Are Muslims Hard to Reach?
By Aaron Myers
God loves Muslims.
Jesus came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life and went to the cross for us all, including Muslims. And He desires relationship with them and worship from them, as He does from us all.
He loves Muslims so much that we are seeing His amazing work throughout the world. More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the last fifteen years than in the previous 1,400 years combined! God is on the move in the Muslim world.
And yet, of the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, the percentage who have come to faith is still extremely small. Even if the number were tens of millions, in order to reach 10% of the world’s Muslim population, there would need to be 180 million Muslims come to faith in Christ. There is so much work to be done!
And here is the challenge: The vast majority of Muslims in our world today live in places where there is little to no gospel witness. For example, Turkey is a nation of over 80 million people, and the number of Muslims who have come to faith in Christ is less than 10,000. Of the country’s 81 provinces, 18 of them have no established church.
The vast majority of Muslims in Turkey will live and die without ever meeting a true follower of Jesus or having an opportunity to respond to the gospel. The story repeats itself across the Muslim world.
There are over 41 million Hausa Muslims in Niger and Nigeria and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are nearly 19 million Arab Muslims in Morocco and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 16 million Azeri Muslims in Iran and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 12 million Yemeni Muslims in Yemen and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 25 million Uzbek Muslims in Uzbekistan and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 25 million Hui and Uygher Muslims in China and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 32 million Jat Muslims in Pakistan and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are nearly 35 million Pashtun Muslims in Pakistan and India and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 17 million Rajput Muslims in Pakistan and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 235 million Shaikh in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are nearly 11 million Arain Muslims in Pakistan and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
There are over 10 million Ansari in India and they are less than 0.1% Christian.
This list represents nearly half a billion people in just twelve of the largest Muslim people groups. These twelve people groups are just one quarter of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, most of whom live within the 10/40 window, the region of the earth between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator in the eastern hemisphere.
Are Muslims hard to reach? Are Muslims resistant to the gospel?
The reality is that, beyond the boundaries of the United States, we don’t know how significant resistance is to the gospel because so few workers have been sent to the Muslim world - just one missionary for every 405,500 Muslims in 2015.
The only thing we know for certain is that vast majority of Muslims across the globe have never had a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.
As Scripture says, “‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’” - Romans 10:11-15
Over the past three years, I have had the chance to reach out to men who live in Turkey, Mali, Sudan, the Palestinian provinces, China, and Dagestan (an Islamic enclave in Russia).
For every one of these men, I am the first true follower of Jesus they have ever met.
I pray for them regularly and often share scripture with them. Building relationships with them has naturally led to regular gospel conversations and the chance with a few to begin a discovery Bible study reading from Creation to Christ.
Embassy has provided the easy onramp to get me involved in changing the statistics.
I only have to walk to my computer and yet the God of the universe is using my feet to bring the good news to Muslims all around the globe.