Resources > Engaging Muslims> Engaging as individuals > Discovery Bible Studies
Discovery Bible Studies - guiding Muslims through the Bible as they discover God’s redemptive plan and learn obedience to His word. These studies are an integral part of the Discipleship Making Movement model of Church planting.
Click here for an explanation of Discovery Bible Studies, details of the Discover app and helpful books on the subject
Resources > Engaging Muslims> Engaging as individuals > Prophets’ Stories
Prophets’ Stories This resource is a tool which enables groups of “every day” Muslim and Christian people to talk about what we understand about God, through the listening of and telling of the same prophet's story from both the Qur'an and the Bible. It is ideal for those working in the context of church projects which serve Muslim people in their neighbourhood, Friendship Houses, or those who have opportunity to share faith conversations on a regular basis. The resource enables you to get beyond surface level friendship and promotes deeper engagement around the character of God with Muslim friends.
A one day training seminar / 3 hour webinar is offered before access to the resource.
Click here for enquiries
Resources > Engaging Muslims> Engaging as individuals > Al Massira
Al Massira is a DVD-based course for use with groups of Muslim people who are ready to take a journey of exploration as to who the Messiah is via travelling through the biblical account of the stories of the prophets. This very engaging course anticipates and addresses the common issues about the Messiah that many struggle with and uncovers the meaning of the signs of the prophets. The DVDs are available in English and Arabic or there is dubbing in several languages. Training in utilising Al Massira is required, currently available on Zoom.
Click here for more details
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God’s big picture > God’s Big Picture - Facts and Figures
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:26-27
In the UK today there are peoples from all over the earth; even peoples from places that are hard to get to either for geographical or political reasons. Some peoples here number hundreds of thousands, some just a few tens. God has brought the least reached to our postcodes, so that they can ‘reach out for him and find him.’ (For more about unreached/unengaged peoples click here)
The following facts and figures help us understand more about who and where these peoples are.
In the 2011 census there were 2,706,066 Muslims in the UK or 4.5% of population.
In 2017 Pew Research estimated that Muslims in UK numbered 4.1 million, or 6.3 of population
Click here to see more figures from Pew Research.
The vast majority of Muslims in the UK live in England.
Approximately half of all Muslims were born in the UK, and half are under 25 years old.
In the 2011 census the largest groups were:
1.1 million Muslims identified as Pakistani, now estimated as 1.5 million. It is estimated about 75% of these further identify as Mirpuri.
500,000 identified as Bangladeshi, mostly from Sylhet, now estimated as 600,000, 70% of these live in London, particularly Tower Hamlets
500,000 identified as Turks; 60% of whom are Turkish Cypriots
100,000 identified as Somalis – but as there was no tick box for Somali, the true number is thought to be between 250,000 and 400,000
250,000 identified as ‘white’ Muslims, mostly from the Balkans
150,000 identified as Indians
85,000 identified as Iranians
There are estimated to be 70 -80,000 Afghans, mostly in London
In the 2011 census there were 1 million Muslims in London, 255,000 in Birmingham, 130,000 in Bradford and 80,000 in Manchester
The top 10 local authorities in England and Wales with the highest percentage of Muslims in 2011 were:
London Borough of Tower Hamlets 35% or 88,000
London Borough of Newham 32% or 98,000
Blackburn with Darwen 27% or 39,000
Bradford 25% or 130,000
Luton 25% or 50,000
London Borough of Redbridge 23% or 65,000
Slough 23% or 33,000
London Borough of Waltham Forest 22% or 57,000
Birmingham 22% or 255,000
Leicester 19% or 61,000
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God at work > God at work - in the UK
Teaching English is a good opportunity to make contact with those women who wouldn’t normally attend groups or, for some, even come out of the house. The UK government now includes a knowledge of English as essential for granting visas and stays so even the most conservative of families send their women to English classes.
Alongside covering subjects such as visiting the doctor and shopping we include scripture stories. Creation introduces some basic vocab and simple sentences for the very beginners and we progress on to stories of the prophets known both to our Christian and Muslim learners. Following on from understanding the story, discussions have been had on sacrifice, forgiveness, trust etc at a level the class can understand and identify with.
From there we turn to stories of Jesus, pointing out that the Christmas and Easter story are important for them to know for the ‘life in the UK test’. The stories of Jesus’ interaction with women are always well accepted and leads to many discussions.
Whilst we need to still be wise about the stories we tell, and the way they are told, we have never had any objections or withdrawals from class due to the Christian aspect of the course, in fact the ladies love to hear that Jesus cared for women.
September 2022
Lockdown has brought many challenges but also opportunities. In our English classes we have always told a bible story as part of the session and we have continued this as we have taken classes on line.
We told the story of Moses and the 10 commandments (not my favourite story to tell as I feel we are setting down law rather than grace) but we explained the commandments as well as we could using simple pictures on a powerpoint. We than asked the ladies to go away and try to write down what they remember and send it back on WhatsApp, which they do sporadically.
But that week I received a very long message from a Bengali lady which had almost been copied out of the bible-‘ thou shalt....’, ‘thou shalt not....’ and ‘it will go well with you in the land’.
Obviously copied BUT someone (and I suspect not the learner) had taken the time to google/search for the wording. The story had led someone in that family to read scripture for themselves! We praise God for this and pray them, and others like them, will hear the Living Word spoken in to their lives as they ‘research’ the homework. May the Spirit move!
Next we start the Christmas story- let’s see what that produces.........
November 2020
There’s a facebook page for Syrians in the UK. Fatima posted on it that she and her daughter had been moved to a country town where they didn’t know anyone and were really lonely. A Syrian in another town saw it and told her friend Janet, a Christian from the local Mahabba group who had befriended her. Janet contacted Mahabba and asked if anyone knew of any Christians in the country town. Yes, there’s a Mahabba group there! Within two days of an email to the local coordinator, ladies were visiting Fatima and now she is no longer alone. What a lovely picture of the Mahabba network working together.
Iranians arriving at a resettlement centre are being introduced to Jesus, either by Christian Iranian migrants or by local Christian volunteers. One of these volunteers contacted Mahabba to see if local groups could carry on the befriending when these migrants are moved to other towns, often alone and desperate for friendship. The response from people has been wonderful. One man, Farid, had found Jesus and been baptised at the resettlement centre. Within a few days of being moved, thanks to the local Mahabba group he has been taken along to church, been introduced to two Iranian believers, been invited to attend ESOL classes and an English conversation group, invited to a midweek community lunch and to play football! He is so happy
Ladies from a local Mahabba group knew of an asylum seeking family and were able to make a ‘socially distanced’ garden visit, taking a gift box from the local church. They were warmly welcomed. They were then moved to another town; people from the Mahabba group there were contacted and it turns out they live nearby and will soon be visiting!
September 2020
“We started our Mahabba group in 2018 following the Open Doors ‘Month of Ramadan’ prayer initiative. At that time we had a godly gospel-centred Syrian refugee family with us who had been following Jesus for several years. We felt we wanted to support their outreach among the Arabic speaking community, and that the best way would be through a Mahabba prayer group.
Furthermore we had garnered interest among folk at church who had a leaning towards Internationals Ministry, who had also been very active in our Ramadan prayer.
By the time we started we had four Iranian Christian asylum seekers in our church who were anxious to join any ministry that was working with believers from Muslim background. The first meeting, which was hosted by our Syrian family, was less of a formal ‘British’ prayer meeting, and rather a Middle Eastern time of fellowship involving, testimony, singing, food and prayer. The prayer focused in small mixed groups praying in their own language, for families in their home country, salvation and courage in Home Office interviews.
After a couple more meetings we had as many from Muslim background in the group as the English (roughly ten and ten). They came from Syrian, Iranian and Kurdish backgrounds. It was felt it was very much their meeting which I co-ordinated. The English were getting a taste of the Middle East, which by this time included singing and Arabic/Farsi TV and more food than you could shake a stick at – it became a God-given social highlight for them.
We continued to see numbers of believers from Muslim background grow. We started to run weekly Bible studies, one for beginners (Mark’s Gospel) and the other for people who’d been with us a year (Genesis).Our Morning and Evening services were translated live through wireless head sets in Farsi.
We thank God for his grace – we took up the ‘Ramadan prayer initiative’ because we thought it would be a good thing to do – but to be honest, not with any great vision. God answered our prayers anyway and brought more asylum seekers to our church. In his goodness the Lord also gave us a couple of believing Farsi translators – who had a vision for God’s work. Without their gifts we would have struggled to communicate effectively. God also touched the hearts of the English people in the rest of the church who opened their hearts, homes and wallets to needs. It was this as much as anything that grew relationships and gave us retention and growth.
Today, I’m writing in lockdown. We can’t have such social gatherings (although it doesn’t appear to be stopping some in spite my protestations!). Nevertheless, we have managed to master Zoom meetings with various success (not everyone has WiFi – sometimes it’s a matter of what we prioritise data allowances for). And one of the blessings that has come out of this ‘Exile’ is that although many of our former members got moved out of the local hotels to around the country – we have been kept in touch via Zoom every week, feeding these new believers with the Word of God. If it were not for lockdown – we certainly would not have been thinking about continuing our teaching with them. Therefore, we are considering how we can keep the relationships going when things open up again.”
May 2020
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God at work > God at work - in the world
Karl and his family are on a Frontiers team in North Africa. They’ve recently begun using Facebook advertisements (ads) to share scripture verses and find ‘people of peace’ in their city.
Why did your team start using Facebook? Most of us have been living here for a few years, doing business, teaching and sharing our faith with any Muslim neighbours who want to listen. There are a few scattered believers here but still no church in our region. Just over a year ago we began hearing stories from other Frontiers teams who were using Facebook ads and finding many ‘seekers’ in their cities. No one on our team is particularly techie but we decided to learn how it’s done and give it a try.
How did you begin? After some basic training we set up a Facebook page called, ‘The Way of the Messiah’. We then paid to advertise on Facebook. These ads reach people only in our city - anyone interested in Jesus or the Injil (Gospels) is directed to our page. We post simple content here, such as photos of our country with Bible verses in Arabic. People can like, share and comment on our posts.
How do you follow up with people who view your pages? The first stage is done using a ‘chat bot’ we created, which automatically interacts with visitors to our page. It asks, ‘Do you want to know more about who Christ is?’ At this point around 50% leave or send an insulting message. This is OK because we’re looking for those who are genuinely interested in knowing more. When they show interest they are automatically sent a verse each day and invited to do a simple Bible study. They can continue until they opt out. A lot of people do opt out after a while, but it’s a filter for us to find a particular type of person.
What type of people are you looking for? We’ve designed this to find ‘people of peace’; those who are not only interested in the topic but are also sharing with others. They’re easy to spot because the bot asks them ‘Who in your neighbourhood needs to hear this?’ The bot then asks what response they got from their neighbours. Digitally it’s easy to find out who is passing it on.
At what point fo they begin interacting with a human? After early communications with the bot we have digital responders; people who chat online with seekers before we offer to meet with them. A church in another city saw the great need in our region and sent a local believer to bring the gospel here. We became friends and he’s keen to work with us in doing face to face follow up. Like us, he has a big vision to make disciples and start house churches that multiply.
What response have you had? After a few test runs hundreds of people have begun reading passages of scripture on our pages. We also put together some videos about hope in a time of Coronavirus. These went viral. Last time I looked we had 250,000 views in our region and 5,000 people had shared them. One particular man is studying all the material there is. He’s done 4-5 weeks of Bible study and is sharing with his neighbours. He’s now in touch with our local co-worker for follow up. We believe he could be a ‘man of peace’.
So what’s next? There’s so much potential for this to grow but because of our jobs we can only be involved part time. However, we're planning on training a local believer how to use the bot. Once he is ready we are going to place ads covering the entire south of our country in order to find more people of peace. That's very exciting!
Source: Frontiers UK, September 2020
If you open up your doors to a house church in Iran, then your home could be frequently raided and monitored. And if you do happen to go to prison, the prison situation there is appalling.
Despite these issues, Christianity Today reports the Iranian church has grown to around 1 million members. This is according to a survey by GAMAAN, a research group based out of the Netherlands. The survey asked 50,000 Iranians what their belief was. 90% of those surveyed live in Iran.
According to the survey, 1.5% of Iranians are Christians. Extrapolating that out yields a minimum of 750,000 Iranian Christians, but there are also 117,500 Armenian and Assyrian Christians living in the country, putting the actual baseline closer to 867,500 Christians at minimum.
However, Christianity Today reports the survey itself states there are “without doubt in the order of magnitude of several hundreds of thousands and growing beyond a million” Christians in the country.
Source: Christian Headlines, September 2020
Click here for the article in Christianity Today
In West Africa, truck driving is a dangerous and stressful job. Drivers face job insecurity, the threat of being robbed, extortion from corrupt policemen, and cultural and linguistic barriers as they cross through borders taking imports from the coast to landlocked countries farther east.
So when Christians offered to pray for Ahmed one day as he prepared to leave the port and transport his next load, he didn’t mind, even though he was Muslim. As he continued on his route though, he was amazed that the police never harassed him, just as the Christians had prayed.
The next time he saw the believers at the port a few months later, he gathered a group of his friends and went over to them. The last time, the Christians asked him if he’d listen to a story, but he’d been in a hurry to leave. Now, he wanted to know more.
“God answered their prayer,” he told the whole group. “Now, we’re going to listen to their story.”
Each time Ahmed returned to the port, he found the believers and asked to hear another story. As the months passed, he understood his sin and his need for a Saviour, and he put his faith in Christ.
Click here for fulll story and to hear more about this strategic and compassionate ministry to truck drivers as well as photos and a video.
Source: International Mission Board, June 2020
The small Church in Saudi Arabia needs mature and committed believers to translate Scripture and to lead churches. “It’s almost like the early Church in the book of Acts,” says Abd Al Fadi about Christianity among certain language groups in Saudi Arabia. He works with Hijazi Arabic in Western Saudi Arabia, Najdi Arabic in central Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Gulf dialect in the East.
These groups have few Christians. Finding mature and committed believers to translate [Scripture] is difficult. Abd Al Fadi says, “Sometimes they’re busy with a job or concerned about being caught by their family or the government.”
Even if the translators complete their work, that doesn’t mean it can be distributed easily. “It’s one thing to produce the product. It’s another to deliver it to the right church or group that can benefit from it.”
Abd Al Fadi asks Christians in the West to pray that Christians in Saudi Arabia will join together in house churches and that the right materials will get to the right people.
Most of all, pray that like the early Church in Acts, the Church in Saudi Arabia would grow and multiply. Abd Al Fadi says he hopes within the next decade “We will hear about many Saudi believers who are out in the open, doing media or doing ministry and partnering with others as well.”
Source: Mission Network News, May 2020
Click here for full story which includes links to more in a series about unreached people groups.
“Last month, during the two weeks before and after Easter, six television stations in different cities in a large Muslim country aired the Jesus Film...we prayed. I asked the organisers if they had any results/responses to the airings...I got this back: ‘Over those dates 8.2 million people tuned in for some portion of the Jesus Film.’ That’s 10% of the population. Let’s keep praying!”
Source: A field worker, May 2020
Click here to find out about the 10/10 Prayer Initiative – praying and fasting for 10 years asking God that at least 10% of the Muslim world will be saved by 2028
Amid strict coronavirus lockdowns, millions of people across the Middle East and North Africa clamouring for a spiritual and practical lifeline are finding help right in their own homes through television.
In the region where Christianity began but is now a minority faith, Christian satellite television broadcaster SAT-7 has seen viewer numbers surge and social media interest skyrocket since the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.
“There’s an explosion of spiritual hunger across the Middle East and North Africa right now as people stuck at home seek real hope and real answers,” said Dr. Rex Rogers, president of SAT-7 USA.
“Millions of people in countries like Iran, Iraq, and Turkey are clamouring to see and hear in their own language what it’s like to be a follower of Jesus in a time of crisis,” Rogers said.
In coronavirus hotspot Turkey, where 99% of the population is non-Christian, more viewers have contacted the SAT-7 TÜRK channel daily in the past few weeks than any day in the previous five years since broadcasts began.
In Iran, another virus hotspot, viewers’ calls and messages to the live, Farsi-language Signal show—beamed into millions of homes across the nation—jumped to seven times the usual number last month, as Iranians rattled by the pandemic turned to the show’s hosts for reassurance and practical advice.
Source: SAT-7 via Christian Newswwire, April 2020
Click here to read full story
“We have been waiting for this chance to study God’s Word,” Khadija said at the start of the Bible study.
Khadija and her husband, Rayan, live in a remote community—a place that may never have been open to the gospel had it not been for Facebook.
Some months ago, Rayan started engaging with us on our team’s evangelistic Facebook page, where he watched videos about Jesus and read passages of Scripture.
Like hundreds of other Muslims who have visited the Facebook page, Rayan also studied the Word with the page’s bot, a software application that runs automated mini-Bible studies.
After Rayan completed the mini-Bible study, we connected him with one of our Muslim-background believing partners. This gave Rayan the chance to meaningfully interact with a follower of Jesus.
But before ever meeting a believer in person, Rayan had already shared Jesus with more than a dozen people. His entire family had started reading the New Testament with him, and he had even been studying the Word with several coworkers using a smartphone app.
Source: Frontiers USA, September 2019
Click here to read full story
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God’s big picture > God’s Big Picture - Watch
Click here for a short animated video showing God's heart for all nations and the story of His glory throughout eternity
Click here for a five minute video for inspiring and challenging the church.
Click here for a short video for explaining how 2 billion people are still waiting to hear about Jesus
Click here for a short video highlighting unreached people groups
Resources > Engaging with Muslims > Engaging in different languages > Websites with resources in specific languages
Click here for Afghan Bibles
Click here for Afghan Media Centre
Click here for Hope 4 Afghans
Click here for Sabeel Media which has several audio and video projects in various Arabic dialects
Moroccan Arabic
PROEL is a project which seeks to enable English speakers to engage with Moroccans. Click here to find out more.
books - here
Click here for 222 Publications
Click here for Elam
International Media Ministries has produced a video series of People who met Jesus:
Matthew https://vimeo.com/215505406 Nicodemus https://vimeo.com/215506226 Peter https://vimeo.com/215507948 Centurion https://vimeo.com/215515703 Nobleman https://vimeo.com/215517391 Rich Young Ruler https://vimeo.com/215519047 Woman at the well https://vimeo.com/313800223
There is also a series about Women of the Bible and other projects are under way.
See a thread on Twitter here with lots of suggestions for resources
Christian Radio in Farsi Here
An Overview of books of the Bible Here
Anglican Liturgy in Persian. Here.
Click here for Kurdisite
Click here for Kurdish worship
Click here for Kurdish Bible
Click here for Noor-e-Kashmir
Click here for Kashmir Media - this site includes videos, audio and Bible Correspondence Course links. in English, Urdu and Mirpur Pahari languages
Gospel TV Here
Christian TV in Somali Here
Somali Christian Women Here
Christian Website iin Somali Here
Books here
This LINK takes you to the most most all encompassing Turkish Christian info website. It contains videos of the Gospels, readings of the Gospels, articles on many topics connected with Christianity, religion and philosophy. You can ask for a free New Testament and there is a list of protestant churches in Turkey.
Click HERE an online 24/7 Christian music channel. The music is interspersed with Bible readings and talk shows. You can direct Turkish speaking friends to it.
You can also direct friends to Sat 7's Turkish channel which can be watched live online along with recordings of past programs.
Click HERE for a website which gives background to Christian belief and practice. It advertises a course called "True Life" along with some booklets. The booklets and the course can be downloaded if you leave a contact name and email.
The best modern Urdu translation of the Bible is probably the Urdu Geo Version - see details here It can be bought in bulk here or downloaded here
You can find websites that have courses in other languages here and websites that supply Scriptures in other languages here
Please let us know if you are able to help with resources in any of these or other languages:
This page contains links and descriptions of websites which people in the Network have found helpful and which relate to loving all Muslims. This is by no means exhaustive. The inclusion of a link to an external website does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Resources > Engaging with Muslims > Engaging in different languages > Websites supplying Scriptures in different languages
Wycliffe
Where can I find a Bible in my language?
https://www.wycliffe.org.uk/stories/where-can-i-find-a-bible-in-my-language/
Kitab
Click here for Scriptures and Scripture portions in many languages
Click here for Scriptures in many languages
Click here for the Bible online in many languages
Click here for the Bible as a story in several languages
Click here for the story of Jesus in different languages
Click here for leaflet ‘Who is Jesus the Messiah?’ in Arabic, Farsi, Somali, Sorani Kurdish, Turkish and Urdu
Arabic, Bengali, English, Sylheti and Turkish books Here
For Bibles in different languages, click here
Calendars: ChapterTwo also produce calendars, one text a month. They are in parallel with German and with beautiful pictures of Switzerland. ChapterTwo provide English stickers which you can place over the German. This converts them to from Gujarati-German to Gujarati-English etc. You need to ask for stickers separately. It takes 5 minutes of careful work to convert each calendar. Click here
ChapterTwo also offer more limited ranges of single-language calendars. Eg "Life for You", "Fascination of Creation" and "Words of Life" (Trinitarian Bible Society)
TBS offer single language calendars. Click here.
Books in various languages. Click here
This page contains links and descriptions of websites which people in the Network have found helpful and which relate to loving all Muslims. This is by no means exhaustive. The inclusion of a link to an external website does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Resources > Engaging with Muslims > Engaging in different languages > Websites with courses in different languages
Al Massira is a DVD-based course for use with groups of Muslim people who are ready to take a journey of exploration as to who the Messiah is via travelling through the biblical account of the stories of the prophets. This very engaging course anticipates and addresses the common issues about the Messiah that many struggle with and uncovers the meaning of the signs of the prophets. Click here to see all the languages available
A discipleship course for Farsi speakers . Click here
Come Follow Me is a discipleship course written specifically for new believers in Jesus from a Muslim background. It is relevant to the issues they face, is rooted in inductive Bible study, and for use in a regular, relational way (1:1 or in a group). It is also reproducible, so that those who complete the course can use it with others in turn. Click here to see all the languages available
This is available in many different langauges, including Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu. For more information on Alpha in different languages, register here
Various languages here
This page contains links and descriptions of websites which people in the Network have found helpful and which relate to loving all Muslims. This is by no means exhaustive. The inclusion of a link to an external website does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God’s big picture > God’s Big Picture - Read
Click here for a biblical outline of what God is working toward throughout every part of history, all over the earth – God revealing His glory to all nations in order to receive glory from all nations
Click here for a compelling invitation to be engaged in God’s mission - to see the glory of God praised from every people
Click here ‘We need to become global Christians with a global vision, for we have a global God.’
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God’s big picture > God’s Big Picture - Small group courses
We have a place in God’s story - sometimes it feels overwhelming to make Jesus famous throughout the world, and it’s hard to know where to start. Throughout all of Scripture, God is relentless about seeing his entire creation redeemed. MomentumYes helps us maximise our opportunity to make Jesus famous here, near, and far away. It’s a video series for small groups – and it’s easy to use with Zoom! Click here for more details
Xplore is a 7 session study to help believers discover the biblical theme of God’s global purpose, the task remaining and how they can participate in God’s global purpose, no matter their location or vocation. Download the booklet, get a small group together and start exploring. Click here for more details
Following on from Xplore is this 6 session study inviting believers to explore welcoming others for God’s glory. Welcoming is more than being friendly. It is the lifestyle of a person prioritising God’s mission to make disciples of all nations. Click here for more details
This page contains links and descriptions of websites which people in the Network have found helpful and which relate to loving all Muslims. This is by no means exhaustive. The inclusion of a link to an external website does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Resources > Envisioning the Christian community > God’s big picture > God’s Big Picture - Courses to take online
God has a "world-sized" role for every Christian in His global purpose. Perspectives helps believers from all walks of life see how they can get threaded into God’s story of redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself…how every believer can be intimately woven into the story of God using His people to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.
There are no Perspectives courses running in the UK at the moment but Perspectives is online, specially designed for distance learning. It’s a 4 month format with weekly videos, discussions and much more. Click here for details of Perspectives and here for online details
The Bible tells us God's heart is for all people, from every nation. Kairos Course unpacks this in the light of scripture, history and what God is doing today. It will help you explore how you can reflect God's heart for the nations in your situation. The ten session course can be run in different formats, depending on your availability and needs. It is designed to suit a variety of learning styles. It includes articles and DVDs, prayer, group discussion and time for personal reflection. Kairos can also be done online. Click here for more details
This page contains links and descriptions of websites which people in the Network have found helpful and which relate to loving all Muslims. This is by no means exhaustive. The inclusion of a link to an external website does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Resources >Encouraging prayer > Prayer fuel > Local Prayer Fuel
Click here to see Ideas for weekly/monthly prayer meetings
If you are not part of a local Mahabba group, email us to find your nearest group. At the moment, most groups are meeting online, so why not take the opportunity to join a group even if there is not one near you.
Resources > Encouraging prayer > Prayer fuel > National Prayer Fuel
Lovefast was a prayer campaign Mahabba ran for several years to encourage Christians to pray for and engage with Muslims during Ramadan. The past issues still have much prayer material for different people groups and situations in the UK. Explore the Lovefast prayer for Muslims resources →
Share prayer requests and get prayer support via our online community on WhatsApp. Join our community of Christians engaging with Muslims on WhatsApp →
A weekly opportunity for the Network to pray together every Friday at 12:00pm GMT/BST. Register and join Christians prayer →
Resources >Encouraging prayer > Prayer groups > Tips for Zoom prayer
Click HERE for some helpful videos which come from PrayerForUs.com for leading Zoom prayer calls:
Leading a Zoom Prayer Meeting
Leading large group Prayer Meetings
Using breakout rooms in Zoom for Prayer Meetings and others
Resources > Enabling all Christians > Getting started > Friendship first
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
Resources > Enabling all Christians > Strengthening followers > Come Follow Me
Come Follow Me is a discipleship course written specifically for new believers in Jesus from a Muslim background. It is relevant to the issues they face, is rooted in inductive Bible study, and for use in a regular, relational way (1:1 or in a group). It is also reproducible, so that those who complete the course can use it with others in turn.
Why use Come Follow Me?
More than ever before in history, Muslim people are choosing to follow Jesus Christ. But that’s only the start of a lifelong journey:
How will they become strong in Christ and in his community?
How will they cope with loneliness and opposition?
How will they develop a new way of thinking and a framework for life?
How will they establish strong relationships with other followers of Christ?
How will they relate wisely with their Muslim families, with appropriate witness?
Believers of Muslim background (BMBs) should not have to tread this discipleship path alone. They need companions on the journey. Through the Come Follow Me course they can connect with other believers and walk the path together. It aims to help these believers to:
Put down deep roots in Christ
Grow deeper with each other and with their mentor
Be transformed in their thinking and lifestyle, as God’s Word interacts with their old worldview
Learn inductive study by going all the way through one book of the Bible
Grapple with practical issues of following Christ in a Muslim setting
Relate wisely to their Muslim families, with appropriate witness.
It works best with a weekly discussion group.
Come Follow Me discipleship course can be run online. The participants read in advance from their own copy of the Study Guide (soon to be available as an App), then come together with their Advisor and other participants for discussion.
What they say
Group leader in the North of England:
"CFM is for us a "water in the middle of desert" as its bringing a good time to study the bible deeper but also, simple. It gives us a good time to discuss and contextualise some principles from the old book. Also, CFM is bringing a joy for our Kurdish people and they feel proud about this Bible study because is in their language."
A British Christian leading a group in the UK:
"I'm doing a 'Come Follow Me' course with a small group of Iranians - using the Farsi edition. It is working fabulously - I don't think I've ever worked with a more enthusiastic group - they are really enjoying it and growing very fast. I think there are a couple of leaders developing among the group. And they are encouraging me....”
Click here for more details about come Follow Me
It is important for those using the course to understand how to use the materials and the discussion method. This can be achieved by an experienced group leader by a thorough reading of the Advisor's guide, and trying the course out for themselves beforehand. However, for others it is helpful to go through some training, especially those leading group discussion for the first time.
Advisor Training Workshops are run regularly – and are about to start on-line. This will be 4 sessions, each of one and a half hour duration. It can be run with small groups of 4-6 people.
Click here for more information about training
Resources > Enabling all Christians > Getting started > Joining the family
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:
Journeys to Jesus (the testimonies of Muslims turning to Jesus)
The Pearl of Great Price (the cost and joys of following Christ)
Welcome to the Family (how local churches can ‘be family’ for these believers)
A blessing for our churches (how we can benefit from what these believers bring us)
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
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