Beside me as I write is a Christian newspaper with an article entitled “Islam’s silent take-over”.  In the article, well-known missionary and author Don Richardson is quoted as saying “Just by sheer numbers they are going to win a victory and they cannot be defeated.  You cannot stop them with bombs or war.  It is almost too late for western Europe.  It looks bad.”

I’m surprised and concerned that Don Richardson’s response to Islam seems not so very different to that of many other Christians reacting out of fear and alarm.  What is the point of such presentations?  Shall we all just start having more children to stave off the growth of Islam?  Since when were we mandated to evangelise a culture by having lots of babies?  As Robert Parham, the executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics notes “The Acts story references growth based on multi-ethnic conversion. Christianity spreads through conversion, but not procreation.”

The best possible spin on such commentary is that the point of it is to motivate and inspire our evangelistic efforts towards to Muslims.  Sadly such scaremongering seems most often to have quite the opposite effect with Muslims being demonised as our arch enemies and the greatest threat to life as we know it.

I don’t find much in Scripture that defends actions which are about saving my life.  In fact quite the opposite is true.  For the sake of the Kingdom we are called to lose our lives.  What does that mean in the face of Islam’s threat to our security and comfort?  It cost Jesus everything to enter our world and save it.  As we observe millions of Muslims caught up in a religion of works and deception will we consider only that their presence may cost me a degree of comfort?  Or, will we count the cost of loving the neighbour that Jesus loved first and then commanded that I do likewise?

I believe the point of our commentary on the changing state of our world should be to pray and perceive how best to use the changing circumstances for the sake of our God’s global purposes.  He’s making a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue and nation under heaven…that includes Muslims from all over the place.  They’re on our doorstep – praise God!  Let’s get busy sharing the Gospel with them and loving them into the Kingdom.