<a href="https://biblicalmissiology.org/blog/author/fredfarrokh/" target="_self">Fred Farrokh</a>

Fred Farrokh

Rev. Fred Farrokh is an Iranian-American Christian of Muslim background. He is an ordained missionary with Elim Fellowship. He has a PhD in Intercultural Studies from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

2 Comments

  1. Fred Farrokh

    Thanks, Adam, for posting this comment. David Owen’s experimentation raises some serious issues. First, we see this insider approach, including the concept of being a “fulfilled Muslim,” is an external imposition. As such, it is a form of Neo-Colonialism. Second, we should evaluate the inverse proposal. Suppose Muslims began promoting the idea that “fulfilled Christians” were those who believed in Muhammad and the Qur’an? How would Christians feel? Would the result be nothing other than confusion? Clearly this is a missional strategy that falls short of the New Testament model of clear preaching.

  2. Adam Simnowitz

    This is an excellent article! I appreciate you taking the time to write it. Two points that you made really stand out to me: 1. “None of these missiologists come from a Muslim background.” 2. C5/IM proponents are theorists. In fact, this theory can be traced to what was being taught at Fuller Theological Seminary in the 1970s, primarily through Charles Kraft. One Fuller student, David Owen, is the “father” of the C5/IM. His seminal paper, “A Jesus Movement Within Islam” (1991) is the blueprint for it, though often unacknowledged. It seems that many want to distance themselves from Owen who has abandoned his profession of faith in Jesus Christ, said that he was wrong to produce his “Biography of Christ” in Arabic (“Sirat Al-Masih,” the first “Muslim Idiom Translation”), and believes that the Qur’an was sent down to correct the mistaken notion that Jesus is God incarnate!

    Here is a partial quote from Owen’s paper: “The basic purpose of God in the Islamic tradition is for all of creation to be ‘surrendered’ or ‘submitted’ to the divine will. Is not this also what is behind the expression in the Lord’s prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’? (Matthew 6: 10). Is not our testimony, as followers of Jesus, that through his life, teachings, death and resurrection, the universal grip of sin over mankind has been broken and that now we can do what we could not formerly do-surrender or submit ourselves to the will of God? Could not this be the testimony of the Muslim who begins to follow Jesus, that he is now becoming a fulfilled or true Muslim? When referring to conversion in our mission reports, could we not speak of ‘Abdul, who is a Muslim follower of Jesus?’ And if such reports fall into the hands of Muslim authorities, will not the language of fulfillment be less antagonizing than the language of changing religions?” [pp. 15-16]

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