Lebanon (MNN) — How can Western Christians understand the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East? Pierre Houssney of Horizons International says the Engaging Islam Institute tackles this barrier by presenting Christianity from a Middle Eastern cultural perspective.
Houssney says, “People have this underlying assumption that Christianity is a Western religion, that we’re trying to translate it culturally or contextualize it into the Middle East. But a lot of the time, we get feedback from our students saying we helped them to understand that Christianity is actually a Middle Eastern movement, that Jesus was a Middle Easterner.”
“We’re actually helping re-invite these Western Christians back to where Christianity came from in the Middle East.”
Taking notes during a recent Engaging Islam Institute event. (Photo courtesy of Horizons International on Facebook)
The audience for this course? Anyone in the Church who wants to study the Middle East and Islam. According to Houssney, “The curriculum was developed to equip anybody who wants to serve among Muslims in sharing the Gospel on a wide range of topics, including evangelism, discipleship, Islamics, understanding the culture, and understanding missiology, which is the study of missions.”
The future of the course
Houssney says the course would normally take about two months to complete. This fall, Horizons international will be launching the Engaging Islam Academy, so people will be able to take the course at their own pace year-round.
Visit the Horizons International website here.
This is a historic time to minister to Muslims, Houssney says. “Muslims around the world, despite what you would see on the news, are coming to Christ in droves. They are in desperate need of discipleship. They are so open to the Gospel, actually much more open to the Gospel than your average American.”
The header image is courtesy of Horizons International on Facebook.
