18 January 2023

A missiological assessment of the Insider Movement

Abstract

This paper addresses Insider Movements (IMs) within the world of Islam and presents a missiological evaluation of the principal IM paradigms. A definition of the movement will be given and discussed. We will also consider five major controversial areas that summarise the debate: 1) The legitimacy of IM members’ dual Islamic and Christian identity, 2) The openness of ‘Insiders’ towards the prophethood of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, 3) The Qur’an as Scripture, 4) The new translation of the Bible, and 5) The role of the local Church. The results of the preceding analyses will be synthesised, conclusions regarding the sociological and theological merits of IMs will be made and alternatives will be suggested.

I. Introduction

How can a new convert from Islam be integrated into the Christian Church? Amongst Muslim Background Believers (MBBs), those who were formerly very attached to Islam face many religious and cultural challenges. Missionaries often experience difficulties as they seek to help these people to adapt to their new faith and their new Christian community.

The difficulties take various forms. On the one hand, and especially in predominantly Muslim countries, converts face the rejection of their families. They may also be rejected by their communities and find themselves on the margins of society. On the other hand, the convert is so imbued with Islamic culture that, though having become a Christian, he will neither desire nor intend to abandon his cultural inheritance. Christianity has always been a universal faith that can be expressed in any culture, but today, unfortunately, it is often viewed as synonymous with Western civilization. Many believe that converting to Christianity means adopting a Western lifestyle. This only complicates the situation, especially since in Islam, religion and culture are so closely linked that it is hard to separate them.

This is no doubt the most challenging issue that many Christian missions and movements have grappled with. In recent years, the most controversial of these movements, functioning within the Islamic world, are the Insider Movements (IMs), also known as C5-communities.

In 1998 John Travis articulated what has become known as the study reference of various types of MBB communities.^[1] His “C-Spectrum” (“C” stands for Christ-centred communities) goes from C1 to C6, from the situation of MBBs in communities totally removed from their culture of origin (C1) to MBBs keeping their conversion secret and having a total Muslim identity for their own safety (C6). However, today only C4 and C5 are subject to the debate known as “high spectrum” contextualisation. The acronym C4 designates MBBs who include certain biblically permissible cultural and Islamic forms in their way of living, such as avoiding eating pork or using Islamic terminology like the names of the prophets. These believers call themselves “followers of Isa Al-Masih, Jesus the Messiah.” Though highly contextualised, these believers are not seen as Muslims by the Muslim community. The C5 category concerns those who call themselves “Muslim followers of Jesus.” While they are convinced of the truth of the Bible, they continue to evolve within the Muslim community and to define themselves culturally and socially as Muslims. It is these people who are considered to be “Insiders.”

Ralph Winter calls The Insider Movements ‘A Third Reformation’.^[2] Kevin Higgins, executive director of Global Teams^[3], one of the most active advocates of the IMs, agrees:

I see Insider Movements as fueling (and being fueled by) a rediscovery of the role of the Incarnation, of a thoroughly biblical approach to culture and religion, of the role of the Holy Spirit in leading God’s people to “work out” the gospel in new ways, and an understanding of how God works in the world within and beyond His covenant people.^[4]

Timothy Tennent even reflects that ‘the Insider Movement may be an example of a sovereign initiative that has caught us by surprise.’^[5] These are big claims. To establish whether they are true, it is vital to confront the issues biblically and honestly.

This paper addresses Insider Movements (IMs) within the world of Islam and presents a missiological evaluation of the principal IM paradigms. A definition of the movement will be given and discussed. We will also consider five major controversial areas that summarise the debate: 1) The legitimacy of IM members’ dual Islamic and Christian identity, 2) The openness of ‘Insiders’ towards the prophethood of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, 3) The Qur’an as Scripture, 4) The new translation of the Bible, and 5) The role of the local Church. The results of the preceding analyses will be synthesised, conclusions regarding the sociological and theological merits of IMs will be made and alternatives will be suggested.

II. Defining the Insider Movement

One difficulty in the debate over this movement is that there is no definition that has been commonly agreed upon in detail by its advocates. Kevin Higgins acknowledges, “I know of no generally accepted definition for an Insider Movement.”^[6] The difficulty arises from the diversity of both its advocates and its forms. However, Higgins offers the following as a working definition:

Insider Movement: A growing number of families, individuals, clans, and/or friendship-webs becoming faithful disciples of Jesus within the culture of their people group, including their religious culture. This faithful discipleship will express itself in culturally appropriate communities of believers who will also continue to live within as much of their culture, including the religious life of the culture, as is biblically faithful.^[7]

According to Rebecca Lewis, a distinct feature of IMs is that ‘believers retain their identity as members of their socio-religious community while living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of the Bible.’^[8] Harley Talman and John Travis argue that a distinction must be made concerning the function of religion in the West from other places in the world, since ‘religious forms, symbols, and culture for much of the world are often fused so that religions function like cultures.’^[9]

To be more specific, an “Insider” is someone who considers Jesus as “Saviour” and “Lord,” yet may call himself a Muslim when speaking to Muslims. After all, the word “Islam” means submission, and a Muslim is one who submits. Since MBBs submit to God, they can call themselves Muslims. Therefore, an “Insider” may wish to continue to go to the Mosque, fast during Ramadan, go on pilgrimage, and even wish to believe and recite the “Shahada” (There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet). Some IM defenders have gone so far as to acknowledge Muhammad, the founder of Islam, as a prophet from God pointing to the truth and the Qur’an as a word from God, whose content does not contradict the biblical message. Therefore, our mission, they claim, must not be to extract MBBs out of Islam and into Christianity, but to have them follow Jesus while keeping their Muslim identity. IM advocates see their methodology as the best way to get the greatest number of Muslims moving in the direction of Christian faith.

Having looked at the most widely accepted definition of an Insider Movement, we will now turn our discussion to the five major controversial areas mentioned in the introduction, thereby addressing the claims upon which the entire IM paradigm rests.

1. Is it legitimate to maintain a dual Muslim and Christian identity?

Missiologists agree that MBBs will often carry into Christianity much baggage from their previous religion. There will always be a need for a transitional period wherein the new believer, while growing in his new faith, slowly leaves behind his old religion. However, many IM publications promote a strategy that not only allows, but even encourages new believers to remain within the traditions of their religious heritage.

IM advocates put forward various Bible passages in an attempt to find scriptural justification for the idea that embracing “gospel faith” does not require converting away from one’s old religion, particularly if the individual fears persecution. One of the main examples used to claim that it is acceptable to lead a double life, is the story of Naaman the Syrian. The prophet Elisha granted Naaman’s request for forgiveness for the times when he would have to bow down when accompanying his pagan elderly master in worship, when his master went to the temple of Rimmon. Elisha tells him to go in peace. According to Higgins, Naaman was therefore an Insider in the pagan temple.^[10] However, critics have raised the point that there is no way to assess whether Naaman’s continued participation in the temple of Rimmon was long or short term. Ayman Ibrahim also comments that, ‘without disputing this in Naaman’s one-of-a-kind case, it does not follow that what Elisha allowed in the case of a solitary individual may be applied in any sense to a group of believers turning to the true God, which is where the IM discussion resides’.^[11]

According to Talman, Jameson, and Higgins, ‘the New Testament never speaks of salvation as adopting a new religion or changing one’s socio-religious affiliation.’^[12] Rebecca Lewis writes that, ‘the gospel reveals that a person can gain a new spiritual identity without leaving one’s birth identity, and without taking on a new socioreligious label or going through the religion of either Judaism or Christianity.’^[13] She argues that Jewish background Christians in the early Church continued to go to the temple and synagogues even though they also attended Christian churches. In light of this, she continues, we should allow new MBBs to continue practicing Islam outwardly just as they always have done, while inwardly recognising Jesus as Lord in their hearts.

Responding to the IM position, David Sills writes:

Christianity does not flow out of Islam as it did out of Judaism, and here the comparison crumbles … Jewish background believers would continue to embrace much of the old as they learned the new. Thus Jewish background believers were allowed to go to the Temple as well as the “church” not because they just needed time to adjust, but because they were undergoing a transition from the old to the new within God’s sovereign plan and timeline. However, Muslims are not in this continuum and so the comparison does not apply.^[14]

The issue here is the understanding of what conversion is. Sills criticises the IM’s perspective as ‘putting a cross on top of their popular religiosity and traditional worldview.’^[15] He explains that ‘repentance and turning to Christ in salvation is not only turning from what we consider to be blatant and rebellious sin, but from all sin, which includes turning from everything we trusted in for salvation before being born again by grace through faith in Christ.’ This idea of turning away from one’s former beliefs is found throughout the New Testament (Acts 3:26, Acts 14:15, Acts 26:18, 1Thessalonians 1:9, James 5:20, 1Peter 2:25).

2. What about Muhammad?

If the prophethood of Muhammad is a central belief of Islam, common to all Muslims, then it must be adopted by the Insiders. Talman seems to understand this necessity in that he penned, Is Muhammad Also Among the Prophets? In order to somehow recognise Muhammad’s divine mission, IMs suggest redefining his prophethood. Talman finds in the examples of Saul and Balaam a biblical justification of the prophethood of Muhammad.^[16] He also suggests that, since Muhammad served as prophet 1400 years ago, we should accept him as the prophet of Islam at least historically. Brother Noah, one of the leaders of an Insider Movement gives his view of Muhammad as a prophet:

 How do we accept a person as a prophet? A prophet is one who calls people to God, who calls people to repentance, who calls his people to turn away from sin to God … Muhammad was born in Arabia, where people used to worship 360 gods and goddesses … Muhammad in his time called his people to the God of Abraham. He told them that these 360 gods are not the true God, that they have no power, and that we need to worship the true God, the God of our ancestors Abraham and Ishmael. He introduced Isa Al-Masih to his people. Muhammad told his people that Isa is the Messiah, He is the Word of God, He is the Spirit of God and He is a miracle and sign to the world … So someone can say the shahada and at the same time can believe in Jesus as his Saviour and Lord.^[17]

Joshua Fletcher criticizes this openness to the prophethood of Mohammad by contrasting the function and form of the Shahada with the Christian confession, ‘One God, and Jesus is Lord.’^[18] He writes that ‘leading people [MBBs] to recite the Shahada because Muhammad ostensibly had some limited and redefined prophetic role is to entirely misunderstand the function of the Shahada.’^[19] He goes on to explain that while it is true that Muhammad brought people from idol worship, he did not lead them to the living God through the real Christ. Fletcher concludes that it is impossible to be a Christian and believe the Islamic creed (Shahada) since ‘the form of the Islamic confession is not merely a random statement ascribing importance to Muhammad, but in fact functions polemically as an anti-gospel’.^[20] What Fletcher means is that the Shahada deliberately denies the Lordship of Jesus in the life of the believer.

3. What is the role of the Qur’an in the life of new believers?

Accepting Muhammad as a prophet logically implies giving allegiance to his prophetic production, namely the Qur’an. IM proponents, such as Fouad Accad, understand this necessity. Accad, a Lebanese Christian, has had a huge impact on the global missionary movement. In his book, Building Bridges, he states, ‘As I’ve studied the Qur’an for thirty years, I’ve found it overwhelmingly pro-Christ, pro-Christian, and pro-Bible’.^[21] In the late seventies Accad published a booklet entitled Seven Jewish-Christian-Muslim Principles in which he listed verses from the Bible and the Qur’an side by side, to give the impression that the two books agree. By this he hoped to draw Muslims to the Bible.

In Muslim Conversion to Christ, Talman was asked to write a chapter explaining the Insiders’ view of the Qur’an. His exposition relies heavily on Insiders’ testimonies and opinions of the Qur’an and makes very little reference to the Bible. Talman considers that new believers should be given freedom to come to their own conclusion concerning the role of the Qur’an. ‘From a Biblical perspective,’ he concludes, it does not ‘really matter to God if one honors Muhammad and the Qur’an or not, nor does it impact one’s walk with God’.^[22]

Amongst Christians today, there is an ongoing debate concerning the place of the Qur’an in evangelising Muslims. While some are happy to use the Qur’an for missiological purposes, many believe IM advocates have gone too far by recognising it, at least in part, as the Word of God. According to the IMs, not everything about Muhammad and the Qur’an must be rejected in order to believe and follow Jesus. The Church is therefore encouraged ‘to ignore the obscure parts [in the Qur’an] and focus on the clear ones’.^[23] Insiders say, ‘the clear passages are the ones that do not conflict with the earlier scriptures but instead repeat what they say’.^[24] Uncomfortable with the implication of Talman’s methodology, Ayman Ibrahim replies, ‘Is this a theologically sound approach? Does the Insiders’ testimony prescribe a new way for the Christian faith? Do we have a specific set of doctrines, which is suitable for Insiders, and another set which applies to outsiders?’^[25]

The following question is therefore raised: What about the “obscure” qur’anic verses that distort the biblical Jesus? Verses that depict Jesus as just a messenger of God like any other (Q. 5:75), and classify anyone who believes in the deity of Christ as a blasphemer (Q 5:72)? What about the verses that deny both the crucifixion and the atonement? Insider Kevin Higgins, in his attempt to preserve the integrity of the Qur’an, proposes a qur’anic exegesis based upon a new ‘Jesus hermeneutic.’^[26] He has developed a Christocentric interpretation of the Qur’an, suggesting that the “obscure” verses should be read differently to conform to Christian theology. So, for example, if the Qur’an criticises a biblical doctrine, an Insider can simply take it to refer to a Christian heresy. If a qur’anic verse denies the deity of Jesus, an Insider can simply take it to refer to the humanity of Jesus, and so on.

Ayman Ibrahim reacts strongly to this in these words: ‘In reinterpreting these verses to fit into Christian dogma, one would redact the Qur’an, abuse Islamic thought and history, and violate Islamic exegesis … Can evangelicals reinterpret qur’anic passages in isolation from the interpretations offered by medieval, modern, and contemporary Muslim commentators,’ which have always affirmed that the Qur’an criticises mainstream Christianity, particularly concerning the death and the deity of Christ?^[27] Jay Smith goes even further to say that to do this ‘suggests arrogance, coupled with Western intellectual imperialism.’^[28]

The positive view of the Qur’an held by IMs (which claim to be evangelical) certainly raises a serious question. If the Qur’an is an inspired book (even in part), can evangelical Christians still claim that the Bible is sufficient for teaching God’s people?

4. Should the language of the Bible be adapted for those from non-Christian religions?

Although contextualisation and IM methodology have been applied in many areas of ministry, nothing is more controversial than its influence on Bible translation. Several attempts have been made to Islamise the Bible. The practice is called Muslim Idiom Translation (MIT). The idea is that Muslim readers of the Bible must not be offended but rather offered phrases they can accept, therefore terms such as “Father” and “Son of God” should not be used. A recent Muslim-friendly translation of the Bible was sponsored by Frontiers with help from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Mazhar Mallouhi, a Syrian convert who calls himself a ‘Sufi Muslim follower of Christ,’ spent many years with Muslim translators putting the New Testament into qur’anic-style Arabic. The resulting work, The True Meaning of the Gospel of Christ, was published in 2004 and revised a number of times until 2016. The main feature of Mallouhi’s work is the removal of all references to God as Father and to Jesus being the Son. Alternative phrases such as “Beloved of God” or “Master of men” were used.

For supporters of MITs, accuracy no longer means faithfulness to the original text, but rather the impact of the translation on its reception. The consequence, according to Georges Houssney, is that ‘translating the Bible in this manner puts the recipient in a situation of becoming co-author and results in what is no longer technically a translation, but rather a paraphrase and/or adaptation of the original text’.^[29] Mohammad Sanavi raises another serious issue:

[F]or 1,400 years they [Muslims] have been told that the book [Bible] has been changed and cannot be trusted. However, when challenged to offer proof for such a statement, none can be given. For centuries, the church in Islamic countries has tried to help Muslim seekers to overcome this hurdle and realize that the Scripture we have today is the same as when it was originally written. If we change or remove the titles “Son of God” or “Father” from the text because they are barriers to Muslim readers, we create evidence that the Bible truly has been changed and is now corrupted.^[30]

5. How important is the Church?

For IM advocates, what matters is not the Church, nor Christianity, but only Jesus. Since social networks and relationships are central to Muslim culture, Church should reflect this. The word “community” is used instead of “Church”. New believers should not be introduced into existing churches but encouraged to stay within their group. Eventually, these “pre-existing communities” will become the Church. IM missionaries Tim and Rebecca Lewis explain how they applied these cultural elements in their church planting effort:

In each case, they were welcomed into a cohesive community, so the Gospel was shared with the whole group. As a result, people already committed to each other came to faith together. A church was born within a natural community, without creating a new group just for fellowship. It reminded us of something Ralph Winter has said, “The ‘church’ (i.e., committed community) is already there, they just don’t know Jesus yet!”^[31]

While this provokes debate on the definition of the Church, some missiologists, however, have raised concern about the IM’s ecclesiological paradigm – namely the transmission of Christianity from one generation to another. Encouraging new believers to retain their Muslim identity will not foster the growth of Christianity. According to Jay Smith, history tells us that in the early years of Islam, many Christian communities, in order to avoid paying tax (jyzia), were allowed to live as “Insiders,” (Christian followers of Islam), if they simply recited the Shahada.^[32] Those Christian Insider communities eventually disappeared as their children were simply absorbed into Islam. Jay asks the legitimate question, ‘What have the IM proponents put in place as their intergenerational strategy to keep this from happening with their new believers?’.^[33]

While the majority of IM groups call for a permanent remaining as Insiders, others argue that these Insiders will eventually lay aside their Muslim identity and be mature Christians with healthy churches. Yet, as David Sills writes, ‘it is legitimate to ask whether this could ever happen … People with a poisoned worldview will not simply get better and better without help. They must be discipled and folded into a community of believers’.^[34]

Robin Hadaway reflects that untaught churches and pastors often drift quickly into heresy and may do more harm than good.^[35] This is confirmed by Alan Tippett’s research which showed that when people retain identity with their previous religion, they inevitably slide back into their old faith.^[36] Other research is helpful here. In 1983 a C5 experiment was put into place by Phil Parshall and his team, who sought to plant churches that resembled mosques as a way of easing MBBs into Christianity. Twelve years later, they evaluated the fruit amongst these Insider converts. The results show that while ‘97% say Jesus is the only Savior [and] 100% pray to Jesus for forgiveness of sin [and] 97% say they are not saved because of Muhammad’s prayers … [Yet] 45% do not affirm God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 45% feel peace or close to Allah when listening to the reading of the Qur’an; 31% go to the mosque more than once a day; 66% say the Qur’an is the greatest of the four books.’ Some might see some encouragements here, others will notice pure syncretism.^[37] Parshall expressed his reaction to these results in these words, ‘I am apprehensive … I am convinced that C5 missionaries are on very shaky theological and missiological ground.’^[38]

III. Where Do We Go from Here?

Having summarised the debate surrounding the Insider Movement, which conclusions can be reached and are there alternative ways of approaching contextualisation?

1. How far is too far?

Virtually all Christians see the need for contextualisation. ‘If we do not contextualize, we are indeed changing the gospel. We are essentially saying that someone must leave their culture and adopt our own before they can come to Christ’.^[39] Yet this raises questions such as, how far is too far? How much assimilation of cultural and religious expression is acceptable? How much false belief is okay? Paul’s contextualisation practice described in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23, the very passage used by IM advocates to justify their methodology, gives useful limits. Paul wrote that all he did was ‘for the sake of the gospel.’ Therefore, it can be stated that any form of contextualisation that would discredit Christ and his gospel is going too far.

2. Deception

One can conclude that the IM paradigm raises a serious ethical issue – the problem of deception. Honesty is at stake here. When speaking to Muslims, the MBB knows what his hearers understand when he calls himself a Muslim, and that he is deceiving them by using the word. The IM encourages its followers to attend mosques and pray as normal Muslims do – except that in their hearts they are praying to Jesus. Muslims who discovered their secret would feel betrayed and deceived. They would also consider these Insiders to be corrupting their religion, since Muslims believe that non-Muslims are unclean and should not enter a Mosque. Worse, this could lead to condemnation from local Islamic authorities, imprisonment and even death – the very things the IM is trying to avoid.

Over the years, Christian apologists have levelled an accusation at Muslims concerning the practice of Taqiya, or dissimulation – disguising or lying over one’s beliefs in certain circumstances. Therefore, questions are raised: Is this what IMs are asking new converts to practice? How can this be reconciled with the example of Jesus Christ and with the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:2, ‘We do not use deception’?

3. Alternative

In evangelical mission to Muslims, there have been two extreme approaches, each of which has limitations. Historically, the most common approach could be called the “Outsider Movement.” Converts from Islam are expected to come out, not only of their religious background, but also their cultural heritage. In the opposite approach, the subject of this work, the Insider Movement, converts from Islam are encouraged to remain inside their cultural and religious context. It can be reasoned that it is not healthy nor appropriate for a believer in Christ to live as a full Insider nor as a full Outsider. A more balanced approach would be what Abu Jaz calls ‘Cultural Insider, Theological Outsider (CITO).’^[40]

There are certainly some people labelled as “Insiders” who identify with Islam culturally, yet do not accept or recite the Shahada. They openly embrace the Lordship of Christ. Clearly, these are not socio-religious Insiders as IM advocates claim, but Christians who identify with Islamic culture for pragmatic reasons. An example of behaving as a Cultural Insider would be the continued use of terminology of Arabic origin. Terms like “Allah”, “Alhamdou-lillah” (praise be to Allah), and “Astarfirou-Allah” (may Allah have mercy on me) are not simply religious words to a Muslim but are closely linked to their local culture and language. They are used very naturally. Those who follow the “Outsider Movement” approach are not willing to use these terms in their mission amongst Muslims for fear that they might convey Islamic doctrines. For example, much unnecessary time is spent arguing that the title “Allah” is of pagan origin and therefore should be avoided. Asking a newly-converted MBB to immediately stop using the above terms can create unnecessary confusion, because they have always thought of the word Allah as a term describing the Creator. By all means, Christians should assess the existing culture in the light of the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2), but there is no need to dig for the linguistic roots of the different terms referred to above, as long as they help people to communicate clearly. Once people come to faith, they begin to assign biblical meaning to such words.

However, being a Cultural Insider is not enough. One must also be a Theological Outsider. A distinction must be made between cultural and religious heritage. Jaz asserts that MBBs must not neglect their spiritual connection, which affiliates them to the body of Christ.^[41] Indeed, ‘[w]hatever culture one is born into, one should be a CI in order to preach the Good News, and thus restore people’s relationship with their Creator through Jesus the Christ’.^[42] The Christian’s goal should always be to openly glorify God through the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the essence of the Gospel. Nothing should be deducted from, added to or mixed with this belief. Therefore, theological claims such as the prophethood of Muhammad and the divine origin of the Qur’an should be rejected. This is what it means to be a theological outsider.

IV. A Final Remark

The major aim of the IM is to eliminate the challenges faced by the MBB. The intention is no doubt good. Yet, Jesus made it clear that following him would not be easy (Mark 8:34–38). Rejection by the community and, sometimes, persecution from local authorities or family, are simply part of the challenge the new believer accepts. The early church expected it. Therefore, as Jay Smith reflects, ‘One wonders how the Insiders can read the history of the early church from the book of Acts, or the history of the first 300 years of Christianity (to say nothing of the last 2000 years), and assume that extraction [of MBBs] is to be avoided!’^[43] Muslims who become Christians will always pay a high price for their faith. The Gospel includes blessing and pain for Christ’s sake. Any attempt to change the Christian message in order to help new converts to live an easier life is a betrayal of the full Gospel of Christ. In the words of Samuel Zwemer, the great missionary to Muslims: ‘A passion for Moslem souls does not mean that we are to compromise or to reconciliate at any price. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.’^[44]

In Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus commands Christians to disciple and teach new converts, especially those still living in the community that has shaped their worldview. Christians are called to fulfil the Great Commission not simply by “teaching them to obey”, but by ‘teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,’ says Jesus (emphasis added).

It has been shown that IM methodology is theologically dangerous and missiologically incorrect. It hinders the growth of biblical Christianity and the Church among Muslims. The ethics of such a paradigm are concerning. Mixing Christianity and Islam will not produce something better. The result is neither Christianity nor Islam. If it is different to biblical faith, it is not Christianity.

About the author

E.M. Hicham is a PhD student on the history of Christian-Muslim relations and a minister at a French Reformed Baptist Church.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] John Travis, ‘The C1 to C6 Spectrum’, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, vol 34, no. 4, (1998): 407-408.

[2] R Winter, ‘A Third Reformation? Movements of the Holy Spirit Beyond Christendom’, in H. Talman and J. Travis (eds.), Understanding Insider Movements (Kindle ed.; Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2015), location 7764. Winter writes, ‘The first reformation was the shift from Jewish clothing to Greek and Latin clothing. A second happened when our faith went from Latin Christianity to German Christianity. This second reformation is the Reformation that everyone talks about, of course’ (Winter, ‘A Third Reformation? Movements of the Holy Spirit Beyond Christendom’, location 7764).

[3] A Christian organisation that plants churches amongst Muslims.

[4] K. Higgins, ‘The Key to Insider Movements: The Devoteds of Acts’, International Journal of Frontier Missions 21:4 (Winter 2004): 156-157.

[5] Timothy Tennent, ‘Followers of Jesus (Isa) in Islamic Mosques: A Closer Examination of C-5 High Spectrum Contextualisation’ International Journal of Frontier Missiology, 23:3 (2006): 102.

[6] Higgins, ‘The Key to Insider Movements: The Devoteds of Acts’, 156.

[7] Higgins, ‘The Key to Insider Movements: The Devoteds of Acts’, 156.

[8] Tim and Rebecca Lewis, Planting Churches: Learning the Hard Way, (Mission Frontiers, 2009), 16. [Online] Available at: http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/plantingchurches (accessed: 28.7.2018).

[9] Talman and Travis, Understanding Insider Movements (Kindle ed.), location 679.

[10] K. Higgins, ‘The Biblical Basis for Insider Movements’, in A.S. Ibrahim and A. Greenham (eds.), Muslim Conversions to Christ, (New York: Peter Lang, 2018), 214.

[11] Ibrahim, Muslim Conversions to Christ, 224.

[12] R. Jameson, K. Higgins, & H. Talman, ‘Myths and Misunderstandings About Insider Movements,” in H. Talman and J. Travis (eds.), Understanding Insider Movements, (Kindle ed.; Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2015), locations 1821–1825).

[13] Lewis, Planting Churches: Learning the Hard Way, 18.

[14] David Sills, ‘A Response to Insider Movement Methodology’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 377-378.

[15] Sills, ‘A Response to Insider Movement Methodology’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 377.

[16] H. Talman, ‘Is Muhammad Also Among the Prophets?’, International Journal of Frontier Missiology, 31:4 (2014): 169.

[17] H. Talman, ‘Muslim Followers of Jesus, Muhammad and the Qur’an’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 503–504

[18] Joshua Fletcher, ‘Insider Movements: Sociologically and Theologically Incoherent’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 189.

[19] Fletcher, ‘Insider Movements: Sociologically and Theologically Incoherent’, 189.

[20] Fletcher, ‘Insider Movements: Sociologically and Theologically Incoherent’, 189.

[21] Fouad Accad, Building Bridges: Christianity and Islam (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1997), 10.

[22] Talman, ‘Muslim Followers of Jesus, Muhammad and the Qur’an’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 141.

[23] Talman, ‘Muslim Followers of Jesus, Muhammad and the Qur’an’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 129.

[24] Talman, ‘Muslim Followers of Jesus, Muhammad and the Qur’an’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 129.

[25] Ibrahim, Muslim Conversions to Christ, 142.

[26] K. Higgins, ‘The Key to Insider Movements: The Devoteds of Acts’, in Understanding Insider Movements, locations 5809-5810.

[27] Ibrahim, Muslim Conversions to Christ, 142.

[28] J. Smith, Assessment of Insider Movements (2011), 9. [Online.] Available: www.strateias.org/insider.pdf (accessed: 2.9.2018).

[29] Georges Houssney, ‘Watching the Insider Movement Unfold’ in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 405.

[30] Mohammad Sanavi, ‘The Insider Movement and Iranian Muslims’ in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 442.

[31] Lewis, Planting Churches: Learning the Hard Way, 18.

[32] Smith, Assessment of Insider Movements, 11.

[33] Smith, Assessment of Insider Movements, 11.

[34] Sills, ‘A Response to Insider Movement Methodology’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 378.

[35] Robin Hadaway, ‘A Course Correction in Missions: Rethinking the Two-Percent Threshold’, Southwestern Journal of Theology, 57:1 (2014): 28. [Online] Available at: https://swbts.edu/sites/default/files/images/content/docs/journal/SWJT_57_1.pdf (accessed 21.7.2018).

[36] Alan Tippett, Slippery Paths in the Darkness: Papers on Syncretism: 1965–1988 (Pasadena William Carey Library, 2014).

[37] P. Parshall, Muslim Evangelism: Contemporary Approaches to Contextualization (Waynesboro: Gabriel Publishing,

2003), 69-70.

[38] P. Parshall, ‘Danger! New Directions in Contextualization’, Evangelical Missions Quarterly 34:4, (1998).

[Online] Available at: https://missionexus.org/danger–new–directions–in–contextualization (accessed 7.7.2018).

[39] Sills, ‘A Response to Insider Movement Methodology’, in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 379.

[40] Abu Jaz, ‘The Cultural Insider, Theological Outsider (CITO)’, International Journal of Frontier Missiology 32:2 (2015), 62. [Online] Available at: https://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/32_2_PDFs/IJFM_32_2–Jaz.pdf (accessed:

29.8.2018).

[41] Abu Jaz ‘Our Believing Community Is a Cultural Insider but Theological Outsider (CITO),’ in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 426.

[42] Jaz ‘Our Believing Community Is a Cultural Insider but Theological Outsider (CITO),’ in Muslim Conversions to Christ, 426.

[43] Smith, Assessment of Insider Movements, 3-4.

[44] Samuel Zwemer (1948, p. 118)