About Us
Who are we?
We are a group of people who believe in the church as God’s family and who work together to equip this family to welcome and support believers of Muslim backgrounds.
We are from different churches and organisations, brothers and sisters in Christ, including followers of Jesus from a Muslim background, church leaders, and individuals with long experience in this field.
How did JTF develop?
"In November 2012, in Manchester, a young Muslim lad walked into the Cathedral and asked, “How do I become a Christian?" That same weekend a Saudi woman walked into a local church asking the same, and a young Somali lad had befriended a Christian, was so impressed with him that he asked the same question. Since then I’ve come across a number of similar situations across the city, indeed across the country. It got me thinking, “how well prepared is the church for the harvest that God is bringing? For what may be a trickle at the moment, God willing will become a stream, then a river and even a flood.” - Rev Phil Rawlings
The Joining the Family vision was birthed through a consultation in Britain in 2013, leading to the creation of a core group which developed a set of resources in partnership with Interserve and with the help of Elam Ministries. These resources included a video-based course, and a book. The course was originally designed to be run within the setting of a local church, with no specialist knowledge, by members of that church. The book builds on the course, but goes into greater depth, and is therefore a helpful companion to the course.
In early 2020 there was a recognition that there was a very natural fit between Joining the Family and the charity Word of Life in terms of vision, values, and mission. Joining the Family’s role in the equipping of the church to welcome, receive and mentor these disciples and all they have to offer could be a natural outworking of their other three interrelated tracks: courses, training and research. So the previously independent JtF core group joined Word of Life.
Recent initiatives
As we journeyed with different kinds of churches in many locations, and varying scenarios arose, we began to develop new ways of using the core JtF materials, and others adapted them so as to be a blessing for their own different contexts. We continue to discern how and when it is good to do this, and to support people who are doing this themselves for their specific situations.
For example:
"Attending the central Zoom course helped me to see how valuable JtF would be for my church, not just for welcoming BMBs but for those of other faiths too. It was reassuring to see others with the same questions as us." - Central online course attender
"Translating the materials and adding subtitles has made this accessible for us. It's so important that the church goes on this journey as a family together." - Leader, European context
"Being family together varies from country to country, between house and established church settings, whether believers were born here or refugees. It is very good to think about all these." - Leader, Asian context
What is important to us?
We pray that what is shared through JtF is a blessing to the whole church, wherever that may be and however that may be expressed. We see it as part of a discipling toolset for existing local church members and those new believers of Muslim background who have joined, or will in future join, this faith family.
The following values are important to us and are reflected in the way we operate:
- listening to and supporting the voices of BMBs
- working by relational partnership
- prioritising transformational discipleship
- led by Scripture and the Spirit