The recent events in the Crimea have brought attention to the 300,000 Muslim Tatars who live in that area. Many people have asked me recently about Islam in Ukraine so I though this would be a good opportunity to share with you some of the facts and give you some tools to help you share the gospel with your Muslim friends.<\/p>\n
The Crimean\u00a0Tatars<\/a>\u00a0have been in the Crimea since about the 1400’s. During Soviet times many of them were displaced by the government and it was only in 1991 that they were allowed to come back to their homeland. The reason the Tatars do not want Russian to annex is Crimea is because they are worried that history will repeat it’s self.<\/p>\n Muslims make up nearly a quarter of the earth’s population and Islam is considered the 2nd largest religion in the world and the fastest growing religion. Here’s how the statistics look between the US, Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n Last month I attended a seminar called “Heart, Mind and Soul -Muslims”. The seminar helped me overcome my fear of Muslims and equipped me to share the Gospel with them. \u00a0 The information below was taken from the seminar.<\/p>\n In order to effectively reach Muslims we must have a proper heart attitude toward them which means that we must love them!<\/span> By simply building relationships and loving Muslims around us we can earn the right to be heard. We need to understand that most Muslims place a high value on two things.<\/p>\n Community is all about relationships and honor is about how the community views those relationships, thus relationships drive Islamic values, it is even higher than truth. Americans tend to value independence, rights, privacy. If we don’t understand the significance of community and honor to a Muslim it is doubtful that we will be able to build a relationship with him. If we cannot build a relationship with a Muslim we will not have our best opportunity to demonstrate love and share the gospel with him.<\/p>\n It’s also important that we understand what Islam is and how Muslims think. A Muslim is one who surrenders or submits to God or a follower of Islam.\u00a0They are not about having a personal relationship with God, they are about obeying God.<\/span><\/p>\n 15% Atheist\/agnostic\/ancestry only 35% Believe in name only -do not practice regularly 35% Believe and practice regularly 15% Fundamentalist (only a very small percentage are terrorist)<\/p>\n The 5 authorities of Islam<\/strong> What do Muslims hold as authoritative?<\/p>\n Although they say they believe much of the Bible they may also say that the Bible is corrupted. If they say it’s corrupted you can just tell them, “Let me know when you find a place that is corrupt” and then move on. Important truths:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. It’s OK that you don’t know it all. Start to engage Muslims in order to build relationships. 2. Be inquisitive and listen; these add to your credibility and are keys to building deeper relationships. 3. Similarities between Islam and Christianity are door-openers to spiritual conversations. 4. Sharing truth is a process; proceeding step by step is more important than downloading all you know in one sitting.<\/p>\n Connecting with Muslims at a soul level means building redemptive relationships with them, loving them and praying for them.<\/p>\n Below is a list of great resources that can help you effectively reach Muslims with the Gospel. I’ve also made a list with all these resources in one place on Amazon<\/a> -All the Prophets have Spoke – John Cross<\/a> –A Wind in the House of Islam – David Garrison<\/a> -Understanding Islam and Christianity – Josh McDowell<\/a> -What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Koran – James R. White<\/a> -Is the Injeel Corrupted – Fouad Masri?<\/a> -The Gospel for Muslims – Thabiti Anyabwile<\/a> -Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus – Nabeel Qureshi and Lee Strobel<\/a> -Breaking the Islam Code – J.D. Greear<\/a> -Message of Hope<\/a> –Bridges – Crescent Project DVD series<\/a><\/p>\n The recent events in the Crimea have brought attention to the 300,000 Muslim Tatars who live in that area. Many people have asked me recently about Islam in Ukraine so I though this would be a good opportunity to share with you some of the facts and give you some tools to help you share the gospel with your Muslim friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[10,322,323],"class_list":["post-3704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-evangelism","tag-islam","tag-mulsims"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/islam-prayer_2605709k.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-XK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3792,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/25-why-does-crimea-want-to-be-part-of-russia-podcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":3704,"position":0},"title":"#25 Why Does Crimea Want to Be Part of Russia? -Podcast","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Before you listen to this\u00a0podcast\u00a0you should know that it is\u00a0political! In this episode of Now is the Time\u00a0\u00a0I talk about Ukraine, Russia and Crimea. The recent political changes there are historical and they will affect the church. 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Your prayers for Ukraine are vital this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/russian-troops-0011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/russian-troops-0011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/russian-troops-0011.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10043,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/russian-navy-fires-on-and-captures-ukrainian-naval-ships-near-crimea\/","url_meta":{"origin":3704,"position":2},"title":"Russian Navy fires on and Captures Ukrainian Naval Ships Near Crimea","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"November 26, 2018","format":"video","excerpt":"On Sunday November 25th, 2018 the Russian navy\u00a0fired on 3 Ukrainian naval ships in the straits of Kerch and captured all 3 of Ukrainian ships. This escalation has brought a renewed concern among Ukrainians about the possibility of more war.\u00a0Today the Ukrainian government will vote on whether or not to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4000,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/30-how-to-pray-for-ukraine-17-ways\/","url_meta":{"origin":3704,"position":3},"title":"#30 How to Pray for Ukraine -17 Ways","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"May 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is a national day of prayer and fasting in Ukraine before the presidential elections which will take place tomorrow, May 25th. In this episode of \"Now is the Time\"\u00a0I talk about the some of the persecution of Christians that is happening in Eastern Ukraine and I share 17 ways\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Gospel Today"","block_context":{"text":"The Gospel Today","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ukraine-vote-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ukraine-vote-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/ukraine-vote-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3811,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/is-this-war-russian-troops-on-ukraines-border\/","url_meta":{"origin":3704,"position":4},"title":"Is this War? Russian Troops on Ukraine’s Border","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Valdimir Putin caught us all off guard when his troops marched into Crimea and very quickly and somewhat quietly took over. What will happen now that the annexation of Crimea is pretty much complete? Will Putin go in and take another bite out of Eastern or Southern Ukraine? 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This has resulted in tens of thousands of displaced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/refugees.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/refugees.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/refugees.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3704"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3770,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3704\/revisions\/3770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Statistics<\/h4>\n
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\n
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How to Reach Muslims with the Gospel <\/strong><\/h4>\n
-Heart<\/h4>\n
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-Mind<\/span><\/h4>\n
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-Soul<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Resources<\/h4>\n
Follow up ideas<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Question: Do you have any Muslims who live or work near you? Will you seek a redemptive relationship with them?<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"