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A Wind in the House of Islam
There are nine rooms in the house of Islam... and a wind is blowing through every one of them. David Garrison asked a thousand Muslim-background followers of Christ from movements in each of the nine rooms in the house of Islam, "Tell me your story. What did God use to bring you to faith in Jesus Christ?"
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
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1739 people want to read
About the author
David Garrison
30 books13 followersFor 25 years David Garrison has served as a missionary with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. His assignments have included Associate Vice President for Global Strategy, Regional Leader for South Asia, Interim Regional Leader for Central and Eastern Europe, and Interim Regional Leader for Northern Africa and the Middle East. Prior to that, Garrison directed the work of the International Mission Board’s Cooperative Services International program which opened new work among 40 previously unengaged people groups. Garrison’s quest to understand and join God’s global mission has led him to study a dozen languages and visit more than 80 countries, serving as a missionary in Hong Kong, Germany, France, England, Egypt, Tunisia, and India.
Garrison has degrees from Ouachita Baptist University (B.A., 1979), Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.,1982), the University of Chicago Divinity School (Ph.D., 1988).
Garrison has taught at Hong Kong Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Seminary, and Columbia Biblical Seminary, in addition to leading seminars and workshops internationally. His books include The Nonresidential Missionary (MARC, 1990), Something New Under the Sun (IMB, 1998), the booklet Church Planting Movements (IMB, 2000), The Camel Workshop: A Practical Guide to Muslim Evangelism (WIGTake Resources, 2009), and Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World (WIGTake Resources, 2004). Dr. Garrison currently lives with his wife of 30 years, Sonia, and two of their four children in Colorado where he serves as the International Mission Board’s Global Strategist for Evangelical Advance.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Garrison has degrees from Ouachita Baptist University (B.A., 1979), Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.,1982), the University of Chicago Divinity School (Ph.D., 1988).
Garrison has taught at Hong Kong Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Seminary, and Columbia Biblical Seminary, in addition to leading seminars and workshops internationally. His books include The Nonresidential Missionary (MARC, 1990), Something New Under the Sun (IMB, 1998), the booklet Church Planting Movements (IMB, 2000), The Camel Workshop: A Practical Guide to Muslim Evangelism (WIGTake Resources, 2009), and Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World (WIGTake Resources, 2004). Dr. Garrison currently lives with his wife of 30 years, Sonia, and two of their four children in Colorado where he serves as the International Mission Board’s Global Strategist for Evangelical Advance.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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June 2, 2016
My selection for this month’s book of the month is David Garrison’s A Wind in the House of Islam. Meticulously researched, this book provides necessary background information for Christians who want to understand anything Muslim-related in the modern world. Whether we are talking about world mission, terrorism, or immigration, or America’s drone warfare in Muslim territories, there is information here that you simply must have if you want to be informed.Wind Islam
The subtitle of the book is “How God is drawing Muslims around the world to faith in Jesus Christ,” and the stories involved are fascinating, thrilling, odd, and full of courage.
Dar al-Harb (House of War) is the Islamic phrase that describes the non-Islamic world, which helps to set the stage. Garrison provides much needed information on the history of Islam, the history of Christian mission attempts to the Muslim world, and a copious number of testimonies from every part of the Muslim world. Something remarkable is happening.
Garrison divides the “house of Islam” (Dar al-Islam), a region stretching from West Africa to Indonesia, into nine “rooms,” and he demonstrates how the wind of the Spirit of God is blowing through each one of them. He only counts a movement to Christ if it involves “at least 100 new church starts or 1,000 baptisms that occur over a two-decade period” (p. 5).
The “rooms” are not primarily political, although politics do affect it. They are what Garrison calls “geo-cultural.” Working from west to east, the rooms are: West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, Arab World, Persian World, Turkestan, Western South Asia, Eastern South Asia, and Indo-Malaysia. Movements to Christ are occurring in all of them.
The House of Islam encompasses 49 countries and 1.6 billion adherents. Compared to this size, and this number, the movements to Christ that he reckons up seem (on the one hand) almost entirely insignificant. The number of Christian converts ranges somewhere between 2 and 7 million people — a drop in the bucket. But, as Garrison shows, reckoned in another way, this is actually a thunderbolt development in the long and conflicted history of Christianity and Islam. In short, what is happening now is something that has never really happened before.
Using Garrison’s criteria, from the 7th to the 18th century, there were no movements from Islam to Christ. In the 19th century, there were 2. In the 20th century, there were 11. And in the first 12 years of the 21st century, there have been 69.
What is causing this? Involving that much territory, and the number of people concerned, the answer to that question has to be astonishingly broad. God’s work in the modern world is as messy as it has ever been. He has used Constantinian-like decrees (as in Indonesia), but He is also using satellite television, the JESUS Film, dreams, personal relationships, translations of the Bible into local languages, the Internet, and (perhaps surprisingly) translations of the Qur’an into local languages.
If you can read these (numerous) testimonies without being deeply moved, then you need to seek out pastoral counseling.
One last comment. These movements to Christ do not need to be huge in order to establish a counter-narrative that poses a significant challenge for the devout Islamic mind. For many reasons, the first thousand years of Islam provided the established Islamic narrative with nothing but reinforcement. The theology of Islam and the victorious successes of Islam fit together, hand in glove.
But then it fell apart. The first sign of trouble was found in some key military battles — Malta, Lepanto, Vienna. The tide had begun to turn, and then after the First World War, the European powers just divided up the Middle East like it was a pie. The problem is that Islam has no theology of exile, and so the whole thing set up a profound theological discordance. It is not supposed to be this way. Another great book to help understand this would be Bernard Lewis’s What Went Wrong?
If you couple that understanding (that Islam has no theology of weakness) with a realization of what this book describes, you realize that another huge “discordance” is taking shape. Millions of Muslims becoming Christian is not primarily a demographic problem. They have lots of people. It is a theological problem. And in order to be a pressing theological problem, it only has to be big enough to notice. Once noticed, if there is no answer forthcoming (and given the nature of the Qur’an, there can be no answer), the process can only accelerate.
In short, while the extreme behavior of Islamo-fundamentalists is certainly dedicated and all-in, it is not confident. The kamikaze pilots of Japan were committed, but that kind of tactic is actually a sign of desperation. As this book shows, the answer for such desperation cannot be Western secularism, but rather Christ. And when Christ is proclaimed to the Dar al-Islam, there are many there who are ready to listen.
The subtitle of the book is “How God is drawing Muslims around the world to faith in Jesus Christ,” and the stories involved are fascinating, thrilling, odd, and full of courage.
Dar al-Harb (House of War) is the Islamic phrase that describes the non-Islamic world, which helps to set the stage. Garrison provides much needed information on the history of Islam, the history of Christian mission attempts to the Muslim world, and a copious number of testimonies from every part of the Muslim world. Something remarkable is happening.
Garrison divides the “house of Islam” (Dar al-Islam), a region stretching from West Africa to Indonesia, into nine “rooms,” and he demonstrates how the wind of the Spirit of God is blowing through each one of them. He only counts a movement to Christ if it involves “at least 100 new church starts or 1,000 baptisms that occur over a two-decade period” (p. 5).
The “rooms” are not primarily political, although politics do affect it. They are what Garrison calls “geo-cultural.” Working from west to east, the rooms are: West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, Arab World, Persian World, Turkestan, Western South Asia, Eastern South Asia, and Indo-Malaysia. Movements to Christ are occurring in all of them.
The House of Islam encompasses 49 countries and 1.6 billion adherents. Compared to this size, and this number, the movements to Christ that he reckons up seem (on the one hand) almost entirely insignificant. The number of Christian converts ranges somewhere between 2 and 7 million people — a drop in the bucket. But, as Garrison shows, reckoned in another way, this is actually a thunderbolt development in the long and conflicted history of Christianity and Islam. In short, what is happening now is something that has never really happened before.
Using Garrison’s criteria, from the 7th to the 18th century, there were no movements from Islam to Christ. In the 19th century, there were 2. In the 20th century, there were 11. And in the first 12 years of the 21st century, there have been 69.
What is causing this? Involving that much territory, and the number of people concerned, the answer to that question has to be astonishingly broad. God’s work in the modern world is as messy as it has ever been. He has used Constantinian-like decrees (as in Indonesia), but He is also using satellite television, the JESUS Film, dreams, personal relationships, translations of the Bible into local languages, the Internet, and (perhaps surprisingly) translations of the Qur’an into local languages.
If you can read these (numerous) testimonies without being deeply moved, then you need to seek out pastoral counseling.
One last comment. These movements to Christ do not need to be huge in order to establish a counter-narrative that poses a significant challenge for the devout Islamic mind. For many reasons, the first thousand years of Islam provided the established Islamic narrative with nothing but reinforcement. The theology of Islam and the victorious successes of Islam fit together, hand in glove.
But then it fell apart. The first sign of trouble was found in some key military battles — Malta, Lepanto, Vienna. The tide had begun to turn, and then after the First World War, the European powers just divided up the Middle East like it was a pie. The problem is that Islam has no theology of exile, and so the whole thing set up a profound theological discordance. It is not supposed to be this way. Another great book to help understand this would be Bernard Lewis’s What Went Wrong?
If you couple that understanding (that Islam has no theology of weakness) with a realization of what this book describes, you realize that another huge “discordance” is taking shape. Millions of Muslims becoming Christian is not primarily a demographic problem. They have lots of people. It is a theological problem. And in order to be a pressing theological problem, it only has to be big enough to notice. Once noticed, if there is no answer forthcoming (and given the nature of the Qur’an, there can be no answer), the process can only accelerate.
In short, while the extreme behavior of Islamo-fundamentalists is certainly dedicated and all-in, it is not confident. The kamikaze pilots of Japan were committed, but that kind of tactic is actually a sign of desperation. As this book shows, the answer for such desperation cannot be Western secularism, but rather Christ. And when Christ is proclaimed to the Dar al-Islam, there are many there who are ready to listen.
March 8, 2016
This was a very helpful study on an unprecedented moment in church history: the sudden and never-before-experienced phenomenon of Muslims turning to Christianity in increasing numbers over the last two decades. Garrison divides the Muslim world up roughly into nine geographical sections, then shares historical details to provide a cultural context for the burgeoning Christian movements that have sprung up in each of them. The most compelling parts of the book are the segments relating the experiences of the Muslim-background believers, often in their own words. From a 21-year-old woman who between her interview and the publication of the book was forcibly married to a Muslim man and was never seen again, to a Taliban mujahid whose failure to follow through on plans to murder his brother and a Western missionary led to his unexpected conversion, these stories are enormously helpful in fleshing out a picture of Islamic cultures worldwide and the challenges faced by converts.
Some things I particularly appreciated:
- Along with the dreams, visions, and miracles bringing thousands of Muslims to Christ, Garrison discusses the role played by colloquial-language translations of the Quran in whetting Muslim interest in Jesus Christ and exposing the flaws of both Mohammed and Islam.
- He also stresses the fact that many of the Muslim movements to Christ, though seeded and encouraged by Western missionaries, gain all their momentum from the converts themselves, who have a much better idea of how to present the Gospel to other Muslims in a culturally relevant way. This, more than anything else, excited me about the movements depicted in this book: they are not dependent upon the Western church, they are examples of leadership arising from within.
- At the same time, it emerges that for most Muslim-background-believers, identifying as a Christian is seen as optional. Because identifying as a Christian means reading out your own death sentence and cutting yourself off from your family and friends, as well as identifying yourself with the much-hated Western powers, many MBBs continue to think of themselves as Muslims--but Muslims who believe in Christ for their salvation and do not see Mohammed as a prophet of God. This is a fascinating twist I'd never heard before, and while I have Matthew 10:33 concerns about it, it seems most MBBs are willing to confess Christ before men.
- However, this gives rise to something that particularly intrigues me, which I believe is something that has been lacking in world missions throughout the last couple of hundred years: namely, a very spontaneous, autonomous, independent movement to Christianity. Especially in the last hundred years, Muslims have come to hate and distrust the West. MBBs don't particularly like the West either; they love Christ, but they don't want to adopt 21st-century Western culture (I can't blame them). What we're seeing is much more grassroots, with a much stronger indigenous leadership, than many other missionary activities--or so it seems to me.
At the same time, I had two big problems with the book:
- First, the book mentioned the Crusades several times, and I thought a lot of what was said was somewhat wrong-headed. It's historically extremely unlikely, for instance, that the Crusades were "Christian Europe's imitative response" to the Islamic concept of jihad in the sense that Islamic holy war may have inspired a concept of Christian holy war. Garrison goes more obviously wrong when he attempts to construe the Crusades as some kind of proselytising response to Islam, or hold up Norman Sicily as the sole example of Christian-Islamic tolerance. As a matter of fact, Muslims were tolerated in Christian-ruled countries as a matter of course. For example, the Crusader states became a haven for Shia and other minority sects who would have faced persecution in Sunni-majority nations. Christian-Islamic conflict during the time of the Crusades was generally conducted across political boundaries.
Garrison's critique of the Crusades really only makes sense if the Crusades were intended to force Christianity upon conquered Islamic peoples, but that was never the aim. The primary aim was to defend the Eastern Church which still formed a population majority in the East, while liberating territory they believed belonged in a very real and legal sense to Christ. Garrison cites one author in support of his claim that the Crusades were counterproductive even in this aim, saying that many eastern Christians converted to Islam during the Crusades in an attempt to stave off accusations of treachery. This is something it might be good to investigate further, but I merely note that my previous reading here indicated, rather, that Crusader presence in the East worked to protect indigenous Christian populations under Muslim rulership, given that most of the truces required both parties to protect and tolerate members of the opposing religion living in their territories; and that the steep increase in conversions to Islam occurred after 1291 when the final Crusader enclaves were squeezed out of Syria and Palestine.
I warmly agree that the Crusaders' major failing was a complete disregard for the spiritual health of the people they were fighting. St Francis of Asissi was the shining exception, for which he should always be remembered. However, one of the reasons this was their failing was that conversions, forced or voluntary, were never a goal. Protecting the existing Church was; and I think that was a praiseworthy goal.
- Second, and related, I don't trust Garrison's concept of what it is Christianity is supposed to accomplish in the world. His root problem with the Crusades is hinted at in a section that warns against a vision of a Christendom that imitates Islam as a political and cultural force:
"Whether it was the initial Christian armies from Byzantium fighting against the 7th century Muslim warriors who streamed out of the Arabian Desert, the Crusaders bent on recapturing the Holy Land, the medieval knights who contested Ottoman advance, or the more recent Western colonizers of the 19th century, our history of failure in reaching Muslims for Christ has coincided with our failures to be like Christ to Muslims."
This paragraph made me utter muted screams of horror. The Byzantines fought the 7th-century Muslim warriors because they were an aggressive military threat to an established Christian civilisation. The Crusaders fought the Turks because they were trying to salvage that Christian civilisation. Don John of Austria fought the Ottomans at Lepanto because if he hadn't, Christian Europe would have become a footnote in history and the modern age of missions would never have had a hope of happening. Garrison has just spent hundreds of pages detailing just what life is like when Islam really captures a culture. What is unChristlike about defending the sheep from wolves? Thy rod and thy staff, they run away and hide when I'm in trouble.
Again: Garrison is right to point out the woeful record of the Church in taking the gospel to Muslims. But he errs in supposing that a Christian individual or nation should never take up arms in opposing the spread of a militant rival faith. The real difference between Christendom and Islam is not that one is an apolitical religion ruling over the space between your vertebrae and ribs, while the other is a comprehensive cultural vision with a pre-packaged social system and an eschatology of victory. I think if you don't see Christianity in terms of a comprehensive cultural vision, you're missing a big part of the point. The real difference between Christendom and Islam is that Christendom is built on the way the world actually works, led by a Man of Sorrows, Acquainted with Grief, who knows what we suffer and has compassion for all our weaknesses and will give us sweet assurance of his love, mercy, and kindness. Islam has none of that. That is the difference.
Ultimately, A Wind in the House of Islam gave me most hope where it showed me most evidence that a truly and vibrantly Eastern Christian culture is arising in the lands under the dominion of Islam--and most concern when I wondered if this was really a syncretistic relegation of faith in Christ to a small section of the individual's aorta that had no real impact upon the benighted culture around. But I think that, given the balance of evidence, our hope can be for the former. As Garrison himself says, we can have faith that God has begun a good work in these dear Muslim-background brothers and sisters, and will see it through to completion.
Some things I particularly appreciated:
- Along with the dreams, visions, and miracles bringing thousands of Muslims to Christ, Garrison discusses the role played by colloquial-language translations of the Quran in whetting Muslim interest in Jesus Christ and exposing the flaws of both Mohammed and Islam.
- He also stresses the fact that many of the Muslim movements to Christ, though seeded and encouraged by Western missionaries, gain all their momentum from the converts themselves, who have a much better idea of how to present the Gospel to other Muslims in a culturally relevant way. This, more than anything else, excited me about the movements depicted in this book: they are not dependent upon the Western church, they are examples of leadership arising from within.
- At the same time, it emerges that for most Muslim-background-believers, identifying as a Christian is seen as optional. Because identifying as a Christian means reading out your own death sentence and cutting yourself off from your family and friends, as well as identifying yourself with the much-hated Western powers, many MBBs continue to think of themselves as Muslims--but Muslims who believe in Christ for their salvation and do not see Mohammed as a prophet of God. This is a fascinating twist I'd never heard before, and while I have Matthew 10:33 concerns about it, it seems most MBBs are willing to confess Christ before men.
- However, this gives rise to something that particularly intrigues me, which I believe is something that has been lacking in world missions throughout the last couple of hundred years: namely, a very spontaneous, autonomous, independent movement to Christianity. Especially in the last hundred years, Muslims have come to hate and distrust the West. MBBs don't particularly like the West either; they love Christ, but they don't want to adopt 21st-century Western culture (I can't blame them). What we're seeing is much more grassroots, with a much stronger indigenous leadership, than many other missionary activities--or so it seems to me.
At the same time, I had two big problems with the book:
- First, the book mentioned the Crusades several times, and I thought a lot of what was said was somewhat wrong-headed. It's historically extremely unlikely, for instance, that the Crusades were "Christian Europe's imitative response" to the Islamic concept of jihad in the sense that Islamic holy war may have inspired a concept of Christian holy war. Garrison goes more obviously wrong when he attempts to construe the Crusades as some kind of proselytising response to Islam, or hold up Norman Sicily as the sole example of Christian-Islamic tolerance. As a matter of fact, Muslims were tolerated in Christian-ruled countries as a matter of course. For example, the Crusader states became a haven for Shia and other minority sects who would have faced persecution in Sunni-majority nations. Christian-Islamic conflict during the time of the Crusades was generally conducted across political boundaries.
Garrison's critique of the Crusades really only makes sense if the Crusades were intended to force Christianity upon conquered Islamic peoples, but that was never the aim. The primary aim was to defend the Eastern Church which still formed a population majority in the East, while liberating territory they believed belonged in a very real and legal sense to Christ. Garrison cites one author in support of his claim that the Crusades were counterproductive even in this aim, saying that many eastern Christians converted to Islam during the Crusades in an attempt to stave off accusations of treachery. This is something it might be good to investigate further, but I merely note that my previous reading here indicated, rather, that Crusader presence in the East worked to protect indigenous Christian populations under Muslim rulership, given that most of the truces required both parties to protect and tolerate members of the opposing religion living in their territories; and that the steep increase in conversions to Islam occurred after 1291 when the final Crusader enclaves were squeezed out of Syria and Palestine.
I warmly agree that the Crusaders' major failing was a complete disregard for the spiritual health of the people they were fighting. St Francis of Asissi was the shining exception, for which he should always be remembered. However, one of the reasons this was their failing was that conversions, forced or voluntary, were never a goal. Protecting the existing Church was; and I think that was a praiseworthy goal.
- Second, and related, I don't trust Garrison's concept of what it is Christianity is supposed to accomplish in the world. His root problem with the Crusades is hinted at in a section that warns against a vision of a Christendom that imitates Islam as a political and cultural force:
"Whether it was the initial Christian armies from Byzantium fighting against the 7th century Muslim warriors who streamed out of the Arabian Desert, the Crusaders bent on recapturing the Holy Land, the medieval knights who contested Ottoman advance, or the more recent Western colonizers of the 19th century, our history of failure in reaching Muslims for Christ has coincided with our failures to be like Christ to Muslims."
This paragraph made me utter muted screams of horror. The Byzantines fought the 7th-century Muslim warriors because they were an aggressive military threat to an established Christian civilisation. The Crusaders fought the Turks because they were trying to salvage that Christian civilisation. Don John of Austria fought the Ottomans at Lepanto because if he hadn't, Christian Europe would have become a footnote in history and the modern age of missions would never have had a hope of happening. Garrison has just spent hundreds of pages detailing just what life is like when Islam really captures a culture. What is unChristlike about defending the sheep from wolves? Thy rod and thy staff, they run away and hide when I'm in trouble.
Again: Garrison is right to point out the woeful record of the Church in taking the gospel to Muslims. But he errs in supposing that a Christian individual or nation should never take up arms in opposing the spread of a militant rival faith. The real difference between Christendom and Islam is not that one is an apolitical religion ruling over the space between your vertebrae and ribs, while the other is a comprehensive cultural vision with a pre-packaged social system and an eschatology of victory. I think if you don't see Christianity in terms of a comprehensive cultural vision, you're missing a big part of the point. The real difference between Christendom and Islam is that Christendom is built on the way the world actually works, led by a Man of Sorrows, Acquainted with Grief, who knows what we suffer and has compassion for all our weaknesses and will give us sweet assurance of his love, mercy, and kindness. Islam has none of that. That is the difference.
Ultimately, A Wind in the House of Islam gave me most hope where it showed me most evidence that a truly and vibrantly Eastern Christian culture is arising in the lands under the dominion of Islam--and most concern when I wondered if this was really a syncretistic relegation of faith in Christ to a small section of the individual's aorta that had no real impact upon the benighted culture around. But I think that, given the balance of evidence, our hope can be for the former. As Garrison himself says, we can have faith that God has begun a good work in these dear Muslim-background brothers and sisters, and will see it through to completion.
March 19, 2022
The research was interesting, but the stories were what gripped me. The one that got me sobbing was the recent convert asking if he should stop beating his wife. I was overcome by the mercy of God that would extend salvation to such a man, the patience of God that would continue to put up with such sin for a time in a believer's life, and the power of God to grant him real repentance and transformation. And to know that He exercises that same mercy and patience and power with me. Gloria in excelsis!
The way belief in Christ is manifesting itself in the various rooms of the house of Islam often seems strange and irregular to me, but God draws straight with crooked lines, and if He's going to make such beautiful pictures, then I'm just going to put my hand over my mouth.
Read by the author, who did great except..."peninCHula"? Really?
The way belief in Christ is manifesting itself in the various rooms of the house of Islam often seems strange and irregular to me, but God draws straight with crooked lines, and if He's going to make such beautiful pictures, then I'm just going to put my hand over my mouth.
Read by the author, who did great except..."peninCHula"? Really?
November 26, 2023
Do yourself a favor and read this book. Super encouraging to hear stories of how God is calling Muslims to himself in extraordinary ways. Also was challenging to myself to look at Christ through the lens of a Muslim convert to Christ. I appreciated the historical context in this book too.
January 30, 2014
In more than 14 centuries of Muslim-Christian relations, tens of millions of Christians have been assimilated into the Muslim religion. During this same time period, we can document only 82 Muslim movements to Christ.
What’s most remarkable about this, says researcher and strategist David Garrison, is that 69 of history’s 82 movements have occurred in the past two decades alone. “We are living in the midst of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history.”
To better understand and respond to this phenomenon, Garrison and his collaborators traveled to each corner of the Muslim world (which Garrison calls the nine rooms in the house of Islam) and conducted interviews with more than 1,000 former Muslims who have come to faith in Jesus within 45 of these movements. Garrison’s definition of a movement is a fairly modest one: at least 1,000 baptisms or 100 church starts among a Muslim people over a two-decade period.
The book includes a strong emphasis on context. It includes an extensive introduction and explanation of research methods and a historic survey of Christian outreach and Muslim response to the gospel both globally and in each of nine world regions. Details of each region’s history, peoples, religion, and political dynamics provide a backdrop for the stories of the Muslim-background believers who emerged from such contexts.
The book concludes with a tentative but insightful list of ten “bridges of God” (ways God is working among Muslims today) and five barriers to seeing movements like these flourish, along with five practical steps we can take right now that will align us with God’s redemptive activity among Muslims.
I finished this book somewhat disappointed, primarily because though the history was helpful, I was left wanting more: more quotes and contemporary stories, analysis of what God is using to reach Muslims today, and suggestions for the response of the global church. If the movements Garrison describes continue to grow and multiply, however, this will certainly not be the last we hear of them.
What’s most remarkable about this, says researcher and strategist David Garrison, is that 69 of history’s 82 movements have occurred in the past two decades alone. “We are living in the midst of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history.”
To better understand and respond to this phenomenon, Garrison and his collaborators traveled to each corner of the Muslim world (which Garrison calls the nine rooms in the house of Islam) and conducted interviews with more than 1,000 former Muslims who have come to faith in Jesus within 45 of these movements. Garrison’s definition of a movement is a fairly modest one: at least 1,000 baptisms or 100 church starts among a Muslim people over a two-decade period.
The book includes a strong emphasis on context. It includes an extensive introduction and explanation of research methods and a historic survey of Christian outreach and Muslim response to the gospel both globally and in each of nine world regions. Details of each region’s history, peoples, religion, and political dynamics provide a backdrop for the stories of the Muslim-background believers who emerged from such contexts.
The book concludes with a tentative but insightful list of ten “bridges of God” (ways God is working among Muslims today) and five barriers to seeing movements like these flourish, along with five practical steps we can take right now that will align us with God’s redemptive activity among Muslims.
I finished this book somewhat disappointed, primarily because though the history was helpful, I was left wanting more: more quotes and contemporary stories, analysis of what God is using to reach Muslims today, and suggestions for the response of the global church. If the movements Garrison describes continue to grow and multiply, however, this will certainly not be the last we hear of them.
August 29, 2014
A Wind in The House of Islam is the most important book I've read in a long time. In the midst of a sea of polemic opinions it stands out as a courageous pursuit of facts on the ground, extracted at great cost and extreme effort.
We owe a great debt to David Garrison for encouraging us, not only with a snapshot in time of fruitful kingdom building, but also in effectively guiding us to respond personally.
We owe a great debt to David Garrison for encouraging us, not only with a snapshot in time of fruitful kingdom building, but also in effectively guiding us to respond personally.
June 22, 2017
I really enjoyed this look at movements around the world of Muslims becoming followers of Christ and the ways this is happening. This was a research study which was not quite what I expected when I started reading it, but the stories were so compelling that I really was drawn into the book. Each of the nine houses of Islam had a unique history of the growth of Islam and I learned tons.
March 9, 2022
This book was so insightful, encouraging, and convicting about how God is working amongst Muslims. It starts with an in depth view of how they conducted the studies and collected the stories which was hard to get into and can be a bit boring. But the study and stories themselves were so engaging and widening of my world view. Really loved the last few chapters of what we can learn from and how we can engage with Muslims in light of these stories.
September 21, 2024
Very encouraging book about how God is moving in the House of Islam!!
September 8, 2025
Whatever you're reading right now, stop and read this one first instead. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
July 3, 2014
This was a really compelling account of how Muslims are becoming followers of Isa (Jesus). I was tempted to give this book 4 or 4.5 stars on the basis of a few technical problems: There are a few typos, which is always a bit off-putting. However, there are few such errata compared to other Kindle books in the Amazon library.
For security reasons, the author cannot always cite sources. That makes some of his claims hard to accept. However, the author has asserted in public that he does have documentation to support his claims, even though he cannot always share it transparently.
Neither of these concerns is enough to keep me from recommending this book, which I do highly.
For security reasons, the author cannot always cite sources. That makes some of his claims hard to accept. However, the author has asserted in public that he does have documentation to support his claims, even though he cannot always share it transparently.
Neither of these concerns is enough to keep me from recommending this book, which I do highly.
December 22, 2015
Uniquely well-researched account of one of the phenomena of our day, that is, people of Islamic heritage finding fulfilment through faith in Christ.
It is a story that has mostly taken place in the last two decades. It may involve between two and ten million individuals. Nothing on this scale has happened before. For all these reasons this well-documented book deserves a wide audience.
It is a story that has mostly taken place in the last two decades. It may involve between two and ten million individuals. Nothing on this scale has happened before. For all these reasons this well-documented book deserves a wide audience.
July 12, 2015
Excellent read. Though specifically looking at movements to Christ in the Islamic world, I would recommend it to anyone - Christian or otherwise - who wanted to develop a more nuanced understanding of Islam and it's role across nine culturally distinct 'rooms'.
August 27, 2016
Excellent book, worth re-reading and thinking about.
August 13, 2020
Review of A Wind in the House of Islam by David Garrison (WIGtake Resources, 2014)
David Garrison is considered to be one of the most competent researchers among evangelical Christians interested in the global dynamics of world Christianity. In this book he investigates the significant number of new movements of people from Islam to Christ. He does this by dividing the house of Islam (and that is a technical term, Dar al Islam) into nine ‘rooms’, each corresponding to a defined region in the Muslim world, like the Arab room, the Persian room, and so on. Most of this book consists of these nine chapters wherein Garrison provides anecdotes and trends he identifies in those ‘rooms’. He also often tries to include the story of how this or that movement was initiated.
This book is concerned with movements, not individual converts, and this is precisely what makes it so valuable and important. There are plenty of books about why individual Muslims convert to Christ, and there are works that treat specific facets of this or that movement to Christ, but this is the first book to summarize on a global level what some movements in the nine rooms of the house of Islam look like.
Garrison is a serious researcher and knows the ins and outs of research in the social sciences. That having been said, readers who are looking for a detailed study with place names will often be disappointed. There is no way to get around these limitations though when it comes to research among apostates in the Muslim world. That something novel is happening among Muslims is incontrovertible, namely that more than ever before in history are converting to Christ. Garrison writes that his historical investigation led him to the following figures: Through the 18th Century there were no movements, in the 19th Century there were two, in the 20th Century there were eleven, and so far in the 21st Century he has identified 69 movements.
Many of his findings confirm findings from previous research: Muslims are attracted to the love of Christ as portrayed in the Bible and by Christians; security and persecution are real problems; Internet and satellite TV have played a huge role; Bible translation has been important, and so on. Garrison summarizes these and other findings in the last section of the book, while also noting that Islam itself has played a role in driving Muslims away from itself in a number of ways: Muhammad’s questionable treatment of women and non-Muslims, disappointment with the Qur’an, inter-Muslim violence, etc.
I can point to two weaknesses in this book, only one of them major. The first one is related to sources. Considering this is the first major book on this topic, the inclusion of more sources is desirable. This book really is written in a popular, and not scholarly level. That is not meant as an insult, but it limits its value for scholars. Perhaps the best way to address this would be to issue a lengthier academic book based on the same research.
Garrison’s references to medieval history represent the main failure of this book. He is clearly not aware of recent research elucidating what the medieval inquisitions were (and were not) and also the Crusades., which could have been written in 1900. When he speaks of the ‘atrocities’ of the Crusaders one might get the impression that these soldiers were exceptionally brutal or merciless. Wrong. For truly outstanding brutality one must look at the Muslim ruler and leader Baybars. And regarding the inquisitions, they took place before civil courts convened and were charged with gathering evidence, the same as our contemporary inquests. Contemporaries were sometimes critical of the inquisitors for not being more zealous in using torture, and a large majority of inquisitions were resolved with no punishment for the person under investigation. And finally, inquisitions were undertaken to investigate Christian heresy, and so Muslims and Jews could not be investigated by an inquisition, that is unless they claimed they had converted to Christianity, but in fact kept teaching aspects of Islam/Judaism contrary to the Christian faith.
One unresolved question was in relation to his rooms in the house of Islam: South America has a small but well-established Muslim population in the country of Guyana. At 7% Muslim, it is the most Islamic country in the Americas. Is there no movement there? Or should this (small) room be added?
Aside from this grievous mistreatment of medieval history, the book has much to commend it. In relation to the so-called insider movements Garrison handles the issue carefully and responsibly, sticking to description and not offering one particular case as exemplary or ideal. Garrison also manages to appreciate the limited context of previous generations of missionaries and indigenous Christians. It is all to easy to criticize the early missionaries in, say, the Ottoman Empire for not evangelizing Muslims, and sometimes those criticisms are fair, but as Garrison understands sometimes there was no possibility for this sort of witness. The same applies to indigenous Christians who century after century resisted the lure of escaping dhimmitude and the jizya (poll tax) by conversion to Islam. One can hope that this book will also be the final nail in the coffin of the C-scale, a tool which so over-simplifies complex concepts like ‘culture’ and ‘form’ to make it less than useful.
Garrison concludes his book with some practical ways that his readers can, if they wish to do so, be part of these various movements from Islam to Christ, though he is rightly clear in explaining that even with all these movements we are talking about fewer than .5% of Muslims world-wide converting to Christ. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make it ideal for a reading group or prayer group, perhaps used with the recent edition of Operation World.
Reviewed by Dr. Duane Alexander Miller
St Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas
(This review was originally published in St Francis Magazine, July 2014.)
David Garrison is considered to be one of the most competent researchers among evangelical Christians interested in the global dynamics of world Christianity. In this book he investigates the significant number of new movements of people from Islam to Christ. He does this by dividing the house of Islam (and that is a technical term, Dar al Islam) into nine ‘rooms’, each corresponding to a defined region in the Muslim world, like the Arab room, the Persian room, and so on. Most of this book consists of these nine chapters wherein Garrison provides anecdotes and trends he identifies in those ‘rooms’. He also often tries to include the story of how this or that movement was initiated.
This book is concerned with movements, not individual converts, and this is precisely what makes it so valuable and important. There are plenty of books about why individual Muslims convert to Christ, and there are works that treat specific facets of this or that movement to Christ, but this is the first book to summarize on a global level what some movements in the nine rooms of the house of Islam look like.
Garrison is a serious researcher and knows the ins and outs of research in the social sciences. That having been said, readers who are looking for a detailed study with place names will often be disappointed. There is no way to get around these limitations though when it comes to research among apostates in the Muslim world. That something novel is happening among Muslims is incontrovertible, namely that more than ever before in history are converting to Christ. Garrison writes that his historical investigation led him to the following figures: Through the 18th Century there were no movements, in the 19th Century there were two, in the 20th Century there were eleven, and so far in the 21st Century he has identified 69 movements.
Many of his findings confirm findings from previous research: Muslims are attracted to the love of Christ as portrayed in the Bible and by Christians; security and persecution are real problems; Internet and satellite TV have played a huge role; Bible translation has been important, and so on. Garrison summarizes these and other findings in the last section of the book, while also noting that Islam itself has played a role in driving Muslims away from itself in a number of ways: Muhammad’s questionable treatment of women and non-Muslims, disappointment with the Qur’an, inter-Muslim violence, etc.
I can point to two weaknesses in this book, only one of them major. The first one is related to sources. Considering this is the first major book on this topic, the inclusion of more sources is desirable. This book really is written in a popular, and not scholarly level. That is not meant as an insult, but it limits its value for scholars. Perhaps the best way to address this would be to issue a lengthier academic book based on the same research.
Garrison’s references to medieval history represent the main failure of this book. He is clearly not aware of recent research elucidating what the medieval inquisitions were (and were not) and also the Crusades., which could have been written in 1900. When he speaks of the ‘atrocities’ of the Crusaders one might get the impression that these soldiers were exceptionally brutal or merciless. Wrong. For truly outstanding brutality one must look at the Muslim ruler and leader Baybars. And regarding the inquisitions, they took place before civil courts convened and were charged with gathering evidence, the same as our contemporary inquests. Contemporaries were sometimes critical of the inquisitors for not being more zealous in using torture, and a large majority of inquisitions were resolved with no punishment for the person under investigation. And finally, inquisitions were undertaken to investigate Christian heresy, and so Muslims and Jews could not be investigated by an inquisition, that is unless they claimed they had converted to Christianity, but in fact kept teaching aspects of Islam/Judaism contrary to the Christian faith.
One unresolved question was in relation to his rooms in the house of Islam: South America has a small but well-established Muslim population in the country of Guyana. At 7% Muslim, it is the most Islamic country in the Americas. Is there no movement there? Or should this (small) room be added?
Aside from this grievous mistreatment of medieval history, the book has much to commend it. In relation to the so-called insider movements Garrison handles the issue carefully and responsibly, sticking to description and not offering one particular case as exemplary or ideal. Garrison also manages to appreciate the limited context of previous generations of missionaries and indigenous Christians. It is all to easy to criticize the early missionaries in, say, the Ottoman Empire for not evangelizing Muslims, and sometimes those criticisms are fair, but as Garrison understands sometimes there was no possibility for this sort of witness. The same applies to indigenous Christians who century after century resisted the lure of escaping dhimmitude and the jizya (poll tax) by conversion to Islam. One can hope that this book will also be the final nail in the coffin of the C-scale, a tool which so over-simplifies complex concepts like ‘culture’ and ‘form’ to make it less than useful.
Garrison concludes his book with some practical ways that his readers can, if they wish to do so, be part of these various movements from Islam to Christ, though he is rightly clear in explaining that even with all these movements we are talking about fewer than .5% of Muslims world-wide converting to Christ. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter make it ideal for a reading group or prayer group, perhaps used with the recent edition of Operation World.
Reviewed by Dr. Duane Alexander Miller
St Mary's University
San Antonio, Texas
(This review was originally published in St Francis Magazine, July 2014.)
November 9, 2022
This has a lot more history than I was expecting, and parts of it dragged for that reason, but other parts were helpful. I don't think much of this will actually stay with me, however, because history isn't my strong suit.
I really would have liked to see more real-life stories and examples. However, the ones that were included were interesting and encouraging.
I was especially struck by how many Muslims were turned toward Jesus Christ by the Qur'an itself, and were convinced to convert by reading the Bible for themselves.
I appreciated that there were a few pointers at the end for how readers could minister to Muslims, but they were also very vague. Throughout the book, there were a couple specific resources mentioned, but these weren't reiterated at the end in one easy list.
Also, some of the wording is unclear - a few well placed commas, as well as the correction of a couple of typos, would have dramatically improved the readability.
I really would have liked to see more real-life stories and examples. However, the ones that were included were interesting and encouraging.
I was especially struck by how many Muslims were turned toward Jesus Christ by the Qur'an itself, and were convinced to convert by reading the Bible for themselves.
I appreciated that there were a few pointers at the end for how readers could minister to Muslims, but they were also very vague. Throughout the book, there were a couple specific resources mentioned, but these weren't reiterated at the end in one easy list.
Also, some of the wording is unclear - a few well placed commas, as well as the correction of a couple of typos, would have dramatically improved the readability.
September 7, 2021
yo read this book if you wanna hear what the Lord is doing throughout the Muslim world - stories of our brothers + sisters litter this book + challenge me to pursue the Lord in a more desperate manner
August 29, 2017
A quite detailed description of how many Muslims around the world are coming to faith in Jesus.
September 9, 2020
An inspiring and easy read of the current Christian movements happening within the Islamic world
July 27, 2015
A Wind in the House of Islam is a study of the many ways God is speaking to Muslims and bringing them to faith. David Garrison interviewed one thousand Muslim background believers to gain an understanding of this recent phenomenon. Garrison reports on movements toward Christ in each of what he calls the Nine Rooms in the House of Islam (geographically). He details his approach, expectations and safe guards in doing this study. A chapter on each of the nine rooms gives much historical background about the Muslims in that area along with excerpts from interviews with Muslim background believers. And he offers conclusions as to what his study revealed and accomplished.
The historical sections and his descriptions of his study are dry and pedantic – though valuable for scholars and historians. The excerpts from the interviews are fascinating, amazing and thought provoking. These excerpts provide many insights about Muslims, how to talk with them and what will connect with them and perhaps open their hearts to the Truth. Clearly, God is working in the hearts of many Muslims at this point in history as they are reporting dreams and visions of Jesus. These are not isolated cases as Garrison only includes groups with at least a thousand baptized believers over the last 10-20 years or one hundred new church starts. Here are a few brief samples from the interviews:
A man called Amid searched the Qur’an to learn about Mohammed but found Isa (Jesus) instead. Then he read the Bible and was baptized but doesn’t call himself a Christian. He is spreading the gospel to his friends in the same way he learned about it. Pg 118
One man who was interviewed said, “In our culture, women are like shoes. We just wear them, and then when they are old we throw them out.” Muslims are taught not to talk to or confide in their wives. Later, in a brilliant account, a group of men learn what Jesus says about how to treat women and they repeat over and over, “I will not beat my wife.” And then, “After today, we will treat our wives with respect.” 198, 201
One woman said, “I believe that the prayers of people all over the world have been rising up to heaven for many years. In the heavens these prayers have accumulated like the great clouds during the monsoon season. And now they are raining down upon my people the miracles and blessings of salvation that God has stored up for them.” 241
The author notes that “One of the great surprises in the Muslim movements to Christ we examined was that Islam is often its own worst enemy, containing within itself the seeds of its own destruction.” When Muslims read the Qur’an in their own language many realize that it offers no assurance of salvation, much oppression and that Mohammad had questionable morality. One man said, “Only after I read the Qur’an in my own language did I realize how lost I was.”
This study suggests that the most effective way to spread the Gospel in Muslim countries is for Muslim background believers to reach out to their family and friends and witness to them. Many of them are showing other Muslims just what the Qur’an actually says. When they want to know more they give them a New Testament to read and learn who Jesus is.
The Holy Spirit is active in these Muslim countries so we must pray for Muslims in all nine rooms to recognize the One who is the Truth. The book offers many insights into Muslim life and beliefs and can help us know how to reach out to Muslims in our own country.
The historical sections and his descriptions of his study are dry and pedantic – though valuable for scholars and historians. The excerpts from the interviews are fascinating, amazing and thought provoking. These excerpts provide many insights about Muslims, how to talk with them and what will connect with them and perhaps open their hearts to the Truth. Clearly, God is working in the hearts of many Muslims at this point in history as they are reporting dreams and visions of Jesus. These are not isolated cases as Garrison only includes groups with at least a thousand baptized believers over the last 10-20 years or one hundred new church starts. Here are a few brief samples from the interviews:
A man called Amid searched the Qur’an to learn about Mohammed but found Isa (Jesus) instead. Then he read the Bible and was baptized but doesn’t call himself a Christian. He is spreading the gospel to his friends in the same way he learned about it. Pg 118
One man who was interviewed said, “In our culture, women are like shoes. We just wear them, and then when they are old we throw them out.” Muslims are taught not to talk to or confide in their wives. Later, in a brilliant account, a group of men learn what Jesus says about how to treat women and they repeat over and over, “I will not beat my wife.” And then, “After today, we will treat our wives with respect.” 198, 201
One woman said, “I believe that the prayers of people all over the world have been rising up to heaven for many years. In the heavens these prayers have accumulated like the great clouds during the monsoon season. And now they are raining down upon my people the miracles and blessings of salvation that God has stored up for them.” 241
The author notes that “One of the great surprises in the Muslim movements to Christ we examined was that Islam is often its own worst enemy, containing within itself the seeds of its own destruction.” When Muslims read the Qur’an in their own language many realize that it offers no assurance of salvation, much oppression and that Mohammad had questionable morality. One man said, “Only after I read the Qur’an in my own language did I realize how lost I was.”
This study suggests that the most effective way to spread the Gospel in Muslim countries is for Muslim background believers to reach out to their family and friends and witness to them. Many of them are showing other Muslims just what the Qur’an actually says. When they want to know more they give them a New Testament to read and learn who Jesus is.
The Holy Spirit is active in these Muslim countries so we must pray for Muslims in all nine rooms to recognize the One who is the Truth. The book offers many insights into Muslim life and beliefs and can help us know how to reach out to Muslims in our own country.
September 9, 2015
The freedom to convert religion is a touchy subject, it always feel like a betrayal. Conversion also has another name - apostasy - and in Islam that is a crime punishable by death.
Conversion, then, from Islam to Christianity is always a decision of great courage, the costs and risks are significant irrespective of where the convert lives. This violent shadow is perhaps one of the reasons why up until recently, Christianity has seen remarkably few conversions amongst Muslims.
That was the first of several surprising insights I gained from reading David Garrison's A wind in the house of Islam. I hadn't appreciated how much Christian missionaries had either failed to reach or just simply ignored Muslims in favour of winning converts from among pagan tribal groups. The history of missions to Muslims seems to have been marked by its lack of success.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the restrained quality of the research, having expected something far more triumphalism in tone given the rather dramatic content of the book.
What Garrison does here, is describe in sufficient detail how in the last two decades there have been significant movements of Muslims coming to faith in Jesus all across the Islamic world.
The author defines a movement as 'at least 1000 baptized believers or 100 new church starts' in a twenty year period and through a number of representative personal interviews describes how what is happening in what he calls the nine rooms of Islam, based on Arab Muslims term referring to the 'house of Islam'.
There are a few surprising omissions from the rooms that passed without comment, and that is Europe and China. I can understand that the number of Muslims in the Americas is small and has no historical or deep to ties to the what could be called the Islamic world therefore but I'm not sure that could be said of either Europe (40-50 million Muslims) or China (20 million Muslims).
Each chapter begins with a brief historical survey, which with the exception of the Turkestan room and odd references to prophecies about Tamerlane, are helpful introductions to each geographical cluster, wisely recognising that there are significant differences between Nigeria and Iran, or Saudi Arabia and Indonesia for example.
For security reasons the interviews are generally scrubbed of personal information, including geographical names. I understand the concerns, yet I wonder if it didn't go too far in doing so. For example the Persian room is to all intents and purposes, Iran and that is apparent to everyone, yet in other rooms even country names are avoided - this seems slightly inconsistent and makes it harder to ground some of the stories, displaced as they are from anything but the broadest geography.
Those weaknesses aside, Garrison has written a remarkable book that is full of extremely helpful insights into the nature of church planting movements, insider movements (followers of Christ who remain inside the Islamic community) and in how to witness to Muslim believers. If even half of what Garrison describes is true then there truly is an unprecedented shift happening right the way across the Islamic world. It is still small relative to the massive size of Islam, but it has never happened before and it seems to be picking up pace. Recommended reading.
First reviewed at my blog here
Conversion, then, from Islam to Christianity is always a decision of great courage, the costs and risks are significant irrespective of where the convert lives. This violent shadow is perhaps one of the reasons why up until recently, Christianity has seen remarkably few conversions amongst Muslims.
That was the first of several surprising insights I gained from reading David Garrison's A wind in the house of Islam. I hadn't appreciated how much Christian missionaries had either failed to reach or just simply ignored Muslims in favour of winning converts from among pagan tribal groups. The history of missions to Muslims seems to have been marked by its lack of success.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the restrained quality of the research, having expected something far more triumphalism in tone given the rather dramatic content of the book.
What Garrison does here, is describe in sufficient detail how in the last two decades there have been significant movements of Muslims coming to faith in Jesus all across the Islamic world.
The author defines a movement as 'at least 1000 baptized believers or 100 new church starts' in a twenty year period and through a number of representative personal interviews describes how what is happening in what he calls the nine rooms of Islam, based on Arab Muslims term referring to the 'house of Islam'.
There are a few surprising omissions from the rooms that passed without comment, and that is Europe and China. I can understand that the number of Muslims in the Americas is small and has no historical or deep to ties to the what could be called the Islamic world therefore but I'm not sure that could be said of either Europe (40-50 million Muslims) or China (20 million Muslims).
Each chapter begins with a brief historical survey, which with the exception of the Turkestan room and odd references to prophecies about Tamerlane, are helpful introductions to each geographical cluster, wisely recognising that there are significant differences between Nigeria and Iran, or Saudi Arabia and Indonesia for example.
For security reasons the interviews are generally scrubbed of personal information, including geographical names. I understand the concerns, yet I wonder if it didn't go too far in doing so. For example the Persian room is to all intents and purposes, Iran and that is apparent to everyone, yet in other rooms even country names are avoided - this seems slightly inconsistent and makes it harder to ground some of the stories, displaced as they are from anything but the broadest geography.
Those weaknesses aside, Garrison has written a remarkable book that is full of extremely helpful insights into the nature of church planting movements, insider movements (followers of Christ who remain inside the Islamic community) and in how to witness to Muslim believers. If even half of what Garrison describes is true then there truly is an unprecedented shift happening right the way across the Islamic world. It is still small relative to the massive size of Islam, but it has never happened before and it seems to be picking up pace. Recommended reading.
First reviewed at my blog here
April 21, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. I liked learning about how God is working among Muslims around the world. It challenges my perceptions of them and what I can do to reach out to them.
June 3, 2014
"A Wind in the House of Islam" examines a recent surge in movements to Christ among Muslim people groups.
The author defines a movement as 100 new churches and/or 1,000 baptisms within a decade or two. By that measure, there were NO movements to Christ among Muslim groups for nearly 13 centuries beginning at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, David Garrison reports. In the 19th century, there were two. In the 20th century, 11. In the first 12 years of the 21st century, 69.
Moreover, Garrison reports, they've occurred in all nine "rooms" of the House of Islam -- West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, the Arab World, the Persian World, Turkestan, Western South Asia, Eastern South Asia and Indo-Malaysia.
Although written by an evangelical Christian, this book is not Christian triumphalism. Garrison notes that the number of Jesus followers among former Muslims represents less than one-half of 1 percent of the Muslim population. Many groups remain untouched.
Garrison, who has a doctorate at the University of Chicago, wanted to know why this movement is happening, and why now. So he undertook an audacious study, visiting Muslim-background Jesus followers in all nine of those rooms. He traveled more than a quarter-million miles, conducting more than 1,000 interviews from among 33 people groups in 14 nations.
If the result isn't definitive, it's probably the most definitive study imaginable.
It's one thing to carry out such a study; it's another to write about it in an engaging manner. This Garrison does in fine narrative style. He's careful to include the historical context in each of the nine "rooms." These were among the most interesting passages.
One of the most fascinating observations to me was that many Muslim-background believers were led to Jesus, in part, through the passages about Isa (Jesus) in the Quran.
"For the Muslim-background believers I interviewed, Muhammad was not a rival to Christ," Garrison writes. "They knew that Muhammad never claimed deity or status as a savior; he faded into irrelevance once a Muslim accepted that Jesus was, in fact, Allah's provision for salvation."
For Christians who hope to reach out to their Muslim friends and neighbors in a respectful way, this book should not be missed.
The author defines a movement as 100 new churches and/or 1,000 baptisms within a decade or two. By that measure, there were NO movements to Christ among Muslim groups for nearly 13 centuries beginning at the time of the Prophet Muhammad, David Garrison reports. In the 19th century, there were two. In the 20th century, 11. In the first 12 years of the 21st century, 69.
Moreover, Garrison reports, they've occurred in all nine "rooms" of the House of Islam -- West Africa, North Africa, East Africa, the Arab World, the Persian World, Turkestan, Western South Asia, Eastern South Asia and Indo-Malaysia.
Although written by an evangelical Christian, this book is not Christian triumphalism. Garrison notes that the number of Jesus followers among former Muslims represents less than one-half of 1 percent of the Muslim population. Many groups remain untouched.
Garrison, who has a doctorate at the University of Chicago, wanted to know why this movement is happening, and why now. So he undertook an audacious study, visiting Muslim-background Jesus followers in all nine of those rooms. He traveled more than a quarter-million miles, conducting more than 1,000 interviews from among 33 people groups in 14 nations.
If the result isn't definitive, it's probably the most definitive study imaginable.
It's one thing to carry out such a study; it's another to write about it in an engaging manner. This Garrison does in fine narrative style. He's careful to include the historical context in each of the nine "rooms." These were among the most interesting passages.
One of the most fascinating observations to me was that many Muslim-background believers were led to Jesus, in part, through the passages about Isa (Jesus) in the Quran.
"For the Muslim-background believers I interviewed, Muhammad was not a rival to Christ," Garrison writes. "They knew that Muhammad never claimed deity or status as a savior; he faded into irrelevance once a Muslim accepted that Jesus was, in fact, Allah's provision for salvation."
For Christians who hope to reach out to their Muslim friends and neighbors in a respectful way, this book should not be missed.
February 19, 2015
A great book full of incredible stories about Muslims coming to Jesus throughout the Muslim World. He breaks it down into Nine Rooms in the House of Islam, Indo-Malaysian, East African, North African, Eastern South African, Persian, Turkestan, West African, Western South Asian and Arab. In each region he gives a history of Christian outreaches and movements. I found this fascinating, but not more so than the stories of Muslims who came to Christ. The stories aren't the end and shouldn't be.
He shares how and why they're coming to Christ. One reason is prayer. "If the Holy Spirit is the wind that is blowing through the House of Islam, then prayer is one of the ways we spread our sails and catch that wind." Another interesting one is communication. "Many of the cultural expressions of our own faith... are strangely absent from these movements. It is these cultural expressions (not theological or spiritual) that we mistakenly associate with Christian religion that Muslim Christ followers balk at accepting."
He also shares barriers to movements to Christ. I found this quote from a missionary interesting, "It is often not what you do, but what you stop doing that leads to Kingdom breakthroughs." Reading through the barriers are convicting.
I will share one last quote, which in light of the state of our world today, may be encouraging. "One of the greatest recurring motivations for Muslims coming to Christ is a rejection of the militant expression of Islam itself."
He shares how and why they're coming to Christ. One reason is prayer. "If the Holy Spirit is the wind that is blowing through the House of Islam, then prayer is one of the ways we spread our sails and catch that wind." Another interesting one is communication. "Many of the cultural expressions of our own faith... are strangely absent from these movements. It is these cultural expressions (not theological or spiritual) that we mistakenly associate with Christian religion that Muslim Christ followers balk at accepting."
He also shares barriers to movements to Christ. I found this quote from a missionary interesting, "It is often not what you do, but what you stop doing that leads to Kingdom breakthroughs." Reading through the barriers are convicting.
I will share one last quote, which in light of the state of our world today, may be encouraging. "One of the greatest recurring motivations for Muslims coming to Christ is a rejection of the militant expression of Islam itself."
April 1, 2017
9 Rooms in the House of Islam: Indo Malaysian, Eastern South Asian, Persian, Turkestan, East African, North African, West African and the Arab room. Each are unique with different backgrounds, beliefs, customs, and way to reach them with Jesus... and yet always, what works is love. Excellent book speaking on movements to Christ and more believers out of Islam in past 15 yrs than prior 1500. Need to go back over my notes and apply.
June 28, 2016
This book breaks down the 9 different sects in the world of Islam (He calls them "Rooms in the House of Islam". He explains all of the conversion movements of Muslims to Christianity starting from the birth of Islam all the way to present day. (The book is already a little out of date because it was written before ISIS and the massive immigration crisis.)
It is amazing how many Muslims are turning to Jesus right now. There are two main reasons why we are seeing such an increase in the past decade:
1. Islamic terrorism.
A lot of passive Muslims do not want to be associated with the violence, death, and destruction that the radicals are bringing to the image of the religion so they are turning away from the faith.
2. The internet & translations of the Koran
With the advance of the internet, there is so much information out there so Muslims are able to research more and uncover the truth about their religion. It is recent that the Koran has even been translated into a lot of the languages that people speak. A lot of Muslims could not read the Koran in their language so they would just listen to others "preach" about it. Now that they can read it, a lot are finding fallacies in it and turning to Christianity.
It is very exciting and encouraging to see what God is doing in the House of Islam.
It is amazing how many Muslims are turning to Jesus right now. There are two main reasons why we are seeing such an increase in the past decade:
1. Islamic terrorism.
A lot of passive Muslims do not want to be associated with the violence, death, and destruction that the radicals are bringing to the image of the religion so they are turning away from the faith.
2. The internet & translations of the Koran
With the advance of the internet, there is so much information out there so Muslims are able to research more and uncover the truth about their religion. It is recent that the Koran has even been translated into a lot of the languages that people speak. A lot of Muslims could not read the Koran in their language so they would just listen to others "preach" about it. Now that they can read it, a lot are finding fallacies in it and turning to Christianity.
It is very exciting and encouraging to see what God is doing in the House of Islam.
October 16, 2016
If you want to learn about how God is moving among the nine geographic Houses of Islam to bring Muslims to follow Christ, this is the book. It's a clear-eyed, well-researched and methodical study of Muslim movements to Christ: those with more than 100 church plants or 1,000 baptized believers in two decades. With only two movements chronicled in the first 12 centuries of Islam, 2 in the 19th century, 11 in the 20th century, but more than 69 in the 21st century alone, it's clear something unprecedented is happening in Muslim communities within the last two decades. This book does a great job of showing how that's happening and why, with direct interviews and engaging stories in addition to robust research. (The book appears to be a more much accessible version of a dissertation.)
The book closes with helpful discussions about how Western Christian have gotten in the way of ministry among Muslim communities at times, how best to minister to Muslims and how to do so with love and humility. It's a hopeful and optimistic read. Considering the great fear and anger directed at Muslims and Muslim nations today among America and American Christians, this book is a great antidote and inspiring reminder of the love and power of God to bring Muslims to faith. Highly recommended.
The book closes with helpful discussions about how Western Christian have gotten in the way of ministry among Muslim communities at times, how best to minister to Muslims and how to do so with love and humility. It's a hopeful and optimistic read. Considering the great fear and anger directed at Muslims and Muslim nations today among America and American Christians, this book is a great antidote and inspiring reminder of the love and power of God to bring Muslims to faith. Highly recommended.
May 16, 2016
I listened to this via Audible. The narrator, whom I believe was the author, was dry and fairly boring. Nevertheless, the content was fascinating.
A mix of statistics, history, stories, and Christian teaching, this book is the result of an extensive multi-year study of Muslim-background believers (Christians) across the globe. To summarize - for the first 1200+ years of Islam, there are no known un-coerced movements of Muslims to Christianity. In the last 20 years, there have been over 80. God is at work in the "House of Islam".
While the historical intro, and the survey of the study's methodology is somewhat plans, the personal stories are incredibly moving. How these Muslim-background believers come to Jesus is a poignant reminder that miracles still happen, and that following Jesus, though may look different in different countries, nevertheless calls us to give all of ourselves.
This book is especially great for those who may have typical American prejudices towards Muslims, especially post-9/11. It may even move you to join in the work that God is doing among Muslims all over the world - and even in your own backyard.
A mix of statistics, history, stories, and Christian teaching, this book is the result of an extensive multi-year study of Muslim-background believers (Christians) across the globe. To summarize - for the first 1200+ years of Islam, there are no known un-coerced movements of Muslims to Christianity. In the last 20 years, there have been over 80. God is at work in the "House of Islam".
While the historical intro, and the survey of the study's methodology is somewhat plans, the personal stories are incredibly moving. How these Muslim-background believers come to Jesus is a poignant reminder that miracles still happen, and that following Jesus, though may look different in different countries, nevertheless calls us to give all of ourselves.
This book is especially great for those who may have typical American prejudices towards Muslims, especially post-9/11. It may even move you to join in the work that God is doing among Muslims all over the world - and even in your own backyard.
March 6, 2017
This book is partly history and partly a tool for evangelism. The author has divided Islamic regions of the world into nine regions with geo-cultural similarities. This book discusses the movement of Muslim to Christ in each of these regions. For him a movement is defined as least the establishment of 100 churches or 1000 baptisms. The author does a brief history and tells how God moved in the lives of Muslims bringing them to accept Jesus as the sacrifice for their sins. There was a marked difference in the history and how God moved to bring Muslims into the kingdom from region to region. I found it interesting that many people who had memorized the Koran without understanding it were convicted when they read it in their heart language. At this time many acquired an Injil (New Testament) and "God's Word did not return unto Him Void". Because of the low conduct of Christians in their region many believers did not call themselves Christian but instead called themselves Muslims who follow Isa (Jesus). Also they preserves their lives as they are not killed for apostasy. This is a book for thinking people.
September 11, 2016
Well, the mission in Berlin/Steglitz bei the Lutheran pastor Dr. Gottfried Martens is now also part of these budding congregations made up of 1,000+ muslims being baptized and thus introduced into the Christian Church and the ever growing cloud of converted followers of the false prophet to the son of God and Lord of the World IX. What fascinates me and which is a miracle before our eyes is that this wonderful happening occurs in all nine houses of Islam and right across the globe.
This book gives an overview on the local histories in these nine main areas of Islam. That is quite helpful. I also do like the questions at the end of each chapter even if that makes it something of an exercise. That is emphasized by the 5 tasks at the end:
1. Pray for Muslims
2. Support outreach and ministries to Muslims
3. Go to Muslims
4. Minister to Muslims in your own community
5. Share the gospel with Muslims.
This book gives an overview on the local histories in these nine main areas of Islam. That is quite helpful. I also do like the questions at the end of each chapter even if that makes it something of an exercise. That is emphasized by the 5 tasks at the end:
1. Pray for Muslims
2. Support outreach and ministries to Muslims
3. Go to Muslims
4. Minister to Muslims in your own community
5. Share the gospel with Muslims.
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