PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa — Officials of the World Methodist Council have adopted a statement that accepts Muslims as people of faith but encourages Christians to invite them to convert to Christianity.
“Even though we recognize and affirm some similarities between Islam and Christianity and between the Quran and the Bible, we believe the distinctions between us are significant,” the statement reads.
“While we understand that Muslims believe that Allah is revealed to the world in the Quran, we affirm that God is revealed in the Bible and God’s ultimate self-revelation is in the person of Jesus Christ.”
The two-page statement was adopted during a recent meeting of the council’s executive committee in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
It called for Wesleyan and Methodist Christians to “lovingly accept Muslim brothers and sisters as persons of faith,” and noted the leaders’ respect for aspects of Islam, such as the religion’s emphasis on prayer, fasting, personal holiness and charity.
The statement went on to encourage those same Christians to invite Muslims and others “into life-changing relationships with God through Christ.”
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