What of the Nicene Creed (or the Nicene-Constantinopalitan Creed, for those who wish to be more detailed)?

I am an Anglican priest in Madrid, Spain. I often observe this practice of letting the practices of our tiny Protestant community be determined to a great extent by not doing what the Roman Catholics do. I understand the historical and contextual reasons for this practice. But in the long run it is not a recipe for fruitfulness. In the same way, the winsomeness of the Christian faith should be allowed to stand on its own.

This is now the fourth installation in my series on pastoral care for Christians who have converted from Islam. We started by addressing the issue of baptism, then the personality of God as portrayed in the Qur’an v. the Bible, and then the role of history in helping to form a firm identity for the convert.

“Jesus never raised a sword against anyone!” If that statement sounds unremarkable to you, consider how it might strike a Muslim fleeing war in his native land.

It happened twice, once in North Africa and once in Constantinople. I had been invited to give some lectures to congregations consisting mostly of Christians from a Muslim background (CMBs).

In October of 2018 we founded al kanisa al masihiya fi Madrid—the Christian Church of Madrid—an Arabic-language weekly fellowship. We were meeting in a borrowed space from a Latino Assemblies of God congregation in Tetuan, a neighborhood with a large Muslim population north of downtown.

When considering the safety of converts from Islam, a recommended practice, if possible, is preparing converts for baptism in groups.

The number of people converting from Islam to Christianity has never been higher than what we’re seeing today.

I live about 40 minutes from the Anglican Cathedral of the Redeemer here in Madrid, and I often walk rather than take the metro. Indeed, I find myself walking all over the place in this city.

We arrived in Madrid about a year ago. We spent most of the first six months settling in.

I’ve been an Anglican minister working for, with, and among Muslims now for well over a decade--much of that in Muslim-majority cities and countries. In the Muslim world there is no concern about integration.