Planting Churches in Muslim Cities

by Greg Livingstone

A biblically and culturally appropriate blueprint for church planting in Muslim cities anywhere in the world. The experiences of one hundred missionaries provide a guide to evangelizing and discipling.

Genres: Islam, Christian

271 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

TL;DR:
on the one hand, clearly an invaluable source of wisdom from someone who has been boots on the ground and carefully engaged with fellow workers who have been overseas for decades. on the other hand, poor exegesis leading to a compromised view of the church and several questionable suggestions based on prioritization contextualization in the name of church growth rather than scripture/wisdom. overall, worth a read as a brings up important topics not often considered and provides a decent conversation partner with someone who is clearly speaking from a place of desiring to see Christ’s’ kingdom come and godly churches planted among muslim cities.

OVERVIEW
part 1, livingstone lays all his cards on the table with his 13 premises before responding to common hypotheses for the difficulty of church planting in muslim cities and giving an overview of church planting efforts/methods concluding that the harvest is ripe. finally, he provides a number of specific examples of cities in muslim contexts where the church is growing.

part 2, livingstone provides the meat of the book describing the role of a change agent, how to get local american churches involved, and useful characteristics in someone wanting to church plant among muslims. he then discusses critical decisions that must be made: who to go to, types of “calling”, ways to go (tentmaking/etc), ethics of deceiving the gov to get a visa, and detailing the components and function of a church planting team. next, he discusses topics relating to how to build relationships with muslims: enculturation (becoming muslim to the muslims), language learning, friendship, and trust. finally, livingstone addresses effective proclamation of the gospel by discussing issues of contextualization and church growth/people movements.

part 3, livingstone wraps up by clarifying what he means by a “church” or church plant, provides a case study/ hypothetical step by step example of what he would do if planting a church in iraq (pre-iraqi war), and then concludes with exhortation to seek first the kingdom and overcome fear. the task of church planting in muslim cities is not impossible with the Lord!

EVALUATION
helpful:
- overview of church planting efforts to date is a result of extensive knowledge and relationships in the relevant regions (even if outdated at this point, it’s a model for how we should be connected with like minded workers across the globe laboring to the same end and spurring one another towards love and good deeds); “God is neither going to begin his work in that city when you arrive, nor stop when you leave”
- hopeful tone throughout while not underselling the difficulties was refreshing
- lots of wisdom on thinking through how to evaluate characteristics for yourself/others wanting to church plant in hard cities (e.g., emotional health in order to maintain a capacity to serve others and seek help when needed, proven work ethic, asking not if you’re a missionary type but “what contribution/gifting can i bring to a team effie to establish churches in a muslim city?”, proficiency and experience with conflict resolution and reconciliation)
- emphasis on language learning (esp brief discussion of Hall’s 10 primary message systems) and building friendships/trust is helpful. “Normally one cannot make disciples until friends are made”. discussion on the fact that friendship means different things in different cultural contexts and the process for building trust likewise differs was also helpful
- emphasis on the need for a team! “an independent worker is a poor model to the Muslim convert” (although i would also suggest this should be applied to church: missionaries should be a part of a local church or plant one as part of their work)
- great practical suggestions for getting local american churches involved and passionate about church planting in muslim cities
- premises 1 (god with us), 3 (god gives gifts to his church), 7 (“power evangelism” not normative), 8 (suffering is normative), and 13 (no biblical justification for “covert operation”)
- appreciated the desire to reach heads of households or those “reliable men” who have earned respect in the community (instead of limiting focus to reaching those on the fringes)
- overall emphasis on posture of humility and placing yourself in need in order to gain trust and friendship in muslim communities (instead of the typical prideful “we’re better than you” approach)

disagreed or had concerns with:
- definition of a church & almost everything in chapter 8 (characteristics of a church planted): claims the church in its simplest form is found in matt 18:20 which is unclear at best and very wrong exegesis at worst; in discussion on baptism seems to agree with parshall/kraft in suggesting missionaries should consider a different initiation rite other than baptism bc baptism is offensive in muslim contexts (WHAT!?!), and while unclear if Livingstone is agreeing or just throwing out ideas it’s a terrible idea to throw out; could be improved by including clear biblical definition of a church and/or interacting with historic christian definitions (e.g., preaching of the word, administration of sacraments, church discipline)
- premise 5 & homogenous unit principle: promotes the idea that national muslim believers are better off being grouped in communities of the same ethnicity and same social class and that this is in a large part the missing piece of the puzzle that will lead to greater acceptance of the gospel; while helpful to better understand the immense cultural and social pressure that exists for muslims in their high-context/interdependent/honor-shame environment, this concept on creating churches of the same people places too much emphasis on culture/social setting as the barrier to people becoming christians; for someone who repeatedly hates on the failings of western evangelicalism, Livingstone interestingly buys into the same principles (e.g., seeker sensitive churches); approaching this concept from a perspective of hospitality may have provided more helpful insights; the church is meant to be made up of a diverse group of people and promoting the homogenous unit principle goes against livingstone’s own critique of the insular historic christian communities that already exist in the ME
- this quote concerned me: “If Christians look within themselves, they will realize that a good percentage of the motivation that brought them to Christ was because turning from their past ways and moving into obedience to Christ seemed to be well within their own self-interests. It is unrealistic to hold a loftier ideal up to our Muslim friends”; is this saying the primary motivation for faith is often self-interest? and therefore our evangelism should center around making christianity as appealing as possible? this is not clarified and is a dangerous way to represent one’s evangelistic methods. bc sure becoming a christian is in ones best interest if your interests are aligned with Christ’s, but from man’s sinful perspective which often desires to continue in sin christianity is an affront and involves a call to die to self, a call to repent from a place of awareness of the sinfulness of sin, and to submit yourself wholly unto the Lord; Livingstone himself later mentions that missionaries often avoid speaking of judgement and that this actually might be a worthwhile topic to discuss with muslims who are familiar with similar prophet-esque language in the qur’an

questions to consider further:
- how to communicate effectively to ministry partners/supporting churches both the reality of the slowness of ministry “progress” in muslim contexts and the necessity for the important work of building friendships/trust?
- how can missionaries expect newly converted muslims to lead/plant biblical, healthy churches if they’ve never been part of one before? to what extent is it the incoming missionaries responsibility to have a clearly defined ecclesiology in order to better lead and plant churches worth replicating?
- to what extent should church growth be the measuring stick against which we evaluate the effectiveness of church planting or missionary methodologies?

CONCLUSION: we must embody what we desire to reproduce

[Mike Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a missionary to Muslims I feel this is a tremendously helpful book. The author aims for a contextual and Biblical methodology emphasizing the need for proclamation, baptism, and suffering; these are often neglected by insiders who are seeking to minimize difficulty. In seemingly contending against that Livingstone also avoids the other ditch of having a bombastic martyr complex.

It's a great guide, thorough, and conservative. It is obviously dated (1993), but the principles and methods remain even though many new difficulties have arisen.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rocked my world. It was insightful, highly practical, but utilized the research available as well as knowledgeable people on the subject. I was 50 pages in before I discovered the book was dated (1993), as much of it is still highly applicable (but it indicated that some of the statistical info was old). Great book. Highly useful.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic that has influenced many Church Planting teams over the past two decades. The qualities of this work are many. It is rooted in a biblical missiology that is illustrated through concrete models from practitioners across the Islamic world. It is broad in its evangelical scope and singular in the need to proclaim Christ by making groups of disciples.

Part 2 (The Prerequisites for Church Planting) contains several chapters that stand out to me. These are still cogent 24 years after publication. The way Livingstone delves into team roles is very beneficial. He offers great insight into the multifaceted needs for vibrant CP teams.

How the issues of recruitment, deployment, initial entry and goal setting are addressed gives the reader confidence that fruitful strategies are possible. Yet, the writer does not attempt to minimize the challenges. He speaks candidly about longevity, courage in the face of danger and sacrifice that is Christ-like. The balance between exhortation and provocation is well done.

One weakness of the book is the omission of spiritual dynamics when ministering to Muslims. The author openly states his decision to focus on strategy, yet, this creates a false dichotomy for me. To establish strategy is to inherently engage in spiritual warfare. I would really like to see someone synthesize the wealth of this book with the larger scope of Spirit-led ministry.

Another benefit would be to have a newer edition that would simply update some of the anecdotal information Livingstone uses to corroborate his arguments. The main points remain salient but the accessibility of the book is rooted in the stories of contemporary teams. Of course, much has changed since the early 90's so nuancing these details would only enhance the book's influence.

Overall, an excellent read that can be used as a foundational text in preparing workers for proclamation among the nations.

[Duane Alexander Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. A little dated by now (2008), but still a book that provides useful information for any devout Christian thinking of living in the Muslim world, even as a non-missionary or just someone who is curious about Islam.