![\"Ramadan](\"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Ramadan-header-1024x537.png\")
13 Ways Normal Christians Can Show Care for Muslims during Ramadan<\/h2>\n13 Ways Normal Christians Can Show Care for Muslims during Ramadan<\/h2>\nBy Shane Bennett<\/p>\n
Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, has begun.<\/p>\n
From May sixth until the moon gets full and goes away again, practicing Muslims avoid food, drink, smoking, and sex during daylight hours. Discipline, celebration, devotion, and spirituality characterize this month for nearly 25% of the world\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a great time for people like us to reach out in care to connect with our Muslim neighbors, friends, co-workers, and family. Here are thirteen ways to do that. You can likely think of more.<\/p>\n
Were you that kid who always got straight A\u2019s? You\u2019ll probably do them all and feel guilty for not thinking of more. Otherwise, just join me in picking one or two. Aim to be a blessing and give out some of the wonderful gifts Jesus has given you.<\/p>\n
We are blessed to live in a day when resources and opportunities to pray for Muslims during Ramadan are proliferating. I suspect God is pleased with even a simple, \u201cBless those Muslims,\u201d but none of us, no matter how isolated, have to settle for that. Check out these:<\/p>\n
The 30-days high-quality, insightful booklet has been guiding prayer for Muslims since 1993. As beautiful as the print versions are, it\u2019s probably a bit late to order them now. Instead, grab copies of the pdf<\/a> for adults and kids.<\/p>\n While writing this column, I\u2019m messaging with a North African bud in England. I started with this: \u201cHappy Ramadan! I would love to pray for you during this month. Can you share with me what you\u2019d like me to ask God for?\u201d His response opened an amazing conversation that\u2019s still going on and involved me sharing a ham-fisted but good-hearted treatise on what Jesus is really up to.<\/p>\n Go to joshuaproject.net<\/a> and pick a group from this list<\/a> to pray for until Ramadan ends. I picked the Ansari<\/a>. If you want, you can join me in praying for the good kingdom of God to come to this people group in wonderful ways this month. I\u2019m pretty high tech, so I wrote \u201cAnsari\u201d on a Post-it Note and stuck it on my bathroom mirror.<\/p>\n Check out this free<\/a>, simple, super-short Ramadan prayer guide that can be freely copied to share with your home group or church.<\/p>\n Join thousands of others who will pray each Friday during Ramadan. Sign up here<\/a> and Crescent Project will email you a reminder and specific prayer points each Thursday.<\/p>\n The rock stars at Prayercast are releasing a high-quality prayer-facilitating video each day during Ramadan. Sign up<\/a> for daily reminders. I\u2019m planning to show this one<\/a> at my church on Sunday. It\u2019s very moving.<\/p>\n Consider gathering a few friends at church or in a home on the Night of Power<\/a> toward the end of Ramadan. As Muslims around the world seek forgiveness and their destiny for the coming year, ask God that the abundant life of Jesus would be poured out on them.<\/p>\n Keep praying! If you\u2019d also like to put feet to your prayers this Ramadan, here are some ideas that will get you in increasing connection with Muslims.<\/p>\n Some Christians choose to show solidarity with Muslims by following most or all the decrees of Ramadan. Trusting they\u2019re obeying God in this, more power to them. May their example move the hearts of many. I\u2019m planning on chucking one meal a week. (I\u2019m pretty spiritual that way!) Would you join me in skipping lunch on the Fridays of Ramadan? If you\u2019re in, shoot me an email<\/a> and we can pray for each other (as well as for Muslims). Thank you.<\/p>\n Direct this greeting to your Muslim friends. If you don\u2019t have any, simply say, \u201cAs a Christian, I\u2019d like to wish Muslims everywhere a blessed Ramadan. May God fill you with joy, keep you safe, and answer your prayers for forgiveness and new life.\u201d Here<\/a> and here<\/a> are two examples from a couple of friends I respect a great deal.<\/p>\n We honor someone when we ask about her experience and opinions. Aim for easy-answer, low-offense questions like, \u201cCan you tell me what your family does for Ramadan?\u201d or go deeper with, \u201cI\u2019d love to hear what Ramadan means to you.\u201d<\/p>\n The fast-breaking meal each evening during Ramadan is called iftar and is a wonderful time to connect and celebrate with local Muslims<\/a>. Google \u201cIslamic center\u201d and your town, then call or email to see if a visit is possible. Since you\u2019re the one reading, you\u2019re the designated group leader! Thanks for stepping up and gathering a small cadre to go with you.<\/p>\n Ramadan is a great time to pass out cards to Muslim newcomers, letting them know you\u2019re glad they\u2019re here. Check out welcome cards<\/a> here and maybe grab some for yourself and your church.<\/p>\n Eid al Fitr is the celebration at the end of Ramadan. Families get together for food and fun. In some situations, gifts are a part of the festivities. A simple gift of chocolates, flowers, or a plant would likely be received as a kind and thoughtful blessing. Eid will happen on or around June 3rd of this year. If you want to sound like the cool kids, learn to say, \u201cEid Mubarak!\u201d That basically means \u201cHappy Eid.\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, so you have a life and probably would have plenty to keep you busy even if it weren\u2019t Ramadan. Fair enough. God is certainly not asking any of us to do all these things. In fact, he may not ask you to do any of them. We are people of grace, not works, after all.<\/p>\n If, however, you do take up any of these suggestions, particularly the more public ones, you will join a growing group of Christians who want to act like Jesus toward Muslims. Together we will reaffirm that Christians do not hate Muslims, but on the contrary, though falteringly and sometimes hesitantly, we love them. And we want for them, as for ourselves, every bit of the forgiveness, hope, and abundant life Jesus came to bring.<\/p>\n \u00bb Thoughts? You can respond to this article on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, or our website<\/a>. Just hit reply to reach us directly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 13 Ways Normal Christians Can Show Care for Muslims during Ramadan By Shane Bennett Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, has begun. From May sixth until the moon gets full and goes away again, practicing Muslims avoid food, drink, smoking, and sex during daylight hours. Discipline, celebration, devotion, and spirituality characterize this month for nearly … Continue reading Compassionate Connection<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practical-mobilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8531"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8536,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8531\/revisions\/8536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Ask a Muslim friend how you might pray for them.<\/h4>\n
3. Dial in on a particular group.<\/h4>\n
4. Follow a one-page Ramadan prayer outline.<\/h4>\n
5. Sign up for the Crescent Project Ramadan Prayer focus.<\/h4>\n
6. Watch the Prayercast videos.<\/h4>\n
7. Focus on the Night of Power.<\/h4>\n
Moving Past Prayer<\/h3>\n
8. Try a Friday fast.<\/h4>\n
9. Post a greeting on Facebook.<\/h4>\n
10. Ask a question.<\/h4>\n
11. Go to an iftar<\/em>.<\/h4>\n
12. Hand out welcome cards.<\/h4>\n
13. Plan to give a gift at Eid.<\/h4>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n