“O believers, be you God’s helpers, as Jesus, Mary’s son, said to the Apostles. ‘Who will be my helpers unto God?’ The Apostles said, ‘We will be helpers of God.’”
Surah 61 (As-Saff):14
We are friends, Christians, disciples of Jesus. The Qur’an calls such people “helpers of God”.
Our community is small in number and consists of people from different religious and social backgrounds with different professions. We simply want to serve God as brothers and sisters according to the words of Jesus, just as we find them in the Injil.
For many people faith means the cultivation of religious and cultural traditions and rituals that have been handed down from their forefathers, often without an understanding of their deeper meaning. Many of these traditions obviously contradict the words of Jesus. For us, however, faith is a reality that fills all areas of our lives.
We do not belong to any denomination or organisation. We gather daily to think about the Word of God together and through this to understand God’s will better.
We reject hierarchical structures as they clearly contradict God’s word and brotherly love. We are convinced that unity, which God wants to be the reality among believers, cannot be secured by human authoritarian structures but only by the fruit of the obedience of every single disciple to the Holy Scripture. We are in unity with each other because each of us puts his own self aside and wants to follow what God has revealed in the Bible and made recognisable for all.
Our faith in the one and only God, the Lord and Creator of the Universe, unites us. God, who created us because of His love, is the origin and the aim of our lives. He revealed Himself to Abraham and then spoke to the people through the prophets. The last and final revelation was in Jesus of Nazareth. He is the eternal Word of God (Surah 3:45). He became man for our sake in order to lead us on the way to God.
We follow the way that He showed us in His Words. In giving himself for us completely, Jesus shows us what true devotion to God and to our brothers and sisters means.
On our website we address Muslims because we know that God has sent Jesus to teach us true devotion to God through His example and His Words, in others words: to teach us true Islam. We would like to encourage Muslims to read and understand the Words of Jesus. Unfortunately, the message of these words has often been distorted and misinterpreted throughout history, so much so that many Muslims become acquainted with a Christianity that has nothing to do with the real Jesus.
We wish to draw your attention to the original message of Jesus, which is valid and unchangable for all times, addressing all people of every nation, and to put this message into practice in daily devotion just as the first disciples of Jesus:
“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. …And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people….” (excerpt from Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47)
Why we quote the Qur’an
Sometimes we are asked why we Christians quote the Qur’an in talks with Muslims – and on this website – if we don’t regard the Qur’an to be Holy Scripture. We would like to respond to this question in the hope that our Muslim readers can understand our position.
As Christians we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Word of God in person1, a belief also held by Muslims according to the Qur’an2, albeit with significantly differing content. If Jesus is the Word of God, everything he said and did is the unsurpassable climax of God’s revelation. In Jesus, who is God’s Word, God spoke to us directly, without the mediation of an angel or a prophet. In the words of Jesus, God has told us everything that is necessary for our relationship with him. For this reason we believe that, with the coming of the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ, the revelation is complete. That is why for us there cannot be any new revelation.
Jesus’ coming into this world had such a far-reaching influence that after his coming anyone who wanted to say something about God could not ignore him. So it is not surprising for us that the Qur’an also deals with Jesus. As the Qur’an claims to confirm the Torah and the Gospel3, we consider it justified to test the Qur’an according to the Torah and the Gospel. The Bible also encourages us to test everything and to hold on to what is good4.
Through Jesus God put his love into our hearts. This love for all people motivates us to find out what people around us consider important so that we can understand their way of thinking and their life better. Our love for Muslims is what spurs us on to take a closer look at the Qur’an. We are interested in what Muslims, who base their beliefs on the Qur’an, think about God, Jesus, judgement, heaven, hell, living a godly, holy life, and other questions that are addressed in both the Qur’an and the Bible. We want to test the statements made in the Qur’an concerning these questions by comparing them with the words of the prophets and primarily in the light of the perfect and complete revelation brought by Jesus.
In conclusion we would like to point out a statement from the Qur’an
“We sent not any before thee, except men to whom We revealed: ‘Question the people of the Remembrance, if it should be that you do not know.’” Surah 16:43
If we Christians, the “people of the Remembrance”, are to inform the Muslims of what they do not know, it is helpful for us to get to know the Qur’an and to assess it according to the reminders given to us in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.
- Gospel of John 1:1, 14 ↩
- Surah 3:45; 4:171 ↩
- The frequently held opinion that the books of the Bible were falsified is, from what we know from the Qur’an, not supported by the Qur’an. For more on this topic see: No Man can change the Word of God ↩
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21 ↩