Reaching Out to Muslim Neighbors in Ontario

A recent article in a Hamilton, Ontario, newspaper estimated the city’s Muslim population as 30,000 and growing. So people from several denominations partnered to offer an introductory seminar on how to better understand Muslim neighbors and reach out to them with the gospel.

Immanuel Christian Reformed Church in Hamilton hosted the six-week video-based series, led by the Canadian Network of Ministry to Muslims (CNMM).

Karin Kranenburg, a member of Immanuel, said that the seminar provided practical tools for evangelizing.

“I really appreciated that, through learning how to reach out to our Muslim neighbors, we are also learning valuable ways to share our faith with people from all walks of life who do not know Christ.”

Greg Sinclair, Coordinator of the Salaam Project, a ministry of Christian Reformed World Missions that seeks to help people understand Islam and love Muslims, said this seminar series, as well as others like it, are “a sign of the growing interest in Islam and the desire to know how to share our faith with those of different religious backgrounds.”

There are an estimated five million Muslims in North America, and globally about 1.7 billion.

“Islam is in some ways the biggest unreached people group,” said Brian Lawrence, one of the facilitators of the seminar, and a leader of the Hamilton chapter of CNMM. He added that they were delighted to partner with churches in such a multicultural part of the city.

“When we first contacted [the pastors], their response was that this is what we are called to do as a church. I couldn’t agree more,” Lawrence said.

According to the leadership team at Immanuel, this seminar is part of a broader goal to engage with other Christians and other churches in this area to reach out to Hamilton’s growing Muslim population.