Friends, institutional Christendom is bound to sermonizing and weak because of it.  Preaching is an excellent means of drawing a crowd and becoming a celebrity but the poorest means of  effecting change.  People listen to religious lectures all their lives and never mature to do anything.    Jesus looked at the 12 and declared to them that it would be better for THEM if He went away.  What could be better than life with God in the flesh?  Life with the Holy Spirit in your own flesh!    If we create followers dependent upon "being fed"  we never create followers of Jesus who are dependent upon the Holy Spirit.  Some leaders put out so much "good" food that their followers never learn to hear from the Holy Spirit.  Their followers are addicted to the "milk (that which has been digested by another) of the word" .  But "lactose intolerance" is rising and teachers are beginning to see that their real function is to make folks hungry to learn for themselves by asking the right questions and to train them to trust the Holy Spirit's answers.

Cross cultural missions have also been bound by sermonizing.  It produces weak communities that can not reproduce because of dependance upon the outside preaching/teaching  experts.  We do not trust the Holy Spirit in others and they never learn to do so either.  However, in East Africa,  Muslim sheikhs by the score are becoming followers of Jesus through a self discovery methodology that allows the Holy Spirit to speak to them.  Indeed there are now 70 documented self multiplying movements amongst Muslims and all have the element of self-discovery.  

The East African sheikhs are divided into groups of 4 to discus for one day what the Qur'an says about Muhammad and then came back and shared their insights with the group.

Qur'an 46:9 "I am no new thing among the messengers, nor know I what will be done with me or with you... I am but a plain warner."   Mohammad was only a warner.

Qur'an 41:43 "So know (Oh Muhammad), that there is no deity except Allah and ask for the forgiveness of your sin..."   Mohammad was a sinner.

Qur'an 4:3 Allows a man to take 4 wives  but Muhammad took a 5th and that the wife of his adopted son which Qur'an 4:23 considers taboo.  Mohammad did not follow the Qur'an. 

Their conclusion?  Mohammad is not fit to be a prophet of God.

The second day they are again divided into groups of 4 and asked to discus what the Qur'an says about Jesus.  Their insights from the Qur'an?

Qur'an 3:45- 47  Isa (Jesus) came directly from Allah, did not have a father and never sinned.  Isa is holy.

Qur'an 3:49 Isa worked miracles and raised the dead.  Isa has power over death.

Qur'an 3:55 Isa travelled the straight path from Allah to earth and returned to Allah in heaven.  Isa knows the way to heaven. 

Qur'an 3:50 Isa confirms the Torah and to do your duty to Allah you must obey Isa.

Their conclusion?  Jesus is the Son of God, the only way of salvation. 

Yes, this method uses the Qur'an as a bridge.  What does the Qur'an say about the Bible and the New Testament, the Injil?  Is there a bridge to them?  Yes!

Qur'an 5:46 &66 promises guidance, light & showers of blessings to those who read the Old and New Testaments.

Qur'an 6:115 says that the Word of the Truth is perfected and that nothing can change His words.  

Qur'an 57:27 "We gave to them Isa and the Injil."  Allah gave Jesus and the New Testament.

One of the sheikhs said, "The translation of the Qur'an (into the vernacular) is changing everything.  Before, it was only in Arabic, which no one understood.  It did not matter if I blessed my people or cursed them in Arabic, they would just say Amen.  Today, knowledge is growing.  I have graduated more than 200 students from my madrasa.  When we compare Muhammad and Isa, we see a big gap.  There is no comparison.  We are troubled by the way other Muslim sheikhs are keeping our people in the dark.  Now that we know the truth, we want to take it to our people."  

Interested to read more?  "A Wind in the House of Islam" by David Garrison and "The Camel, How Muslims are coming to Faith in Christ" by Kevin Greeson are good places to start and both are available from www.churchplantingmovements.com.

Your brother

Steve