Toward a Healthier Contextualization among Muslims

A Biblical Theological Evaluation of the Insider Movement and Its Lessons

Wonjoo Hwang

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781532647130
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Various ministry approaches have been utilized in Muslim nations in the past in order to lead lost souls into God's Kingdom. One noticeable trend in recent years in the ministry is an increasing emphasis on contextualization. While the evangelical missiological community searches for more effective contextualization models, some ad hoc proposals have complicated the issue. One representative case is the Insider Movement among Muslims, whose advocates contend that Muslim followers of Isa (Jesus) can remain within their own Islamic socio-religious community while continuing in Islamic religious practices.What is urgently needed in the contemporary discussion on contextualization is to develop a comprehensive analytical framework based on a sound biblical-theological foundation for evaluating any missiological model. After reviewing the historical development of Muslim evangelism models, this study provides such an analytical framework for developing a healthier contextualization model among Muslims and applies this framework to the Insider Movement by critically evaluating the biblical interpretations and missiological reasonings of the Insider Movement advocates. The writer calls for a healthier contextualization model among Muslims that is biblically authentic and culturally relevant.

1

Introduction

The International Society of Frontier Missiology (ISFM) organized a conference titled “The Jerusalem Council Applied: Apostolic Insights into Today’s Insider Movement” in Atlanta in September 2006. The theme of this conference was the Insider Movement (IM), which from thence onward has become one of the most debated missiological issues among those involved in ministries to Muslims.1 This conference was a pivotal moment in the academic discussion because it set up a public platform for evaluating critically the IM among evangelical scholars.

The IM was little known to missionaries and missiologists before this conference, although some of its early proponents had been experimenting with this ministry approach for a significant number of years.2 As these early proponents became convinced that it is not only a biblically-theologically valid model for ministry to Muslims but also an effective approach bearing much fruit, they proposed it for an objective evaluation among evangelical missionaries and missiologists with the hopes that the new movement would be used in different parts of the Muslim world. These early proponents suggested that the basic principle of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 be applied to the issue of the IM in that the early church made a key missiological decision for the Gospel ministry to the Gentiles in the Council as an ecclesiological body.3

Since the 2006 conference, many more have joined in the discussion with differing views, and a significant number of academic writings have appeared.4 During the course of discussion, interaction between IM advocates and IM critics has enabled both sides to elaborate on the central issues of the IM more precisely. In this regard, the very purpose of the 2006 Conference was accomplished. A decisive conclusion, however, is yet to be reached among evangelicals because some doubts on the validity of this missiological approach have not been completely resolved.

While most discussions on the IM have been confined to a limited number of components, the lack of a comprehensive analysis has caused more confusion than clarification among evangelicals. The lack of objective criteria for evaluating contextualization models has left evangelicals defenseless against many radical assertions based on pragmatic reasoning in favor of the IM. It is within this context that this study develops an alternative and unexplored method to evaluate the IM by employing an analytical framework that will yield comprehensive evaluation grids and play the role of objective criteria derived from a sound biblical and theological foundation.

Background

Early Developments of the Insider Movement

The first academic discussion on the IM appeared in Evangelical Missions Quarterly in 1998, where two prominent missionary scholars provided contrasting viewpoints.5 John Travis introduced a spectrum of six “Christ-centered communities” that were found in the Muslim world.6 The debate arose when Travis claimed C5 to be a valid and viable Christ-centered community. Phil Parshall saw danger in this claim; it was “going too far” in Muslim contextualization.7 Although such a notion of C5 was not new in Muslim evangelism, Travis and IM advocates were probably the first to elaborate the notion of C5 in a consistent way and make it an applicable contextualization model.8

In his original formulation of the C-spectrum, Travis distinguishes six types of Christ-centered communities through the criteria of “language, culture, worship forms, degree of freedom to worship with others, and religious identity.”9 The IM is the C5 type of Christ-centered communities that consist of “‘Messianic Muslims’ who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.”10 Travis describes C5 as follows:

C5 believers remain legally and socially within the community of Islam. Somewhat similar to the Messianic Jewish movement [sic]. Aspects of Islamic theology which are incompatible with the Bible are rejected, or reinterpreted if possible. Participation in corporate Islamic worship varies from person to person and group to group. C5 believers meet regularly with other C5 believers and share their faith with unsaved Muslims. Unsaved Muslims may see C5 believers as theologically deviant and may eventually expel them from the community of Islam. Where entire villages accept Christ, C5 may result in “Messianic Mosques.” C5 believers are viewed as Muslims by the Muslim community and refer to themselves as Muslims who follow Isa the Messiah.11

One of the key notions of C5 is that Muslim followers of Jesus do not leave the Islamic community even after believing in Jesus as Lord, but remain within it as Muslim Insiders. In the process, they maintain their socioreligious identity as Muslims, and continue to participate in most of the Islamic religious practices as long as they perceive them compatible with biblical truth. According to Travis, the primary reason to remain within the Islamic community and maintain Muslim identity is for the sake of Gospel witness through the existing social networks.

Travis originally intended C-spectrum to be a descriptive tool to label existing Christ-centered communities rather than a prescriptive tool to promote various types of Muslim contextualization models including C5. Descriptively speaking of the current state of affairs, there are Muslim followers of Jesus who believe in Jesus as Lord and gather for fellowship and Bible studies with like-minded Muslims while remaining in the Islamic community and continuing to observe Islamic religious practices.12 Although they came to faith in Jesus in a number of variegated ways, the presence of Muslim followers of Jesus within the Islamic community is an undeniable reality.13

As the IM developed, however, IM advocates changed the descriptive notion into the prescriptive assertion when they began to prescriptively contend that the IM was a biblically-theologically permissible approach to contextualization and that it was a new effective way to evangelize the Muslim world based upon their own fruitful ministry results. The IM became favored by field missionaries and mission organizations that it was adopted as the major missionary approach of some organizations.14 The nature of the IM has changed from a descriptive to a prescriptive model in that it is claimed to be a valid, effective, and commendable strategy for evangelical ministries to Muslims.15

There are critical differences between the IM’s descriptive and prescriptive natures. When the IM is taken as a descriptive phenomenon, it is normally viewed as a temporary matter that is gradually disjointed by a normative response to two conflicting allegiances. There is a normative anticipation for Muslim followers of Jesus to leave Islam after realizing the incompatibility between their faith in Jesus and their former faith in Islam. When the IM is taken as a prescriptive model for contextualization, Muslim Insiders are expected to remain within their Islamic community and continue their Islamic religious practices within a biblically permissible boundary. Missionaries will also leave them as Muslims and let them follow Christ within the Islamic community. There is a prescriptive and strategic notion in this approach. IM advocates are contending for this approach and practicing it in various Muslim contexts. This subtle line is where IM advocates have crossed over from a descriptive concept into a prescriptive one.16

Definition of the Insider Movement

Though the first explicit idea of the IM...