I have had very little direct contact with Muslims during my ministry. Even when I lived in India my contacts with Muslims were few and fleeting. So my visit to Jordan last month was a very significant one in that we had a number of conversations with highly educated Muslims. We hear so much from fanatical Muslims that it comes as a surprise to enter into measured and gracious dialogue with thoughtful Muslims, but that was our experience.

I am delighted that Inter Faith has been firmly placed within the new Baptist Union strategy. It has found its place amongst the seven key strategic objectives, and it has largely done so as a straightforward admission of failure.

As Baptists we have generally failed to take time to understand our Muslim neighbours and so it should not be a surprise that we have lived at a great and painful distance from one another. When Paul spoke to the members of the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17) he showed an impressive knowledge of their poets and philosophers. It seems to me that we have rarely followed in his footsteps.

The reason for learning what Muslims believe and how they live, is the same as it would be for any people group. We want to reach out to other people because we believe that they have been made in the image of God, and that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save them from their sins. We will never be able to share these wonderful truths unless we know where other people are coming from. We need to learn what makes them tick.

Ignorance is a very terrible thing, and there is no doubt that it flows strongly in both directions between Muslims and Christians. Many parts of the Muslim world believe that Christians today believe exactly the same things as the violent Crusaders of the Middle Ages, and many Christians seem to assume that the Osama bin Laden is a typical Muslim. We desperately need to move on from this, and I look forward to seeing Baptist churches engaging in generous conversation with Muslims in their community. I am absolutely certain that that’s what Jesus would do.