THE GOAL BEHIND EVERY CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM MEAL: DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS
BY PHONG TRAN
I’ve been on staff with Cru at Northern Illinois University for 9 years. While here, I’ve had several opportunities to not only work on our Cru movement but also develop relationships with several people from other cultures and beliefs than me. Just after Easter and Ramadan, Cru had the opportunity to host a dinner event with the Muslim Student Association (MSA). We’ve had a handful of interactions with MSA in the past, which included an apple orchard trip and another discussion night, however we weren’t able to interact a lot with them lately. So we wanted a chance to reconnect and use this as a stronger stepping stone to more collaboration and friendships in the future.
Our movement also has an overseas partnership in the Middle East so a lot of our staff and students have been overseas and have had several meaningful interactions with Muslims. When we were offered a chance to do an event with MSA, it was a really easy yes to the opportunity God and Neighborly Faith gave us! It was super helpful that one of Cru students was already connected to the president of MSA and had a chance to interact with a handful of MSA students through an international student organization at NIU. When we reached out to the MSA president through him, he was excited about the chance to connect with us again because of the positive events and connections we’ve made in the past involving Cru and MSA.
Some of the events we did in the past were about presenting and showcasing our different faiths and being able to dialogue about it afterwards. However, this time we wanted to focus more on the relational aspects and really being able to know one another in a deep meaningful way. When we met with the MSA president, he shared the same sentiment as us. The purpose wasn’t to try and convert one another, but to provide another opportunity to reconnect with one another again, develop further friendships between our two groups, and to have a better understanding about each other's faiths.
I was encouraged by the amount of people exchanging numbers and social media handles. It was really a chance to make friends.
We hosted the event at a church next to campus because the church hosts weekly dinners for international students. We figured there would be a lot of familiarity with the students from MSA therefore providing an environment that would be familiar with a lot of students. Going into the event, we just re-iterated that the purpose isn’t to debate, argue, to convert the other group but the heart of the event was to develop friendship and provide an opportunity where we can talk about our similarities and differences in a safe space.
The day the event happened, it really took a while for things to pick up because they coming directly right after one of the MSA meetings, but slowly through the night as their meeting finished, we’ve had several groups of students being able to drop in after their meetings as well as other students apart from MSA we invited to the event as well. During the event, we had our key student that had connected with MSA emcee the event and then we transitioned to conversations in small groups around many tables we had in the room.
I asked some students about their thoughts on the event and they loved being able to have a conversation around a meal as it just allows discussions to be casual. They felt the conversations were genuine and honest – they were about to go back and forth about their faiths, cultural upbringings, and even future plans and dreams. We had discussion questions that applied to both Cru and MSA that were open ended and focused on personal experiences. That allowed a lot of deep connection, understanding with one another and a chance to clear up any misunderstandings we may have about one another.
At my table we asked the question about any misconceptions people have and one of the Muslims said that it really annoys him that people think Muslims disrespect and don’t acknowledge Jesus. The passion he had for that response really caught me off guard as I often hear they respect him as one of prophets but I could really tell him and many others at the table hold Jesus to a higher level of reverence than I thought they did. I was also encouraged by the amount of people exchanging numbers and social media handles with one another. It felt like it wasn’t just an event for food and casual conversations but really a chance to make friends and have more opportunities to hang out in the future.
Your mentality going into the event makes a difference. Be led by the Holy Spirit to what the best next steps are.
Reflecting on the event, being able to have an environment where we’re not trying to debate and argue our beliefs but to have an understanding of one another was great. It really brought the reminder that as there are many Christians who may not have the same thoughts, values, and beliefs, the same can be applied to Muslims as well. It’s been sweet being able to connect with people I met from MSA on campus and one of them even texted me saying how a lot of them enjoyed the event and connecting with Cru. They are looking forward to the next joint event we’re going to have and plan on inviting others as well. I think the joint event reconnecting us with MSA not only strengthened old friendships but developed new ones.
When it comes to planning your own event, here are my recommendations. I do think one of the first things we should do is to pray and lean on the Holy Spirit for his guidance. It can be so easy to just run a playbook, and do an event and not think anything of it. Another aspect is definitely the heart posture going into the event. It does make a difference if our mentality going into the event is, how do I convert and share Christ in a way that would make a Muslim doubt their faith and become a Christian, compared to the mindset of, I want to develop relationships with these people and be led by the Holy Spirit to what the best next steps are. I feel the former is putting the power in our hands and our efforts to convert while the latter is really trusting more in what God can do.
Speaking about what God can do, I feel he encourages my desire to learn more about Muslims. Not just about their belief in Islam but also how that affects them as a whole in regards to dreams, culture, how they interact with the world and ultimately where their hope lies. I encouraged others to step out in faith to have similar opportunities. It’s so easy to know about Muslims from an academic standpoint and just know things about them. It’s another thing to really develop relationships with Muslims and not view them as a distant group of people but as someone God loves and how he wants them to know him intimately as well.