Muslim Ministry Launches New Website

The Salaam Project, a new Christian Reformed Church (CRC) ministry, has just launched a website providing training resources and other materials for churches interested in doing ministry with Muslims.

Established last year, the Salaam Project is a collaborative effort between various offices, agencies and institutions of the CRC.

The goal of the Salaam Project is to help individuals and churches to learn more about the Islamic faith so that they can get to know their Muslim neighbors better, said Rev. Greg Sinclair, training coordinator of the Salaam Project.

The project is following what Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-40 that we are to love God and love our neighbor, said Sinclair.

Listed on the new site are several resources, including books and downloadable videos and CDs, that address different aspects of the topic.

“The objective is to meet the wide variety of needs of participants, from those who want to learn the basics of Islam to those who are currently working in Muslim-oriented ministry and need further training/mentoring,” according to the new website.

Currently, the Salaam Project has trained seven or so people in the Grand Rapids, Mich., area who have taken a Salaam Project training seminar and are ready to do seminars, teaching others about Islam and relations between Islam and Christianity, in their local churches, said Sinclair.

A training seminar is scheduled for Calgary in October and a mini-conference on Islam will be held at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights in November.

“We are also exploring multi-agency collaboration with a partner in Montreal, Canada, that is involved in ministry to Muslims,” said Sinclair.

The Salaam Project’s new website also has a book review of The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault-Line Between Christianity and Islam by Elza Griswold.

The review helps describe some of what the Salaam Project is facing as it works to teach Christians more about Islam and about being good neighbors to those who are Muslim.

“Griswold puts a human face on inter-faith conflict by interviewing various Muslim and Christian leaders as well as average believers of both faiths. Griswold does a good job of examining the complexity of such inter-faith, inter-community and international strife, and more rarely, peace,” says the review.