Muslim background believers are leading Muslims to Christ in staggering numbers, but not in the West. They are doing this primarily in Muslim-majority nations almost completely under the radar—of everyone. In the new book, A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims Around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ, [missiologist] Garrison takes the reader on his journey through what he describes as the nine rooms in the Muslim-majority world: Indo-Malaysia, East Africa, North Africa, Eastern South Asia, Western South Asia, Persia, Turkestan, West Africa, and the Arab world. Muslims in each of those regions have created indigenous, voluntary movements to Christ.

“What did God use to bring you to faith in Jesus Christ? Tell me your story.” This was the core question Garrison asked as he traveled and conducted more than 1,000 face-to-face interviews. In his background research, he documented 82 historic Muslim movements to Christ, consisting of either at least 1,000 baptisms or 100 new church starts over a two-decade period. The first sizable movement of Muslims toward Christianity did not occur until the mid-19th century, nearly 1,300 years after Mohammad established Islam. Garrison said 69 of these movements today are still in process….

In total, Garrison estimates that 2 to 7 million people from a Muslim background worldwide now follow Christ. (This is a projection since a comprehensive count is not possible.) Timothy C. Morgan, CT senior editor, global journalism, interviewed Garrison recently….

[TCM] How could these movements be nurtured?

[DG] I’ve got four desired outcomes for this book. The first is to capture this moment in history. The second is to encourage these Muslims who are considering Christ or who have come to faith in Christ, but think they’re the only ones in the world. God has them on his front burner. He’s reaching out to them.

The third one is to do a similar thing for Christians: This is not a time to hate, kill, and fear Muslims. This is a time to love, win, and reach Muslims. The fourth desired outcome is that we would learn the ways that God is at work, and that means in some cases humbling ourselves and saying we don’t have all the answers.

In North America (what Muslims call Dar al-Harb, the House of War), where Muslims are getting the most witness, we’re seeing the fewest conversions. But in the house of Islam, we’re seeing movements breaking out in multiple places. We need to learn how to ride the wave of what God is doing and not find ourselves at cross purposes with it.

Dave Garrison. Interview by Timothy C. Morgan “Why Muslims Are Becoming the Best Evangelists.” Christianity Today, 22 Apr. 2014. Web