Book Notice: Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities

Don Little

Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities
Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015.
Available at Amazon.com

Review by C. Hine

Don Little is a seasoned practitioner in walking with those who choose to follow Jesus from a Muslim heritage. His recently published book, Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices, gathers that learned wisdom, critically assesses it through research and study, and makes it available to a wider audience.

That God is at work among followers of Islam, revealing himself and bringing them into relationship with him is a phenomenon that many have prayed and long for over years. Significant research and study has been done, and resources created to help Muslims into the journey of faith. But there has been a gap. How do we walk with those who choose to follow Jesus into maturity of faith? Little’s book is a welcome addition in this under-researched and resourced area.

There are enormous spiritual, social, emotional and world-view challenges for Muslims who follow Jesus. Little engages in a review of scripture, the formation of the early church and modern approaches to discipleship, alongside extensive interviews with today’s disciplers of those from a Muslim background to draw his theoretical and missiological conclusions.

Creating a model that he calls the ‘The Living Pyramid of Relational Communal Discipling of BMB’s’ (Believers from a Muslim Background), Little calls for ‘insider discipleship that integrates new believers successfully into culturally and socially insider churches’.

His model has as its foundation ‘Living for Christ inside Muslim family and community’, and ‘Living in mutual dependence on the Holy Spirit’. The core of his pyramid is ‘A new identity living in Cruciformity to Christ’. He places a banner over all that he describes as ‘Trusting in God as Heavenly Father sustains corporate discipleship to Christ’. The model seems a little forced. It does not give clarity to his theoretical framework and it remains unclear why that model.

Little’s model is formed from his theoretical framing of discipleship. He draws on Paul’s writings in Galatians and Philippians, reflections on Christ in Luke and Acts and an historical understanding of spiritual formation in the Church. He then brings these to bear on the context of Muslims who follow Christ, and the end goals of discipleship for followers of Jesus to grow in maturity. This framework is nuanced by interaction with some parts of the Church, and perhaps Little’s own faith background. It would be interesting to see how other streams of Christian faith might give insight into the journey of growth. The lack of engagement with the Charismatic and Pentecostal streams is one glaring omission, even though many from a Muslim background are drawn to Christ through supernatural experiences. There is a clear gap in this area in the framework for discipleship that Little advocates.

‘Insider discipleship’ is a bold use of terminology in a world where insider terminology and missiology has been one of the most divisive arguments to split mission among Muslims in recent years. However, Don Little is well-placed to address the issue, having willingly engaged in reconciliation of proponents and opponents through Bridging the Divide.

Little makes clear that he is not an advocate of the ‘Insider movement’, arguing that discipleship is committed to the formation of Churches within Muslim communities, not insider movements.

Not only does Little challenge this part of modern mission strategies. He also calls into question the Unreached People Groups framing of mission, suggesting it has led to ‘increasing levels of superficiality in many of [the] missionary endeavours’. Bravely, and yet with great grace, Little gives voice to concerns about the fast pace of movements to Christ demanded if we are to finish the task in our generation. He draws on his experience of discipling Muslims who follow Christ, and the many interviews he conducted, in order to point to the goal of discipleship as enduring, strong, healthy churches. And, he says, experience until today has shown that this is a slow and often challenging process. ‘The kind of discipleship envisioned in this book involves persevering effort over long periods of time’.

The book contains a wealth of resource material on the challenges and how seasoned disciplers are addressing them as they journey with BMB’s. The tables summarising the data of his interviews provides extensive material for discussion groups and learning.

Of importance in his data is the information gleaned on how long term disciplers, Arab World disciplers, BMB disciplers and new disciplers view the challenges, and how to deal with them. There appears to be significant congruence between seasoned disciplers and those from Muslim communities. This perhaps reflects the on-going need for long-term workers alongside their non-western brothers and sister.

While Little touches on the issue of gender difference in discipleship, and his tables include responses from women disciplers, there are unaddressed assumptions. Women’s responses are subsumed under the overall sets of responses, and only addressed by references that say the percentage of women’s responses looks the same as the male interviewees, and so there must be little or no difference. The areas of difference seem to be lost overall.

Little is to be commended, I think, for acknowledging that the assumption that the good news will travel across family lines to women has often been shown to be untrue. This highlights the need for work on this area of discipleship as it pertains to women who follow Jesus from within Islam.

The question at the centre of understanding Little’s thesis is what do we mean by discipleship. From the outset Little makes clear that he believes that there is first a clear conversion, and discipleship follows that as the journey to maturity. This may be perplexing for those who have engaged in the journey with followers of Christ from a Muslim background. It is only much later in the book that this is nuanced when he speaks of the often circuitous journey in faith for Muslims who follow Jesus.

The book is an extensive resource for those engaged in discipling Muslim followers of Jesus. It lays out a framework for spiritual formation that is premised on community, study of, and obedience to scripture by observing this modelled in the lives of mature believers, a strong relationship with God experienced through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and personal mentoring. It calls for disciplers who are committed to the life-on-life journey to maturity.

Effective discipling in Muslim Communities builds on a small number of books starting to emerge in the area of discipleship, and is a much needed resource.

C. Hine is a mission worker in the Muslim world, with a love for reading and research, and has recently been part of the launch of the When Women Speak network, encouraging the exploration of the place of women’s voices where Christianity, Islam and mission meet.