Muslim Land Christian Labor

Focusing upon a region in Southern Bulgaria, a region that has been the crossroads between Europe and Asia for many centuries, this book describes how former Ottoman Empire Muslims were transformed into citizens of Balkan nation-states. This is a region marked by shifting borders, competing Turkish and Bulgarian sovereignties, rival nationalisms, and migration. Problems such as these were ultimately responsible for the disintegration of the dynastic empires into nation-states. Land that had traditionally belonged to Muslims—individually or communally—became a symbolic and material resource for Bulgarian state building and was the terrain upon which rival Bulgarian and Turkish nationalisms developed in the wake of the dissolution of the late Ottoman Empire and the birth of early republican Turkey and the introduction of capitalism. By the outbreak of World War II, Turkish Muslims had become a polarized national minority. Their conflicting efforts to adapt to post-Ottoman Bulgaria brought attention to the increasingly limited availability of citizenship rights, not only to Turkish Muslims, but to Bulgarian Christians as well.

Between Empire and Nation tells the story of the transformation of the Muslim community in modern Bulgaria during a period of imperial dissolution, conflicting national and imperial enterprises, and the emergence of new national and ethnic identities. In 1878, the Ottoman empire relinquished large territories in the Balkans, with about 600,000 Muslims remaining in the newly-established Bulgarian state. Milena B. Methodieva explores how these former Ottoman subjects, now under Bulgarian rule, navigated between empire and nation-state, and sought to claim a place in the larger modern world. Following the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877–1878, a movement for cultural reform and political mobilization gained momentum within Bulgaria's sizable Muslim population. From 1878 until the 1908 Young Turk revolution, this reform movement emerged as part of a struggle to redefine Muslim collective identity while engaging with broader intellectual and political trends of the time. Using a wide array of primary sources and drawing on both Ottoman and Eastern European historiographies, Methodieva approaches the question of Balkan Muslims' engagement with modernity through a transnational lens, arguing that the experience of this Muslim minority provides new insight into the nature of nationalism, citizenship, and state formation.

Christians serving in Muslim lands told their stories of challenge and change in the acclaimed Where There Was No Church. In this sequel, devoted workers provide detailed stories of praise and imprisonment and inspiring portraits of the spread of the Christian movement—including a growing church in the shadow of a mosque. Fruitful Practice researchers visited and interviewed about thirty church-planting teams on-site across six regions, translating and transcribing full tales of their cross-cultural gospel work. Where There Is Now a Church provides seven case studies showing how God has established churches and church-planting movements among Muslim peoples. Each case study is accompanied by thoughtful discussion questions and a list of the church-planting practices it illustrates. The expansive appendix explains, categorizes, and describes a more complete list of sixty-eight fruitful practices for evangelism and church planting in Muslim settings. This readable and encouraging book describes many practices that can also be applied in non-Muslim contexts. This book will encourage veteran workers and inspire new servants to reach God’s children throughout the Muslim world. The bottom line is that the message of hope in the Bible can overcome anything.

A startling look at the Muslim world, through the eyes of a Western Christian in a Muslim family. For Christians who work with, live with, or minister to Muslims, this book helps explain the world of Muslim women. Topics include role models, segregation, restrictions, opportunities, family life, and unwritten rules.

God is at work in the Muslim world! Fruit to Harvest is a cultural anthology written by a diverse group of gospel workers who live with and love Muslims. You will join a global mission conversation at the forefront of gospel advance—the world of Islam. Like its predecessor (From Seed to Fruit), this book is the result of a global consultation sponsored by the Vision 5:9 Network. This volume is a storehouse of missiology that offers: • Reflections from 47 writers hailing from 21 different countries • Fresh case studies from the field of Muslim ministry • Strategies for overcoming barriers to reaching Muslims • Insights from hundreds of testimonies taken from field workers in 30 different agencies working across the Muslim world

Anglican and Reformed Approaches in India and the Near East, 1800-1938 This book aims to offer the reader access to the treasury of experience and literature resulting from nineteenth- and twentieth-century missions to Muslims. Based on the author's doctoral work completed at the University of Edinburgh, this research also grew out of the author's mission service in the Near East. This volume represents research completed under the direction of professors W. M. Watt and A. C. Cheyne. Christian Mission to Muslims will prove of good encouragement to the host of Christ's disciples living and witnessing among their Muslim neighbors. This work is consistent with the larger biblical vision granted by God through prophet, Messiah, and apostle--a vision voiced in the Abrahamic prayer and the motto of the Arabian Mission: "O that Ishmael might live in thy sight!" (Gen 17:18); in Jesus's words: "I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice" (John 10:15-16); and in the abiding hope of Revelation 11:15: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

We are pleased to offer this fifth title in our APTS Press Monograph Series. This is the publication of the author’s doctoral dissertation done through the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. The purpose of this series is to give our readers broader access to good scholarship that would otherwise be unavailable outside of the academic community. This is part of our ongoing commitment to discipleship through publishing. Christian mission organizations have enthusiastically embraced “business” as a means of entry for Christian workers who might not otherwise be able to get into these nations, especially MMNs. However, the embracing of business raises some immediate concerns. In light of existing tensions between business and Islam, won’t missions-connected businesses be under the same cloud of conflict? More importantly, isn’t the Gospel put under this cloud, thereby negatively impacting the spread of the kingdom of God? Also, if the business-and-mission companies’ expatriate owners and employees are western (especially American) won’t the conflicts inevitably intensify? And if so, are there ways such entities can be operated in order to minimize the conflict with Islamic sensitivities? This book will address these and other related questions.

Islam, Peace and Social Justice examines the ways in which Islamic cultures have dealt with issues of social justice historically and culturally. With unwavering objectivity, the author helps readers of any faith to gain a nuanced and accurate understanding of the challenges that we face in contemporary multifaith engagements. Dr van Gorder offers a comprehensive and sympathetic Christian insight into Islam. The contentious issues of social justice that are encountered in this broad, yet intricate, studyinclude the concept of Jihad, poverty, political oppression, human rights, genocide, racism, sexual injustice, homophobia, and environmental degradation. The challenges are real and the problems are vast; partnerships and solutions must be found - peopleof faith, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, must find ways to work together to address these shared challenges. This work exposes misrepresentations and stereotypes about Islamic views of social justice that abound in Europe and North America. The author encourages a deeper appreciation of how themes of social justice resound through Islamic texts and have been expressed both in the contemporary and historical life of various and diverse Islamic communities worldwide.