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Project Joseph is equipping the saints to reach out to American Muslims who are discouraged with religious Christianity.
Carl F. Ellis, Jr. was once what he calls “unchurchable,” at least unchurchable by the religious system masquerading as church. With a deep hunger for God and an ear for the encouragement Malcolm X brought to young black men of his day, Ellis was on the road to the mosque when Jesus interrupted him in the 1960s.
“One of my objections to Christianity was that I had questions that the church wasn’t answering,” Ellis recalls. “I confronted Christians and tried to blow them away in arguments, but then I ran into somebody who was able to answer my questions in a way I could understand. Long story short, I surrendered to Jesus.”
Remembering his attitude toward the church, Ellis took his approachable Gospel to the streets and began witnessing to American Muslims in the days of civil unrest. He discovered that what Muslims liked about Islam were really elements of Christianity, and what Muslims hated about Christianity was merely religion.
Viewing Islam as a challenge to the Gospel, Ellis set out to reach American Muslims with the truth about Christianity. He discovered that, like him, Islam appeals to God seekers because it answers their questions. He reports as many as 75 percent of American Muslims his team reaches converted from Christianity because the church “did not deal with their issues.”
“I find many Muslims across the country who have degrees from some of the most famous seminaries in the nation, but some of those schools are teaching liberal theology these days,” Ellis says. “That causes confusion and gives ammunition to the enemy because the Muslims come along and say the Bible is corrupted.”
Ellis continued ministering to Muslims for the next three decades. Then, in 1992, he launched Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Project Joseph, a ministry seeking to equip believers with resources, tools and techniques to reach Muslims and other non-Christian movements in our communities. Ellis has also authored four books, including The Gospel for Islam and The Changing Face of Islam in America and travels across the nation teaching seminars.
While researching for the book The Changing Face of Islam in America, Ellis and co-author Larry A. Poston discovered that Anglo-Muslims became disillusioned with Christianity around the age of 17 and converted to Islam by age 29. African-Americans, on the other hand, became disillusioned with Christianity at age 12 and often converted to Islam in their teenage years.
Both groups cited an emphasis on the universal brotherhood of man and a focus on the present life as draws to Islam. While more Caucasians are showing interest in this false religion, Ellis says most American converts to Islam are African-American. Part of the problem, he adds, is that Christianity sometimes comes off as a white man’s religion and devilish propaganda mistakenly associates Islam with African roots.
“African-Americans have developed cognitive theological needs, but the traditional church has not met or addressed those needs. Islam has a cognitive element and comes off as rational,” Ellis says. “When we work with Muslims, we show them how the Bible addresses their issues – and we show them cognitively. Since they generally have Christian instincts, it resonates in their core and melts away the deception.”
Ellis says American Muslims import Christian instincts into their religion. For example, they tell him they pray several times a day to enhance their personal relationship with Allah. But, he notes, in Islam there is no such thing as a personal relationship with Allah. Project Joseph is about sharing the information, skills, strategies, and tactics Ellis has learned so that a great army of believers can rise up and reach Muslims.
Ellis has learned that cultural core issues must be addressed to breakthrough the Muslim mindset. Empowerment, he says, is one of those issues. “Anybody in a subdominant culture will always want to level the playing field,” he says. “Empowerment is a core cultural issue among African-Americans. Other core issues are dignity, identity, and significance.”
Ellis says African-American men want to know what it really means to be a man. If you listen to gangsta rap, he says, you hear the degeneration of women lying behind the quest for manhood. So, many African-American men grab machismo as a cheap substitute for manhood. But Ellis teaches them that the Bible addresses all of these issues, and that the Gospel of the Kingdom is more than just private fire insurance.
Armed with this information and the Holy Ghost, Ellis says it is not difficult to address the core issues of Islam followers. The problem, he adds, is many Christians he has encountered are intimidated by Muslims so they don’t seek to build relationships with them and earn the opportunity to speak into their lives.
“My strategy is generally to develop relationships and I disciple them through those issues. I disciple them into the Kingdom and beyond,” Ellis says. “The microwave approach doesn’t work very well with the Muslims. You have to develop relationships with the Muslims.”
Ellis also organizes dialogues in local mosques by way of a provocative introductory question like, “Are all Muslims terrorists, because that’s the impression many people have of Islam?” Then Ellis explains that a group of Christians would like to learn more about Islam and share with them more about Christianity, since, he tells them, Christians are also misrepresented in the press.
That strategy opens the door to a non-argumentative presentation from both sides, followed by refreshments and fellowshipping. Ellis says since the Word of God doesn’t return void, it is common for Muslims to approach the local church, hear the Gospel message, and surrender to Jesus. Ellis will do whatever it takes to reach American Muslims because he has a passion.
“I know there are millions of people out there who are disillusioned with Christianity as they know it. I want them to have the same privilege I had,” Ellis says. “The biggest challenge to reaching them is to get the church to wake up. I love the church with a deep passion, but we need to wake up to the issues that are in the streets instead of just adding more programs. I’ve found too many preacher’s kids in the mosque.”
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Carl F. Ellis, Jr. was once what he calls “unchurchable,” at least unchurchable by the religious system masquerading as church. With a deep hunger for God and an ear for the encouragement Malcolm X brought to young black men of his day, Ellis was on the road to the mosque when Jesus interrupted him in the 1960s.
“One of my objections to Christianity was that I had questions that the church wasn’t answering,” Ellis recalls. “I confronted Christians and tried to blow them away in arguments, but then I ran into somebody who was able to answer my questions in a way I could understand. Long story short, I surrendered to Jesus.”
Remembering his attitude toward the church, Ellis took his approachable Gospel to the streets and began witnessing to American Muslims in the days of civil unrest. He discovered that what Muslims liked about Islam were really elements of Christianity, and what Muslims hated about Christianity was merely religion.
Viewing Islam as a challenge to the Gospel, Ellis set out to reach American Muslims with the truth about Christianity. He discovered that, like him, Islam appeals to God seekers because it answers their questions. He reports as many as 75 percent of American Muslims his team reaches converted from Christianity because the church “did not deal with their issues.”
“I find many Muslims across the country who have degrees from some of the most famous seminaries in the nation, but some of those schools are teaching liberal theology these days,” Ellis says. “That causes confusion and gives ammunition to the enemy because the Muslims come along and say the Bible is corrupted.”Ellis continued ministering to Muslims for the next three decades. Then, in 1992, he launched Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Project Joseph, a ministry seeking to equip believers with resources, tools and techniques to reach Muslims and other non-Christian movements in our communities. Ellis has also authored four books, including The Gospel for Islam and The Changing Face of Islam in America and travels across the nation teaching seminars.
While researching for the book The Changing Face of Islam in America, Ellis and co-author Larry A. Poston discovered that Anglo-Muslims became disillusioned with Christianity around the age of 17 and converted to Islam by age 29. African-Americans, on the other hand, became disillusioned with Christianity at age 12 and often converted to Islam in their teenage years.
Both groups cited an emphasis on the universal brotherhood of man and a focus on the present life as draws to Islam. While more Caucasians are showing interest in this false religion, Ellis says most American converts to Islam are African-American. Part of the problem, he adds, is that Christianity sometimes comes off as a white man’s religion and devilish propaganda mistakenly associates Islam with African roots.
“African-Americans have developed cognitive theological needs, but the traditional church has not met or addressed those needs. Islam has a cognitive element and comes off as rational,” Ellis says. “When we work with Muslims, we show them how the Bible addresses their issues – and we show them cognitively. Since they generally have Christian instincts, it resonates in their core and melts away the deception.”
Ellis says American Muslims import Christian instincts into their religion. For example, they tell him they pray several times a day to enhance their personal relationship with Allah. But, he notes, in Islam there is no such thing as a personal relationship with Allah. Project Joseph is about sharing the information, skills, strategies, and tactics Ellis has learned so that a great army of believers can rise up and reach Muslims.
Ellis has learned that cultural core issues must be addressed to breakthrough the Muslim mindset. Empowerment, he says, is one of those issues. “Anybody in a subdominant culture will always want to level the playing field,” he says. “Empowerment is a core cultural issue among African-Americans. Other core issues are dignity, identity, and significance.”
Ellis says African-American men want to know what it really means to be a man. If you listen to gangsta rap, he says, you hear the degeneration of women lying behind the quest for manhood. So, many African-American men grab machismo as a cheap substitute for manhood. But Ellis teaches them that the Bible addresses all of these issues, and that the Gospel of the Kingdom is more than just private fire insurance.
Armed with this information and the Holy Ghost, Ellis says it is not difficult to address the core issues of Islam followers. The problem, he adds, is many Christians he has encountered are intimidated by Muslims so they don’t seek to build relationships with them and earn the opportunity to speak into their lives.
“My strategy is generally to develop relationships and I disciple them through those issues. I disciple them into the Kingdom and beyond,” Ellis says. “The microwave approach doesn’t work very well with the Muslims. You have to develop relationships with the Muslims.”
Ellis also organizes dialogues in local mosques by way of a provocative introductory question like, “Are all Muslims terrorists, because that’s the impression many people have of Islam?” Then Ellis explains that a group of Christians would like to learn more about Islam and share with them more about Christianity, since, he tells them, Christians are also misrepresented in the press.
That strategy opens the door to a non-argumentative presentation from both sides, followed by refreshments and fellowshipping. Ellis says since the Word of God doesn’t return void, it is common for Muslims to approach the local church, hear the Gospel message, and surrender to Jesus. Ellis will do whatever it takes to reach American Muslims because he has a passion.
“I know there are millions of people out there who are disillusioned with Christianity as they know it. I want them to have the same privilege I had,” Ellis says. “The biggest challenge to reaching them is to get the church to wake up. I love the church with a deep passion, but we need to wake up to the issues that are in the streets instead of just adding more programs. I’ve found too many preacher’s kids in the mosque.”
FREE download of The Voice magazine
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