Mexicans become Muslims - rejoice?

"Hispanics becoming Muslims in the US may actually be a positive step forward for the gospel" says Tim Halls, mission strategist with Latin America Mission. At least that is what Diana Barrera reports in the EMQ this month, having interviewed Halls recently. Apparently Halls went on to suggest that as a growing number of Hispanics adopt the Muslim faith this means that "for the first time in hundreds of years, Muslims are living in the same space as Latino Christians and buying at the same stores and sending their kids to the same schools", which in turn creates an ideal context for sharing the gospel. In effect the Muslim Hispanics (a very small proportion of the growing Hispanic population in the US) are acting as a bridge between the two communities - a bridge the gospel can traverse.

Barrera adds, "We are in a shared space and what comes out of the shared space depends on what the people in it will do. Right now, Muslims feel extremely empowered and Latinos do not." So there seem to be two issues here. One - how do we create genuine 'shared space' where faith conversations can happen naturally? Two - how do we give Christians the confidence, the sense of empowerment to make the best use of that shared space?

Food for thought here not just for American Hispanics, I think.