Texas Church Worships With Muslims, Jews

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 04:29 PM EST Ministry News

Bob Roberts Jr., pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas, isn't afraid of venturing into unfamiliar territories. In the mid-1990s, Roberts began making trips to Vietnam with teams from his church to pioneer medical, educational and orphanage-related work. After 9/11, he traveled to Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and other Muslim-dominated regions to establish similar works.

Now the 51-year-old megachurch pastor is blazing a new trail back in his home state: a "triologue" between three vastly different congregations. This past weekend, Keller's Baptist-leaning congregation combined with those from Dallas' Temple Shalom and the Islamic Center of Irving for "multifaith" worship services dedicated to highlighting and discussing the similarities and differences among the three represented faiths.

On Thursday, the congregations met for a "typical" Jewish worship service at Temple Shalom; on Saturday, the Christians and Jews visited the Dallas-area mosque; and on Sunday, both the Jewish and Muslim congregations attended NorthWood. After each service, the leaders of the three congregations—who have become friends in recent months—answered questions about their unique faiths.

"The basis of coming together is not to minimize our beliefs but to hold onto our beliefs and make clear our beliefs," Roberts said. "But also it's to say that the best of our beliefs calls us to get along with one another."

And yes, Roberts is well aware of the criticism he has received and will continue to receive for supposedly watering down Christian doctrines or diminishing the inherent divisiveness that is at the core of the gospel message. "I believe what the Scripture says," Roberts said, specifically referring to Jesus' comments in John 14:6 that establish Him as the single entry point to God. In fact, the Baptist pastor addressed this amid the three congregations on Sunday.

"The old conversation of interfaith basically said if we all agree on everything then we can get along. So what we need to do is minimize our differences ... and only talk about what we do agree upon," Roberts said. "But there's a problem with that. … If I'm going to be a committed Muslim I can't pick and choose which parts of the Quran I believe. Or a Jew, for the Torah. Because truth is truth. Truth is not relative. Multifaith says 'we have differences.' What multifaith says is 'I don't want to try to be politically correct; I want to be honest about what I believe; I want to hold true to my truth. ... I want to build relationship on honesty.’"

It's this relational aspect between people of different faiths that Roberts believes is sorely missing and is at the heart of most of the world's conflicts. Responding to his critics, he asked: "Why do you go to restaurants where people get drunk? Why do you go to movies where people undress and do things on the screen that break the heart of God? ... Why do you want to get in a car built by an automobile industry driven by greed? But I don't want to have a relationship with someone who's trying to seek God? That makes sense, doesn't it?" [dallasnews.com, 1/21/10; christianpost.com, 1/25/10]

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Comments

0 #7 Mikko H 2010-02-02 21:54 It is not as simple as that. You cannot be faithful to whole Qu'ran, because there are so many contradictions. If you limit yourself in moving in the surats to a certain degree supportive the Gospel, it may become constructive fellowship Quote

0 #6 Carol Castillo 2010-01-31 12:05 I feel there is a spirit of confusion here. We do not have to defile the Word of God by comparing it with other beliefs! The only truth is the Word of God, given by God through inspiriation to the men of God. If others want to hear the Word of God, let them come to us and not bring other doctrines with them. Quote

-1 #5 John F Sampson 2010-01-27 21:14 I know I could could worship with a Jew / Israelite. after all its the same God. But I could not worship with a Muslim. Allah and Satan are the same. Quote

0 #4 David C 2010-01-27 05:59 I fully agree with establishing a relationship and discussing and understanding the differences, and lovingly (grace) and honestly (truth) holding fast to the fact that there is only one way, and He is Jesus.

BUT the headline implies worshipping together, which implies validity of each viewpoint.

If they worshipped together, that negates the message of exclusive truth. If they merely met together, it does not.

Hope it was truly to the glory of the King, and not to show how "open and inclusive" we religious types can be!

I would counsel proceeding with prayer and wise counsel.

Blessings Quote

0 #3 Yohanna Y. Garba 2010-01-27 01:09 This must be God's working in the lives of people Himself. This type of meeting should be encouraged. I wish a meeting like this can be fix in a Mosque or a Jewish auditorium. Gos is working. Quote

+1 #2 kenparrish53 2010-01-26 16:25 Is he justifying his actions based on the wrongs of others, or is he suggesting it's okay to go watch movies with nudity? Quote

+3 #1 Richard C 2010-01-26 14:23 Apostasy increases. Quote

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