When it comes to reaching Muslims with the love of Jesus, few individuals are as widely known as Dr. Phil Parshall. He has an international reputation as both a missiologist and a missionary. I found him to be a gracious gentleman who loves Jesus and loves Muslims.
Recently, Phil gave me a few moments of his time to share briefly with you some of his observations regarding what the Lord is doing in the Muslim world today. He also offered some practical advice on how we can better serve the Muslims living around us.
Parshall served as a missionary in Bangladesh for 21 years. He founded the Bangladesh Bible Correspondence School, and served as Vice-president of the Bangladesh Bible Society. He has also served Muslims in the Philippines with SIM for almost 20 years, as Director of the Asian Research Center.
He completed his Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1980, and also studied at Yale and Harvard. He has authored nine books on Islam.
Many missionaries today look to Parshall when it comes to wisdom for navigating the challenging waters of contextualization. Long before the C1-C6 spectrum, Parshall was applying to the mission field what would later be known as the C4 perspective.
(If you are unfamiliar with the contemporary contextualization debates that have been going on for years, you need to read the articles that brought the discussions to the masses: Phil Parshall, “Danger! New Directions in Contextualization.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 34(4)(1998):404-406, 409-410 and John Travis. “The C1 to C6 Spectrum.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 34(4)(1998):407-408. At the time of this post, I was unable to locate these articles on-line for free.)
Here are the two books Phil referenced in the video. I want to encourage you to add these resources to your library. For some of his other works click HERE.
Thank God for the Internet that I can still connect with this great man of God. I remember that in 1984, Dr. Parshall visited Liberia and granted a workshop on reaching Muslims with the Gospel of Jesus at the ELWA Camp Bethesda in Monrovia. I have often reflected on the fervency of his desire to reach the people of that faith with the Good News. So today, I just reflected on finding out whether Google had any entry on him and came across this site. A Eureka moment! I am hopeful that this will be the beginning of another firing into my spirit the same passion of reaching these people with the inerrant Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God that I can still get in touch! Gbawu F. Woiwor (street evangelist, Monrovia, Liberia -West Africa)
Praise the Lord, Gbawu! I am so thankful to read your words. While that post on my site is 8 years old, it is great to know the Lord is still using it. May He bless you and your Kingdom labors in Liberia and beyond!
Am blessed with this message as I take my master’s class in Theology with thirst to minister to the Muslim community. I will checking out more resources provided by Dr Phil.