A standalone study on hospitality, courage, and what it costs to treat a neighbor as a person and not a project.
The Practice This Week
This guide is built around a single practice: identify one neighbor, coworker, or classmate who follows Islam, and take one concrete step of hospitality toward them before the week ends. Not a debate. Not a tract. An invitation to a meal, a coffee, a real conversation about their life. Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor and former Muslim, argues that fear and the evangelism-as-project mindset are the two things most likely to keep that invitation from ever happening.
Why Hospitality Comes Before the Conversation
Anyabwile notes that hospitality carries real moral weight in much of the Muslim world, which makes it a language a Muslim neighbor will likely understand and value before they understand or value anything you say theologically.
“Just be a good neighbor. That creates a relational context for spiritual conversation.” – Thabiti Anyabwile
Hebrews 13:2 commands hospitality to strangers without qualifying which strangers count. The practice is not contingent on the other person's beliefs lining up with yours first.
Naming the Fear Before It Names You
Most people will not admit, even to themselves, that fear is shaping how they treat a Muslim neighbor. Anyabwile says the fear usually sounds like "they know more than I do" or "this could be dangerous," and both versions quietly justify avoidance.
“We really have to renounce fear. Fear is the enemy of faith, and it will drain you of any loving, evangelistic concern.” – Thabiti Anyabwile
Paul's own story, a man who hunted Christians before Christ confronted him, is Anyabwile's go-to proof that no person is too dangerous or too far gone for the gospel to reach. Use that story honestly this week: who in your life feels like "too much" to approach, and what would it mean to renounce that fear specifically?
Listening Before You Speak
Justice Okoronkwo's observation about African spirituality applies broadly to any neighbor whose faith shapes their whole life: “For the African, spirituality is his lifestyle. You cannot separate him from it.” A worldview held that closely will not respond to confrontation. It responds to patient, respectful attention.
Rahil Patel's instinct, formed from his own years as a Hindu monk before following Christ, reinforces the same discipline: “Christians often ask Christian questions in the hope of finding Christian answers. Go into that world first. Then ask, where is the bridge?” Before you explain your faith, understand theirs, in their words, not yours.
What This Practice Is Not
It is worth being plain about what this week's practice is not, because the wrong picture will sabotage it before it starts. It is not a script for closing a sale. It is not a one-time event you check off a list. And it is not contingent on you having a confident answer to every theological question a Muslim friend might raise.
Anyabwile's own answer to hard questions is refreshingly low-pressure: "I don't know, but I'll get back to you." That line works because it is honest, and honesty, more than expertise, is what makes a friendship trustworthy over the long haul. If you are waiting to feel like an expert in Islam before you invite anyone over, you will wait indefinitely. The invitation does not require expertise. It requires willingness.
A Word on the Nation of Islam
If you grew up around Black church culture, you may have encountered the Nation of Islam more often than orthodox Islam, and the two get confused regularly. Anyabwile, who lived inside Islam before his conversion, is direct that they are not the same thing. No traditional Muslim would recognize the Nation of Islam's teaching as authentic Islamic doctrine.
This matters for accuracy, but it also matters for respect. Approaching a Muslim neighbor with assumptions borrowed from a different movement entirely is its own quiet form of not actually seeing the person in front of you. Part of loving a neighbor well is taking the time to know what they actually believe, rather than what you assume they believe.
Confidence Without Combat
There is a real tension to hold here, and the study would not be honest if it pretended otherwise. Christians genuinely believe something is eternally at stake in this relationship. That belief is not supposed to disappear under the weight of being a good neighbor. The question is where that conviction lives. Anyabwile's answer is that it lives in your prayers and your own settled trust in the gospel, not in the tone you bring to a dinner table.
Dr. CJ Rhodes' line about the church applies just as well here: you can defend a conviction without being defensive about it. A defensive posture treats every disagreement as a threat to be managed. A confident posture can sit with disagreement, ask good questions, and let the relationship continue past the uncomfortable moment. Practice noticing, this week, whether your own instinct leans defensive or confident when faith comes up with someone who disagrees with you.
Scripture to Sit With
- Romans 1:16. The gospel is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, which gives confidence without arrogance.
- Hebrews 13:2. "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers." Welcome is a spiritual practice, not just a social one.
- 2 Timothy 1:7. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Fear is not from God.
- 1 Timothy 1:12-16. Paul calls himself a former blasphemer and persecutor whom Christ saved as an example, proof that no one is beyond reach.
- 1 Peter 3:15. Be ready to give a reason for your hope, with gentleness and respect. The manner matters as much as the message.
Quotes Worth Discussing
“They're not just your evangelistic project. You hopefully have an interest in them as a human being.” – Thabiti Anyabwile
“Just be a good neighbor. That creates a relational context for spiritual conversation.” – Thabiti Anyabwile
“Fear is the enemy of faith, and it will drain you of any loving, evangelistic concern.” – Thabiti Anyabwile
“For the African, spirituality is his lifestyle. You cannot separate him from it.” – Justice Okoronkwo
“Christians often ask Christian questions in the hope of finding Christian answers. Go into that world first. Then ask, where is the bridge?” – Rahil Patel
Discussion Questions
- Be honest: do you tend to treat people of other faiths as projects, as threats, or as neighbors? What would change if you saw them as people first?
- Who is someone of another faith you could actually invite to your table this month? What holds you back?
- Where does fear shape your witness, even quietly? What would courage look like in that specific relationship?
- Paul went from persecutor to apostle. Who in your life feels "too far gone" to reach, and how does Paul's story challenge that?
- When was the last time you said "I don't know" in a faith conversation? How could that honesty actually build trust?
Go Deeper
This study grew out of the Jude 3 Project conversation with Thabiti Anyabwile, author of "The Gospel for Muslims." For a related discussion in this series, see "Is the God of the Quran the Same as the God of the Bible?"
If You Lead a Small Group
If you are walking through this with a group rather than alone, resist the urge to turn the discussion questions into a debate about Islam's theology. The point of this study is self-examination, not argument prep. Spend more time on the questions about fear and posture than on questions about doctrine. The doctrine matters, but the posture is usually what is actually broken first.
Consider closing your group time by naming, out loud, one specific person each member could invite to their table this month. Accountability turns a good intention into an actual dinner.
This Week's Practice
Take one concrete step toward a neighbor or coworker who believes differently than you. Invite them for coffee or a meal, ask a real question about their life, and listen more than you talk. Pray for courage to replace fear, and trust that the same gospel that reached you can reach them.