted for the sake of Christ. After this young man, a computer programmer in central Asia, came to know the Lord, he experienced rejection and hostility from his closest friends and family. Thankfully, the same missionary that first witnessed to Paul also pastored a house church, and Paul's faith was strengthened through fellowship with other believers. He was baptized in 2003, and when the missionary was kicked out of the country, Paul stepped up. Today, he pastors the 7-year-old house church and eagerly desires to use his God-given talents to spread the Gospel (he speaks four languages and has deep insights into his culture). Praise God, Paul was recently accepted at a pastor training program where he can receive Biblical instruction. Thanks to the support of believers around the world, God has provided about two-thirds of the funds Paul needs ($6,000 USD)!

 If you want to help us close the gap, please mark your donation “Caring for Converts.”  Any funds received in excess of his needs will go to assist other converts from Islam. 

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