Overview

"Expanding Vision is a missiological, theological, and practical memoir. The author details cross-cultural experiences that, in conversation with Scripture, challenged his initial resistance to the idea that one born as a Muslim could call themselves a ""Muslim follower of Jesus."" Williams explores Scripture, theology, and sociology in the context of his twenty years living as an evangelical Christian in a Muslim community as he sought to invite his friends and neighbors into faith-filled allegiance to Jesus. Williams encourages and equips those working in non-Christian environments to lovingly engage and disciple non-Christian friends in such a way as to help them maintain, rather than reject, on-going community relationships and identity. Williams provides a place to discuss the questions many in cross-cultural Christian work have been forced to ask while transparently exploring his thought processes and decisions on the journey to follow Jesus made in interaction with others. Though there are theories to these issues, Williams brings the theories into the dynamic realities of human interaction. The theories interplay with thousands of hours on conversation between Williams and Central Asian Muslims in his living room, their homes, the local bazaar, and workplace settings. J. S. Williams invites readers to join him on a journey to expand their vision. This journey requires removing blinders and being uncomfortable. It may heighten fears and threaten stereotypes. Williams prays that this journey would open up new vistas of possibility, that it would undermine false images of Muslims and especially disciples in Muslim contexts, and that it would expand the readers's visions for the heights, depth, length, and width of Jesus's love and glory among all the peoples he created."

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9781738796823

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Reviews

"""The central question of this book is how people born Muslim can become committed disciples of Jesus and still remain part of the Muslim community and family of their birth. What do we imagine Jesus would do if he walked the streets of Central Asian towns and villages today? That is where this book begins, with a moving modern-day parable with Jesus as a guest in the home of a Central Asian man. Williams shows how complex the interaction of religion, culture and ethnic identity is, both in the Bible and our modern world. These ideas may challenge what most of us have always assumed is simply 'the way things are.' Joseph and Michelle and others like them need our prayers, as do the hundreds of Muslims they interact with regularly, who have never heard before that Jesus is truly for them - not just for others."" Dr. John Jay Travis, PhD, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Spiritual Dynamics, Fuller Theological Seminary ""What you hold in your hands isn't mere words; it isn't just a philosophy or methodology for missions in complex times and situations (though it is that). This has been lived."" Matthew Molesky, LeadPastor, Grace Church, Salida, CO ""Williams is a man of true humility. What Joseph Williams has written about in this magnificent book, has stirred my heart to pray for the day to come soon when caravans of splendor begin to arrive at the gates of glory."" Robert A. Blincoe, PhD, President Emeritus, Frontiers US ""Williams is genuinely doing fresh thinking. He's pushing evangelicals into deep waters they haven't explored yet. Williams engages his subject in a way that one can tell this is a matter of life and death for him. He is passionate about his subject in a way that galvanizes his intellect to search for the deepest truth about it and not settle for pat answers. A very good book."" Wesley Hill, PhD, author of Paul and the Trinity: Persons, Relations, and the Pauline Letters and Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality ""Caravans of Splendor presents a beautiful, generous, and challenging vision of what it means to follow Jesus. This book removes cultural and even religious blinders, and asks readers to open our eyes and see the incredible work God is doing all over the world, especially in places we might not know to look for it."" R. P. Jones, author of Pillars: How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus ""Caravans of Splendor is long overdue. Joseph Williams expounds wise insights and principles that are essential to effective cross-cultural work. These insights and principles have been widely accepted and praised for more than a century when applied to secular and animistic people groups, but they unfortunately have been rejected when applied to Muslim people groups. Williams gently demonstrates how important it is to reverse that trend. His decades-long experience of living among Muslims, coupled with his extraordinary analytical skills, make him the perfect candidate to expand our vision for how God will make His glory known among the nations of Muslims."" Chuck Walker, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Central Asia No conversation about the call of the Gospel of Jesus on Muslim life and commitments can any longer be complete without wrestling with the issues Dr Williams lays on the table in this indispensable and thought-provoking book. Don Westblade, Professor of Religion, Hillsdale College"

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