I think one of the things I’ve learned through this style of ministry is that once people know how much you care, they care how much you know. It pains me to say it because it’s a real cliché. The funny thing is, while I’ve heard it said a million times, I’ve rarely ever seen it put into practice, even by those making that statement from the pulpits.

When we moved to this neighbourhood, which at the time was a strictly Muslim neighbourhood, we knew that we had two immediate strikes against us that would need to be overcome: first, we were Christians, and second, we were Americans. Those were tough odds and, as for the American part, there was no way of hiding it. Neither of us can fake a British accent to save our lives. So with that in mind, we set out to dispel the myths (and sometimes realities) that often go hand-in-hand with American Christians. 

First, we made it clear that we are here to serve. And when anybody asked us why we did what we did, we took it as an opportunity to explain that the Christian faith compelled us to do it.

In the past few years we’ve come to believe that many versions of the American Christian faith are quite condemning, even though Jesus specifically said that He did not come to condemn. We’ve also been reminded that Jesus’ message was always described as “Good News,” and that it furthermore seemed to be especially “Good News” to the poor (Isaiah 61:1, Matthew 11:5, Luke 4:18, Luke 7:22). With that in mind, and if the “Good News” only referred to the afterlife, why does the message go hand-in-hand with the poor so often? That says to me that there must be something more to “The Good News” than simply answering the question of the afterlife. We’ve come to believe that Jesus’ gospel message addressed the issues of here and now, as well as the issues of the afterlife. It’s a much broader sweeping redemption than we were originally taught to believe. 

With this theology firmly in place, we set out to serve the community and to build relationships in the community. And it worked. Don’t get me wrong, there were hiccups along the way. And I can’t pretend that there weren’t those who weren’t suspicious of us (this was made clear the day two of our Bengali-Muslim boys suggested that we vote for Osama Bin Laden in the 2004 Presidential elections), but we continued to serve people and, when asked, took the opportunity to inform people that Jesus’ message compelled us to love and serve our neighbours. 

It’s been four years since we moved into the neighbourhood and, though resources have been very hard to come by, our relationships with people continue to grow. It is now a fairly common occurrence to be invited into Muslim homes for a meal or even to celebrate religious holidays. What’s more, we started a group for young people in January and 60 percent of those attending are Muslim. Most of them are young men. One of our Muslim mothers even cooks the meal for this Bible study despite the fact that it is plainly advertised as a discussion about God, the Bible, and the Christian religion. Apparently, now that they know how much we care, they’re willing to listen to how much we know. I only pray that what we say will represent Christ’s message of “loving God and loving our neighbour” well. 

CW: We read a lot about issues within the Anglican Church. What's the local perspective? 

Miller: As for the Anglican Church, there is certainly a large percentage of them that are dying, but there’s also a movement within the Anglican church that seems to be rising up out of the ashes. As you know, there is great concern regarding the split taking place across the world in this denomination. The Church of England seems to be somewhere between the ultra-liberal American Episcopal version of Anglicanism and the fiercely conservative branch in Africa. That said, outside of the strong relationship we have with the local Church of England in our own neighbourhood, I can’t tell you much more.

CW: Europe and the UK are often written about as becoming 'Islamicized.' Do you see this happening where you live, and is it truly a concern? Have you gone into a 'no-go zone'?

Miller: I think different people would probably have different definitions for the term “Islamicized” and I think that it’s a bit of an alarmist’s word. To me, “Islamicized” means that a country is being run by Muslim clerics and/or according to Muslim law.  That certainly can’t be said of a country that continues to debate whether or not Muslim girls should be allowed to wear headscarves in school and where members of Parliament suggest to the media that Muslim women should never be allowed to cover their face in a public setting in Great Britain.

What I would suggest is that the British seem to understand that if we’re ever to heal the great rift that exists between so-called Muslim nations and so-called Christian nations, we’re going to have to do our best to understand each other and to respect each other, even if we disagree with each other. And I know that it’s very difficult to respect a religion whose values seem to fly in the face of our very own, but consider the following:

• While many Americans consider it sexist to ask a woman to cover her head, many Muslims consider it disrespectful for a woman to be uncovered. For them, it isn’t a matter of keeping a woman in her place, it’s a matter of respecting her by not exposing her to a man who is not married to her.  Consider the fact that many Muslim men will not shake my wife’s hand. It’s not because they deem her unclean, but because they believe that it would be disrespectful to their own wife to even shake the hand of another woman. 
• Consider also that they see America, a self-described “Christian country,” as a country with absolutely no morals. They see our media where women parade half-naked on stage, they watch as our military sends women to the front lines, and they watch as Christians continue to worship what they see as a prophet (Jesus Christ) alongside the one true God.