Friendship First

Resources > Enabling all Christians > Getting started > Friendship first

Friendship First - helping ordinary Christians to discuss good news with ordinary Muslims

The Friendship First Course is an interactive, non-specialist course in six-sessions. It enables Christians to approach their Muslim friends with confidence by equipping them with the skill and resources needed to be an effective witness to Jesus Christ.

Growing from an initial response to the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks the Friendship First approach has grown into a successful course now running across Britain and beyond. It has transformed the way Christians relate the gospel to the Muslims they come into contact with.

The Friendship First Course is a resource to equip Christians with vision, confidence, skills and resources to make friends with Muslim people and to share their greatest gift of love which is Jesus Christ himself. This is not just a job for ‘specialists’, but for the whole church.

This six session course is for believing Christians from all walks of life. It aims to give them:

• A positive attitude towards their Muslim neighbours in Britain

• Relevant Knowledge about Islam and Muslim Cultures

• Sufficient skills to make a start in personal friendship and witness

It can be used in home groups in local churches, Christian Unions in universities, or larger seminar settings - and it works well on Zoom!

Click here for more information

Joining the Family

Resources > Enabling all Christians > Getting started > Joining the family

Joining the family -  equipping churches to be family to believers from Muslim backgrounds

  
Why is ‘Joining the Family’ needed?

Today in Britain growing numbers of Muslims are choosing to follow Jesus Christ. They want to join Christ’s community, whether in British churches or in same-background fellowships.

Joining the Family is an initiative to help Churches in the West to understand, love, equip and learn from Christ’s followers of Muslim heritage (BMBs). One of the elements of this initiative has been to develop a course for use by churches in the UK and other countries which are seeking to welcome new believers from a Muslim background.                                                                                                                                                         

 How is the course designed?

Course objectives are for local church members to:

• Compassionately understand and explore issues that believers of Muslim background face, by listening carefully to them

• Be equipped to welcome, care for, disciple and ‘be family’ for these believers

• Consider how their church may be enriched through their insights, gifts and cultures

The course method combines film interviews with guided discussion in small groups. Each session ends with a practical learning activity to do before next time. The course comprises DVD clips, a participants workbook and a facilitators guide so that church groups can run the course themselves without outside help.

The course contains six sessions, covering the following topics:

1. Journeys to Jesus (the testimonies of Muslims turning to Jesus)

2. The Pearl of Great Price (the cost and joys of following Christ)

3. Welcome to the Family (how local churches can ‘be family’ for these believers)

4. A blessing for our churches (how we can benefit from what these believers bring us)

5. Ambassadors for Jesus (believers relating to their Muslim families and communities)

Wherever possible these groups will include one or more believers of Muslim background so that others can learn directly from their insights and deepen the mutual friendships.

 Who is producing this course?

The ‘Joining the Family’ core group comprises of cross cultural experts and believers of Muslim background (BMBs), church leaders and disciplers connected with several mission agencies.
 
The production is by Carfax Media, with help from Elam Ministries, and the resources are published by Interserve.
 
The teaching content comes from 25 interviews with believers of Muslim background and experienced mentors speaking from the heart.

There are a number of materials that make up the ‘Joining The Family’ resource:

• Course Pack (£40.00) which contains everything you need to get the course up and running

• A Facilitator’s Guide (£9.99) for those leading the course with groups

• Participant’s Workbook (£9.99) for individuals on the course

• ‘Joining the Family’ Book (£2.99) which gives the background to the course

Click here for more information about Joining the Family

Courses to Get Started

Courses for Christians to get started with sharing faith with Muslims

Resources > Enabling all Christians > Getting started > Courses to get started

Friendship First Course

The Friendship First Course is a four session video-based course with a varied mix of experienced speakers and personal stories, supported by learning activities and group discussion.

The course is ideal for smaller groups meeting in person, but it can also be adapted for larger groups and/or meeting online. It aims to help Christians to build unconditional friendships with Muslim neighbours and colleagues, encouraging a deeper understanding of one another's faiths and cultures, sharing life, extending the love of Jesus through our words and actions, and building opportunities to bear sensitive Christian witness where appropriate.

Encountering Muslims

Encountering Muslims is an introductory 12-session course which has greater breadth and depth than some others. The course enables participants to learn about Muslims, how to reach them and inspires prayer for the Muslim world. Several lessons include material and perspectives that have only recently been making their way into national and international conversations. EWI is also available in different languages: Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish

Click here for more info about EWI

Sharing Lives Course

The Sharing Lives Course, taught in hundreds of churches across Europe, is now available online for everyone who is interested to begin to share their lives with Muslims. 

The course addresses the attitude of fear and prejudice that that hinders Christians sharing their lives with their Muslim neighbours. It encourages Christians to exemplify the Gospel of grace and the grace of the Gospel when relating to Muslims. Although the course includes some teaching about the core concepts, beliefs and practices of Islam, its focus is not Islam, but Muslims.  

Through Sharing Lives Christians become motivated and equipped to share their lives with Muslims and in this context also the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   

The course consists of five lessons:

1. Our view of Islam

2. Developing an attitude of grace

3. Understanding Muslims

4. Meeting with Muslims

5. Building relationships that last

 The printed course books are available in 12 different languages.  The online course includes several videos that introduce this material. Consequently participants can go through the course material, using videos and assignments that can be downloaded. There is also additional material for those who would like to start teaching the course in their home group or church. People can go through the material, individually or as group, at their own speed. There are 15 videos of 5-17 minutes in length and to process the material there are 12 different assignments. To do the whole course will take about 8 hours.

Find more information here

Various Training Opportunities

A list from Global Connections.