Opportunities at Easter may not arise where you think
by Stephen Kneale, Building Jerusalem:
As with a lot of our British annual cultural moments, Easter is not the slam dunk evangelistic opportunity for us as it is for many others. Whilst many people are thinking about Easter and, much like Christmas, at least know it is vaguely connected to Jesus somehow, few in our area will be doing so. Just as Mawlid largely passes most non-Muslim Brits by entirely unnoticed and largely unknown, so Easter does much the same for our Muslim friends in our community.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity here for us. Indeed, a better opportunity for us where we are than for most churches in majority white British communities. Whilst most white middle class Brits know in the broadest terms what Easter is about (I know we say they don’t, but actually, they do) they rarely have any real interest in talking about it. That’s fine for you but don’t bother me with it. We know about that already. Muslims, by contrast, may not know a great deal about Easter, but you can bet your bottom dollar when they hear about it they are more than happy to have a chat.
One of the differences that exists between Christians and Muslims is the belief that Jesus died on the cross. Christians say he did and then, three days later, he rose again from the dead. Muslims say he didn’t and therefore there was no need for a resurrection. Typically, they argue some imposter was on the cross and Jesus never actually died. Though many of them have little interest in Easter, most are more than happy to actually discuss what Easter is really about.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
