Years ago I was put off by the term dialogue because I perceived it to be a compromise to our call to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I did not understand at that time that dialogue meant appropriately interacting with my neighbor, being sensitive to the context. I think the confusion over the term dialogue and viewing it as antithetical to proclamation is due to a misunderstanding of mission contexts and context-appropriate methods. 

I had defined proclamation in light of contemporary evangelism and church planting methods. These methods grew out of church growth theory. What I did not understand was that church growth theory and its methods were designed for people groups that have significantly responded to the Gospel. People groups that have not been responsive to the Gospel fall into a separate category: frontier missions. The methods effective in frontier regions are typically different than those used among responsive peoples.

In frontier areas the countries are generally closed to missionaries. The way Christians gain access to people groups in these areas is to provide services considered valuable by their governments, such as: emergency relief, development work, or through capacity-building programs. In addition, many of these people groups do not have neutral attitudes towards the faith. Among Muslim peoples a historic misunderstanding about what we believe exacerbates their negative perception of our faith. While some of this misunderstanding is rooted in how many people in these regions interpret their sacred texts, this misunderstanding is also compounded by how we tend to explain our faith.

Ever since the Reformation we have emphasized forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, and freedom from “the Law” as we explain the Gospel. These are wonderful truths of the Gospel. However, when we speak about forgiveness my friends hear a different message. They hear that we are free to commit sins and then not worry about the consequences. This kind of Gospel presentation affirms their apprehensions about us. They conclude that we have no motivation to do what is good. In contrast, in Islam there is motivation to do right because one has to earn merit to balance out one’s wrong deeds. Thus, Islam, in their eyes, is a much better religion than Christianity and Muslims are better people than Christians.

How are we to change this unfortunate misunderstanding and the subsequent and natural resistance to the Gospel? For frontier mission areas, integral mission is the more appropriate paradigm. Integral Mission intentionally integrates the demonstration and the proclamation of the Gospel. Proclamation happens through life (deeds) and through meaningful, sensitive interaction (dialogue). 

God has moved history to the place where followers of Jesus can enter Muslim communities and humbly live and serve in a variety of capacities. By living and interacting at a variety of levels (work, school, neighborhood) we can break down the barriers caused by these misunderstandings. Muslim coworkers and friends can see firsthand that followers of Jesus have families, they honor and respect their parents, they are faithful to their spouses, they care for their children and for one another. Through meaningful interaction our friends learn that the goodness they see is made possible by God’s active presence in our lives. This presence is made possible by what He did in Christ. In addition, our friends also personally experience the power of God’s presence with His people as we pray with and for them. Integral mission is a means by which we can show our friends among whom we live and work that our faith is not what our Muslim friends thought it was. In addition, through integral mission our friends discover that our faith is much more than a different set of religious beliefs. Faith in Jesus Christ actually opens the door to God’s transforming presence.