Do you have a fear about reaching out to a Muslim person in your community? Emily Foreman, her late husband Stephen, and their four children left the American dream behind to pursue God’s calling on their lives as missionaries in a Muslim-majority country. Emily encourages us to change our mindset about Muslims in order to share the love of Christ with them.

“The majority of Muslims; all Muslims I’ve ever met, maybe with the exception of one or two, are very peaceful people. They really are adamantly opposed to ISIS, to Al-Qaeda, to any terrorist activity, and they’re very ashamed of it.”

She expresses the heart for Muslims who are currently living in the United States, or are in the process of moving here.

“They come here wanting to find what we and our ancestors came here to find, which is freedom; where their children can get a fair education, where women can drive, where there’s equal opportunity, and that is the majority of who is here.”

“It might be easy also to be afraid of them because they don’t seem always super approachable, but if you approach them first, you’d be amazed how easy it is to spark up a conversation or even a relationship.”

From her experience, Emily shares an overview of Muslim hospitality towards guests.

“The reason why they don’t approach us, for the most part, is because we are the hosts. When my family moved to North Africa, we were the guests and they were the hosts, and they played it beautifully.”

“They invited us in right away, helped us take care of our immediate needs right away, and it was their honor; it would have been shameful for them not to play a proper role of being the host. So when they come to our country, the have the tables turned and we’re the hosts. It would be shameful for them to initiate that contact and initiate that hospitality.”

How can we approach a Muslim believer with the love of Christ? We need to take the initiative.

“If you see someone with their head covered, or who looks or sounds clearly Arab or some other nationality, never be afraid to just approach them very kindly and just ask, ‘I noticed you’re speaking another language,’ or ‘I noticed you’re wearing a hijab…where are you from originally?’”

“They’ll reluctantly say where, depending on how long they’ve been here, but when you just tell them, ‘Wow, that’s really neat, I’m excited you’re here,’ and just watch them melt before your eyes. This is what they’ve been longing for since they came off the plane.”

Fear often hinders our perception of Muslims and gets in the way of bringing them the message of the gospel. As Christians, we have an opportunity to overcome our fears and reach Muslims with the love of Christ.

“That’s what we don’t realize as Americans and it’s a terrible shame. I think it’s absolutely a tactic of the enemy to keep us afraid, keep us hunkered down, self-preserving, and not realizing this Gift that the Lord has blessed us with in bringing them within access of the gospel.”

“Why would it not be the absolute sovereignty of God, and great idea strategic idea of God to bring them out of their own isolation, into proximity to the gospel and into the light? When start seeing that through a lens of faith, as opposed to a lens of fear, we will easily find ourselves losing that fear. We start really increasing in faith that a lord has a purpose here.”


Emily Foreman is a longtime ministry worker whose passion is to see “the captives set free.” She had this desire as a child and still does today, even after the death of her husband at the hands of al-Qaeda extremists. Compelled by God’s love for Muslims and inspired by her late husband’s willing sacrifice, she and her family continue to work in North Africa and strive to mobilize Christians across North America to see the Muslim world through a lens of faith.

Reaching Muslims for Christ