Many Australian Christians see Islam as a threat to their way of life and this often means that instead of reaching out to Muslims "whom the Lord in his providence has brought to our shores.. they withdraw from them”.
This is the contention of the Rev Michael Wilson, Cross-cultural Ministry Co-ordinator for the Presbyterian Church in NSW, who has organized a conference to make sure that Sydney Christians don't "sabotage what matters even more" than any social and political concerns.
Mr Wilson has organized the MACH10 conference "Shining the light on Islam" to start this Tuesday April 20 until Saturday April 24 in western Sydney .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Speakers include Dr Patrick Sookhdeo from the Barnabas Fund in the UK and Sydney-based Anglican minister, the Rev Moussa Ghazal.
The dozen sessions include an introduction to the Islamic religion through to examination of the main theological conflicts between Christians and Muslims. There are also practical training sessions.
The conference includes a visit to a mosque on Wednesday, April 21.
It is specifically billed as a conference for Christians to learn more about Islam's teachings as well as workshops offering practical tips on how to reach out to Muslims.
People can either come to the whole conference or to parts.
"One of the key features of the conference is that we are not going to avoid the elephant in the room, namely that our speakers and contributors represent a range of sometimes quite different approaches to Islam and ministering to Muslims," Mr Wilson said.
"We will be constantly reminding participants of this and emphasizing that we are not promoting one particular approach or stance in this conference. We will face serious social problems occasioned by Islam. But we refuse to be on the back foot, as though we were under attack from Islam and forced to respond. Rather, as those in Christ's triumphal procession, we are going on the front foot, as indicated by the conference theme "Shining the Light on Islam."
“We are looking to God to use this conference to motivate Christians to pray earnestly for Muslims and to reach out to them with the gospel, with conference content contributing to this end."
