Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices

by Don Little

Publisher:

IVP USA

, 2015

Overview

Muslims who come to Christ face momentous spiritual, psychological and social obstacles that drive many to abandon their faith. Often conversion and discipleship are framed by individualistic Western models that do not acknowledge the communal cultural forces that constrain and shape new believers. Effective discipleship requires a more relational, holistic process of Christian identity development and spiritual formation in community.

In this comprehensive resource, missiologist Don Little engages the toughest theoretical and practical challenges involved in discipling believers from Muslim backgrounds. He draws on New Testament principles, historical practices and interviews with seasoned disciplers ministering in a dozen countries across the Muslim world. Addressed here are key challenges that believers from Muslim backgrounds face, from suffering and persecution to spiritual warfare and oppression. Also included are implications for the role of disciplers in church planting among Muslims.

Key Features

• Explores the implications for the role of disciplers in church planting among Muslims
• Engages theoretical and practical challenges involved in discipling believers from Muslim backgrounds
• Draws on New Testament principles, historical practices and interviews with seasoned disciplers ministering in the Muslim world

Contents

Part I: Biblical, Historical and Missiological Foundations for Discipling Believers from Muslim Backgrounds (BMBs)

• Genuine Conversion to Christ forms the Basis for Lifelong Discipleship
• Paul’s Understanding of Discipleship and Spiritual Growth
• Discipleship from Christ to the Early Church in Luke-Acts
• Contemporary Western Evangelical Approaches to Discipleship
• Historical Understandings of Spiritual Formation in the Church
• Contextualization and Discipleship Within Muslim Communities
• The Goals, Processes, Roles and Stages in Discipling BMBs
• The Living Pyramid of Relational Communal Discipling of BMBs

Part II: Seasoned Practices in Discipling BMBs

• The Biggest Obstacles to Effective BMB Discipleship
• Negotiating a New Identity in Christ Within Muslim Communities
• Discipling BMBs in and Through Persecution
• Discipling in the Face of Demonic Oppression and Attack
• Understanding and Handling Money Well in Discipling BMBs
• Discipling Believing Families in Muslim Communities
• Suitable Roles for Expatriate Disciplers
• Conclusion: Helping Believers and Churches Thrive in Muslim Communities


• Appendix A: The Demographics and Design of the Research Conducted in 2007 in the Arab World on BMB Discipleship
• Appendix B: Questions Asked During the Interviews
• Appendix C: Supplementary Tables Giving Further Information
• Appendix D: Navigating Between Two Identities
• Appendix E: What About Witnessing Among the Sioux?

Praise for Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices

The discipling of Muslim-background believers is a momentous challenge of immense strategic significance for the church today. As Islamic revolutions fail throughout the world and Muslims turn to Christ in multitudes, their discipling has become urgent indeed. Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities is an insightful, well-informed and wide-ranging exploration of this challenge. This is essential reading for trainers and practitioners alike and all those God is calling to labor in the vast, ripening harvest fields of the Muslim world.

—Mark Durie, pastor, author of The Third Choice

As the number of Muslims becoming Christians worldwide is growing, we need to assure that they do not haste into a kind of Western religion, but are wisely discipled as followers of Christ to be mature and credible testimonies within their own Muslim cultures. Never before have the problems and chances been discussed as broadly as in Little’s book . . . knowledge that easily might influence the future of the relation of the two largest world religions.

—Thomas Schirrmacher, executive chair, Theological Commission, World Evangelical Alliance (Bonn)

This book comes at a critical time. More Muslims are coming to faith in Christ in the beginning of this century than in all the other centuries combined since the rise of Islam; yet there has been significant controversy over how they should be evangelized and discipled. Don Little has been one of the leaders who seek to foster understanding amongst evangelicals on these practices in a spirit of truth and grace. The present study, which draws broadly on Scripture, history and his experience, makes a significant contribution to the conversation. It thereby is a model for others to join that conversation from their different perspectives but with the same concern for truth and grace.

—J. Dudley Woodberry, dean emeritus and senior professor of Islamic studies, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Title: Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices
• Author: Don Little
• Publisher: IVP USA
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 354
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Christian converts from Islam; Discipling (Christianity); Islam
• ISBNs: 9780830898527, 0830898522
• Resource ID: LLS:9780830898527
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-11-13T23:47:47Z

About Don Little

Don Little (DMin, Gordon-Conwell) serves as Islamic missiologist for Pioneers. He is also the co-founder of the Lilias Trotter Center, which was launched in 2014 to enable thoughtful Christian engagement with Muslims. He teaches the Christian study of Islam and missiology to students at Houghton College and to practitioners living and workIng among Muslims globally. Little is also the editor of Pioneers' missiological journal SEEDBED: Practitioners in Conversation.