“So, first time to know about Christianity [was] from my friends at school and my neighborhood. I live near a Catholic Church and Christian [Protestant] Church in [part of Indonesia].…”

Just about three years ago, my wife Gretchen and I were close to making the decision to join the Anglican Communion. We had learned the history of the Anglican church, studied her theology, fallen in love with the rhythms of the Book of Common Prayer and become actively involved in a local Anglican parish. But having spent nearly three decades as missionaries, we had one last hurdle to consider. Do Anglicans still do missions? If so, how?

Each year, during or on Good Friday, churches and congregations around the world take up offerings for the work of Christ Church in Jerusalem. The offerings we receive underwrite the ministry of our Mercy Fund, which is used by Christ Church throughout the year to relieve suffering of many kinds.

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.

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

I was put in touch with Aisha, a Muslim woman from Syria, through a friend working in Jordan. I visited Aisha when she first arrived in Pittsburgh to offer assistance with living in a new country and to simply be a friendly face.

More Muslims have converted to the Way of Jesus Christ in the last four decades than in all the other years since the advent of Islam in the 7th Century. Something is certainly happening among Muslims and there is an openness in their society that was not there before.