The Canadian Lutheran July/August 2020

Page 12

Sharing the Gospel in a Multicultural and Religiously Diverse World

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 46:10

I

by Javed Khan

t was late. After dinner, most of our guests had left. A young college student, as well as a couple and their two children lingered on, the younger child sleeping on the sofa while the elder one played on a cellphone. More tea, more efforts to make conversation had failed. It was then that we realized that the friends had something they wanted to talk about. As soon as the last guest had left, the dam broke and a deluge of questions about Christianity began: “Why do you give so much of your time and effort to help us and others in so many ways?” This was the icebreaker which my wife and I had been seeking for the last year and a half. This was the first time in our friendship that this family asked questions about Christianity, Jesus Christ, the church—all of them prefixed with a “why”. Needless to say, these questions had been brewing in their minds for quite some time.

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THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN July/August 2020

This one conversation led to individual Bible study with them. As they spread the word to others, it soon became a group Bible study.

Background In 1971, Canada was the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy. By so doing, Canada affirmed the value and dignity of all Canadian citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation. Canadians today practise many faiths including Sikhism, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Jainism, Baha’i, and Confucianism. Globalization has divorced faiths from locations and cultures. As access to various religions has become more


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