What an Opportunity!

It’s not often that we can claim to know what is in the minds of Muslim men and women in our communities; today we can be certain. After the deranged attack on two mosques in a New Zealand city called, ironically enough, Christchurch, Muslims around the world, particularly those in our own global gateway cities, are wondering: Are we next? Are our children safe? Why do they hate us? Perhaps these Muslim communities now view us with the same bewildering questions.

How are we as Christ followers to minister in such a damaged environment?

As always we find guidance from the example of Christ and within God’s Word. In the 9th chapter of John’s Gospel, when asked why a man born blind was so afflicted by such evil, Jesus flipped the situation over. He declared that the right perspective was to view the malady as an opportunity to glorify God. He then proceeded to draw close to the man, touching him, healing him, saving him.

We can follow Jesus’s example among our Muslim friends, men and women whom Christ loves and for whom Christ died, by touching them, comforting them, and loving them in Jesus’s name. Practically, I would encourage you to visit your local mosques and Islamic leaders — share with them your name and contact information — offer your solidarity and prayers, and pledge to stand by them should evil assault their community.

In this way, we just might learn that this tragic event, with its global ripples around the Muslim world, might fulfill the hope reflected in Gen. 50:20: “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good….”

Dr. David Garrison
Executive Director
Global Gates Network