A Gospel Team Engages Muslim Students in Chicago’s Community Colleges

By Kevin Schiltz

“No, thank you. I am Muslim and am not supposed to read the Bible. . . . But what is it exactly?” 

Our team frequently hears comments like this at community-college campuses in the Chicago area. With Luca Drago and Girish Sivasankaran, colaborers from nearby assemblies, we have seen the Lord open doors to presenting the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to immigrant and international students from around the world.

Every month, mosques, community centers, Islamic schools, and halal restaurants and grocery stores pop up throughout the vast Chicagoland metropolitan area. Community colleges present a strategic opportunity to engage unreached peoples, especially Muslims, as both international students and immigrants converge there for study and connections in this global city. 

According to the ministry Open Doors, more than 20,000 international students study at institutions around Chicago, the majority coming from countries within the 10/40 Window.1 In just one of these community colleges, a very large and growing percentage of the students are Arab Muslims. 

A strategy for attracting attention
Many Muslims have little Bible knowledge but genuine curiosity, stemming from a confusion within Islam itself. Muslims are told from childhood that Christians have twisted the meaning of the Scriptures. Yet the Quran does instruct them to read the Injil, the Arabic word for the Gospels or, more broadly, the New Testament. Our team has found that by decorating a table with traditional scarves, small table flags from around the world, and Bibles in many languages, a busy campus corridor can become a place where students can hear about Jesus. At each colorful Bible table we set up, done with each academic institution’s consent, we have the privilege of inviting people, especially Muslims, to read the New Testament and hear of God’s love for them. 

Using New Testaments and individual gospels in more than a dozen languages, we have engaged hundreds of students from around the world, many of whom have never interacted with a Christian. The list of languages draws the attention of reached to some of the world’s most unreached people groups: Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Dari, and Kurdish. Yet many students prefer to have an English translation. The offer of individually wrapped candy helps attract students who may otherwise continue walking to lunch or their next class. A stack of brightly colored stickers for decorating laptops and water bottles encourages students to stop and browse as we establish a connection. 

Friendly connections and deep conversations
When our team interacts with these students, conversations about cultures, languages, experiences, and college life are frequent launching points into deeper conversations about the Savior. International and immigrant students tend to quickly jump into spiritual topics when given the chance to do so in the otherwise “religion-free” atmosphere of American colleges. 

Once, an especially confident young woman in a hijab (headscarf) approached the table and asked my teammates if they were giving out the real Bible. The student reported widespread interest in spiritual conversation on campus, especially among the more recent Arab Muslim immigrants. Besides this exciting news, she explained that, during the previous semester, a group of false Christians had been using Bible study invitations to lure students into becoming part of a cult. Though the administration expelled the wolves from campus, their influence left some reluctance among these Muslim students. 

I lived in the Arab world for nearly 10 years. Since I transitioned to the States, these campus events have been an opportunity for me to use my Arabic language skills and experience the shift to reaching Muslims in the United States. It’s incredible how a few Arabic phrases can warmly attract the curious and disarm the antagonists. Similarly, Amy, my wife, uses her fluency in Turkish to interact with international students who come to our home and with those she meets around town. 

Questions that open doors
Here is a sampling of the conversations our team has had: 

•“I heard Christians say that Jesus died for our sins. Whatdoes that even mean? This makes no sense to me as aMuslim!” This young Middle Eastern woman said shewas not interested in free candy or a New Testament.She came just to hear an explanation of this statement,which, of course, we happily talked about.

•An Arab man asked about the Old Testament, which hehad started reading with curiosity and then enthusiasm.“It reads so different from the Quran. What do not eatingpork and long genealogies have to do with Jesus?” 

•A student who had recently immigrated from Iraq browsedthe books and said, “I bet you don’t have anything here inmy native language!” referring to Behdini Kurdish. Thoughwe didn’t, we now have a New Testament in this language. 

•Two women approached the table asking if we had resources about Islam and women. Having seen the ArabicBible on our table, they thought we might have some association with the Islamic club. The women understoodquickly that this information promoted the Bible, not Islam. One of them was in a relationship with a Muslim man but hesitated to consider marriage because she was concerned that Islam does not uphold women’s rights.

•Upon noticing all our flags, a man from Benin asked theteam if anyone knew where his country was located onthe globe. After we talked about Africa, he said, “I am aMuslim. Am I allowed to read the Injil? Do you have acopy in French that I could have?” 

Hopes and prayers for the future
Since we have engaged with so many international students, the Lord has now put on our hearts a vision to open an international student house and ministry center: a place where members of various Chicagoland assemblies may show hospitality to and care for international students while exposing them to the Christian faith and the Bible. Pray with us that this will become a reality in the coming months. 

Please pray that the students who have taken Bibles over the past year will read them. We are also building relationships with several who return with many questions. Pray that their questions about God and their sin will be like pebbles in their shoes—something they cannot ignore. We pray that many will come to Christ with their burden of sin and believe on Him. We continue sowing and watering the seeds by faith in the God who sends us and strengthens us. 

Kevin and Amy Schiltz are commended from Lombard Gospel Chapel in Lombard, Illinois.

Originally published in Missions magazine, May 2024. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe