While in England on study leave, I had a happenstance encounter with a fellow Rotarian who recently retired from a Church of Scotland role in outreach to Islam. We chatted about my work before the Rotary meeting and he asked me if I’d heard of the Muslim-Christian Study Centre’s work, which I had not, and he told me he would give them a call and see if it would be possible for me to drop by to meet the faculty. I did not expect to hear from them as on the scale of visiting academics in Oxford I would rank as a 0.05 on the classic 10 point scale. They did contact me, which suggested to me this was providential to our church’s missional ministry, and we set a date for me to attend a lecture and a dialogue session between Muslim and Christian professors and writers, the following week. Two days later ISIS attacked Paris, and the tenor and tone of Western Europe changed radically, as did the agenda for the dialogue session at the Centre.
In both Wednesday sessions, I will speak to my experiences with this amazingly progressive and gutsy collective of Muslim and Christian academics, students, and writers who are seeking to bring dialogue, to find commonalities between the three largest world religions, and to the extent possible, seek a peaceful solution to the raging Islamic extremism from within Islam itself. While I will always disagree with Islam on who Jesus is, and the genuineness of the Bible, I refuse to paint all Muslims with the broad brush of extremism. That, thus, also builds my views on Syrian refugees and what the Christian response should be based on scripture. Believe it or not, ISIS made a mistake in attacking Paris this close to Advent. They had distinct reasons, and we will discuss those today and tonight, and we will lay out how Advent must inform our response as believers. Please remember: coalitions and countries do what coalitions and countries must do to protect their citizens and interests. If that involves bombing then it involves bombing; but, bombs alone will not solve the problem of violence in the name of religion, Islam or otherwise. The Faith Community also has distinct roles to fulfill in this worldwide mess. Join me for this challenging session, or drop by and let’s chat.
Michael McCullar
Formations Pastor
Johns Creek Baptist Church
2 Comments. Leave new
Pastor Michael thank you for yesterday’s session with the seniors. The poster you had on the board said more than you had time to share.. But most of us got the connection of a need for training those who are educated to the Faith we profess; in a language that can be shared with those who do not speak our language. Jesus taught us to pray the OUR FATHER
PRAYER.. We have no ground for true dialogue concerning GOD PERSONALLY without an understanding of the New Testament REVELATION OF JESUS… The mandate of the Christian Church is to share the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST… I am grateful for any attempt to assimilate those who are seeking to know and Love GOD … The HOLY SPIRIT will work out the details… YES! You were meant to be there… “GOD BLESS US EVERYONE.”
Michael, Thanks for sharing your experiences with us last evening. It was very entertaining, but also very informative. What a great opportunity for you to share thoughts and ideas with others with like interests on the biggest issue facing the world today, in spite of of what our president says. Isis is such a difficult topic to discuss because of the different levels of understanding of Islam and Muslims, especially by the majority of Americans. At least, at JCBC we are making an effort to make ourselves more knowledgeable than most in America. I’m glad to be part of that effort.
Regards, Dennis