The Joy of Community

I remember sitting in a restaurant during Ramadan one year while in the United Arab Emirates. Moms, Dads, and children in their holiday finery gathered around tables filled with olives at a local restaurant. We all (including me!) waited for the “all clear” to come, that the sun had set and then we broke the day long fast by eating olives. The restaurant instantly went from quiet and reverent to loud and exuberant. The sound of children laughing and adults chatting - joyful holiday sounds - began to fill the air

I felt one with the people around me. I hadn’t even fasted during the day. Indeed, I had snuck into a bathroom stall to drink a cup of coffee while at the local mall! (Starbucks could sell you coffee, but you couldn’t drink it in public.) I had gone behind a barrier to have lunch with all of the other non-Muslims and enjoyed some great food with literally thousands of other non fasters. And, yet, I still felt like I belonged at the moment of breaking fast at the end of the day. I think it was because family, good food, and holiday finery don’t need much translation to be understandable around the world.

To Muslims, the concept of “ummah” or being a part of the global family of Muslims is strong. It is something that Muslims have taught me that has enriched my understanding of following Jesus. I now know that the global family of Jesus followers is my real tribe. I have so much more in common with a believer in Zambia or Saudi Arabia than I do with my secular American neighbor. As I have invited Muslims to follow Jesus with me, I have learned to not invite them into making an “individual, personal decision to follow Jesus Christ” but instead to invite them to “join a global family, full of joy, speaking all languages, and submitted to one true great leader - Jesus the Messiah.”

Let’s invite Muslims to join the global “ummah” (community) of Jesus. Let’s do this by taking a chance on a new relationship. Let’s go out of our way to show the love of Jesus to a Muslim in some way. Let’s build a new community centered around Christ. Perhaps you’ve never had a Muslim friend before. Perhaps you have. Perhaps you have been scared of becoming a friend to a Muslim. Perhaps you have already discovered how rich and enjoyable hospitality from a Muslim family can be. Maybe your only Muslim friends would have to be virtual ones as there are none in your area. Nevertheless, let’s take a chance on a new relationship and make a Muslim friend.

I know this time period lacks the normal fun get togethers for our normally very sociable Muslim friends, but we know what that is like because we really are all in this together. However, we found a way to sing over Zoom and even put together choirs over Zoom. So, would you put begin to pray and ask Jesus for creative outreach strategies right now?

Would you sing over Muslim friends (and enemies) with joy in your quiet times? Would you prophetically and prayerfully invite them to join the global family and community of joyful worshipers of Jesus? Do this as a prophetic act and as an invitation. Perhaps by next year, we can celebrate the risen Christ with them together as one truly united global community.

I’d love to hear from you.

What are your thoughts? What is God doing in your heart as you read this? Who can you intentionally reach out to today and show the kindness of God?

About the Author: Dr. Pam Arlund is an All Nations global team member and is now a leader with the Perspectives editorial team.

Reposted from July 22, 2020

Staying Connected or Learning More

Help share this and other blogs with your friends and ministry leaders! It would also be a huge help if you could please follow us on social media via the links below! Thank you!

If you would like to receive leadership updates, link here to stay current on All Nations International’s news and prayer efforts! To learn more about All Nations today, visit: www.allnations.international!

Are you wondering if you are wired to go? This area on our web site will help you!

We have plenty other resources (devotion, book club, events) and a monthly global prayer for the neglected! You are welcome to join us.

Give today to see the neglected globally reached — the least, the last, and the lost!

www.allnations.international

Reaching the neglected globally — the least, the last, and the lost since 1993.

Featured