LONG BEACH, California - An evangelist from northern Ghana has told Christians to reach out to the Muslim world by first getting to know Muslims near to them, instead of "sniping people with Bible verses".
It's easy to "know Muslims as immigrants from other countries", noted Dr John Azumah, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and speaker at the Inside-Out Conference in Long Beach, California, last weekend.
"In my country, they're at worst a neighbour," continued the former Muslim who says he still has friends who follow Islam. Muslims are "not a nameless, faceless creature somewhere".
"A Muslim has a name, has a face," he said. But many Christians "don't know them".
"They're strangers to us," he confessed.
During a plenary session on Saturday, Azumah shared four steps that Christians can take to reach out to followers of the religion followed by 24 per cent of the world's population.
The first step, he said, was to know Muslims as people, as individuals, and as neighbours.
"Show interest in knowing their beliefs, fears, and joys," he said.
Second, Christians need to engage with Muslims as "light" and "salt of the world", not as "flashlights" or "fires".
"Light and salt are only meaningful when they come in contact with food or darkness," he said.
But Azumah discouraged believers from being "flashlights", which he said some Christians tend to be, because pointing light directly into people's eyes will more likely make them cover their eyes or turn away.
"Do not go sniping people with Bible verses," he exhorted. "Engage them and show that you love them before you show verses.
"Stop the flashlight approach and become lanterns," he said, noting how lanterns provide light in a non-imposing way.
