Evangelism among Muslims in Cambodia: Recent Research Findings
Keywords:
Evangelism, Muslim, BMB, MBB, Contextualization, Christian Message, Gospel Message, Experience-nearAbstract
Communicating the Christian message to Muslims is challenging. And yet, in recent years increasing numbers of Muslims worldwide have decided to believe in and follow Jesus. Cambodia is a country in which Muslim evangelization has occurred. Qualitative field research was conducted in Cambodia for a PhD dissertation; and this paper presents findings from that research. Forty believers in Christ from a Muslim background (BMBs) were interviewed in 2017 regarding their conversion and interaction with the gospel message. This paper examines the narratives and reflections of these Cambodian BMBs in order to understand how the gospel message was communicated and understood. It provides findings connected to one research question: What role, if any, did the contextualization of the message play in clearly understanding it and in the decision to follow Jesus? Cambodian BMS’s discussed both how they received the message and how they sought to clearly communicate the gospel to others. Thus, this paper highlight several methods used in evangelization by both cross-cultural workers and BMBs. It also reviews the three primary findings regarding how the message was contextualized: 1) through choice of language, 2) through the use of experience-near terms and concepts, and 3) through communication within the framework of understanding of the listener. Although there is wide interest regarding Muslim evangelization across the world, there are few contemporary empirical studies on this topic. This paper contributes to knowledge about how the gospel is being communicated to those from a Muslim background.
References
Adams, Eric, Don Allen, and Bob Fish. 2009. “Seven Themes of Fruitfulness.” International Journal of Frontier Missiology 26 (2): 75–81.
Author. 2018. “---” Dissertation.
Colgate, Jack. 2008. “Bible Storying and Oral Use of the Scriptures.” In From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues among Muslims, edited by John Dudley Woodberry, 219–31. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.
Collins, William. 2009. “The Muslims of Cambodia.” In Ethnic Groups in Cambodia., edited by Sokhom Hean, 1–110. Phnom Penh: Center for Advanced Study.
Eng, Kok-Thay. 2013. “From the Khmer Rouge to Hambali: Cham Identities in a Global Age.” PhD diss., Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Garrison, David. 2014. A Wind in the House of Islam: How God Is Drawing Muslims around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ. Monument, CO: WIGTake Resources.
Geertz, Clifford. 1976. “‘From the Native’s Point of View’: On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding.” In Meaning in Anthropology, edited by Keith H. Basso and Henry A. Selby, 1st ed., 221–37. School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Glassé, Cyril. 2013. The New Encyclopedia of Islam. 4th ed. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.
Goheen, Michael W. 2014. Introducing Christian Mission Today : Scripture, History, and Issues.
Greenham, Ant. 2010. “A Study of Palestinian Muslim Conversions to Christ.” St. Francis Magazine, February 2010.
Hiebert, Paul. 2006. “Worldview Transformation.” In From the Straight Path to the Narrow Way: Journeys of Faith, edited by David Greenlee, 23–34. Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Media.
Hoskins, Daniel Gene. 2014. “Conversion Narratives in Context: Muslims Turning to Christ in Post-Soviet Central Asia.” PhD diss., University of South Africa.
Krish, John, and Peter Sykes. 1979. Jesus. The Genesis Project.
Merriam, Sharan B. 2009. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Miller, Duane Alexander, and Patrick Johnstone. 2015. “Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 11 (Article 10): 1–19.
Moreau, A. Scott. 2015. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Practical Survey. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic.
Nickel, Gordon D. 2011. Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qurʻan. Leiden: Brill.
Ott, Craig. 2014. “The Power of Biblical Metaphors for the Contextualized Communication of the Gospel.” Missiology 42 (4): 357–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091829613486732.
Priest, Robert J. 1994. “Tell Me about a Time You Were Bad.” CIU Quarterly, Winter 1994.
———. 2003. “‘I Discovered My Sin!’: Aguaruna Evangelical Conversion Narratives.” In The Anthropology of Religious Conversion, edited by Andrew Buckser and Stephen D. Glazier, 95–108. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
———. 2006. “‘Experience-near Theologizing’ in Diverse Human Contexts.” In Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity, edited by Craig Ott and Harold Netland, 180–95. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Rambo, Lewis R., and Lawrence A. Reh. 1992. “The Phenomenology of Conversion.” In Handbook of Religious Conversion, edited by H. Newton Malony and Samuel Southard, 229–59. Birmingham, AL: Religious Education.
Stott, John R. W. 2008. Christian Mission in the Modern World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Trankell, Ing-Britt, and Jan Ovesen. 2004. “Muslim Minorities in Cambodia.” NIASnytt, no. 4 (December): 22–24.
