Hakeem and I were well into our second cups of chai—and our second hour of conversation—when he suddenly grew quiet. I could tell he was processing something important. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me, and I broke our shared silence. “What’s going on? What are you thinking about?” His response still echoes in my mind: “Why has no one ever told me this before? Why has no one ever taught me how to listen to God and let him speak to me personally?”1

As we press into the edges of mission among Muslims, the vision of a promised new humanity (Eph 2:15) offers a compelling way forward. This vision is based on observations of current movements to Christ happening within formerly unreached cultural groups. This responsiveness to the gospel is bursting the confines of mission strategies, which often project (foreign) culture-bound models of Christianity.

As today’s mission efforts move into the least-reached people groups, field experience affirms over and over that the message we carry is not merely a message of individual salvation. The very nature of the good news opens a way for people to interact with God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—personally, leading to lasting personal transformation. The gospel message empowers people to also bring this transforming power into their families and communities.

In the context of Muslim societies, this redemptive power is most fully expressed when Muslim believers (MBs)2 remain within their communities, retaining their cultural identity while living as faithful followers of Isa al-Masih, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather than requiring believers to leave their cultures or embrace the culture of another Christianized group (for example, American), the gospel calls for transformation from within (Matt 13:33).

The Catalyst for Transformation

Tariq explained to me that while he had repeated a prayer to surrender his life to Isa al-Masih a few years ago, it wasn’t until recently that he truly understood what it meant to surrender to Isa al-Masih as Lord. “My uncle betrayed my family, causing us a lifetime of suffering and poverty. Last week when I forgave him and left the judgment to God,” he said, “that is when I really began following Isa al-Masih.”3

The source of true transformation is heart-level allegiance to the kingdom of God. Jesus revealed this kingdom and calls people to live under God’s reign, submitting every part of their lives to His rule. This allegiance goes beyond intellectual belief; it requires reorienting one’s heart so that we change how we behave, how we treat others and what we value.

This wholehearted allegiance enables the Holy Spirit to bring about deep, lasting change. When MBs such as Hakeem or Tariq entrust themselves more fully to Jesus as king, they open their lives to the Spirit’s work, allowing God to transform their desires, character, and purpose.

This transformation isn’t about adopting foreign religious forms or conforming to external cultural expectations. It is an inner, Spirit-empowered transformation that expresses itself through the lived values of God’s kingdom, such as humility, mercy, compassion, and the desire to reconcile broken relationships. Inward transformation leads naturally to change in behavior and relationships, which can ripple outward into entire communities.

Personal Transformation

In one town, a formerly violent man named Kareem came to faith. At first, people thought he had joined a cult. But when he returned money that he had stolen and began reconciling broken relationships, they began to ask him what had happened. Many became interested in learning more about Isa al-Masih. They were attracted, not through a message someone was preaching, but through the visible witness of a radically transformed life.4

As MBs live out their allegiance to God's kingdom through Jesus, they begin to demonstrate a new kind of humanity to those around them. The fruit of the Spirit becomes visible in daily life—they become more loving spouses, patient parents, and generous neighbors. They not only live out the Spirit’s fruit but also receive and exercise spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:4–7). The power of the Spirit is experienced through acts of love as well as through dreams and visions, healing, deliverance, and prophetic encouragement. These are all signs, as Jesus said, that the kingdom of God has truly come near (Luke 10:9).

As they are freed from their destructive habits and besetting sins, MBs embody a better way: a new kind of humanity marked by the freedom, grace, and dignity found in the kingdom Jesus proclaimed. What begins as personal transformation spreads naturally along trust relationships—reshaping families, friendships, and eventually entire communities. As they mature, believers—sometimes quietly, sometimes with bold public courage—begin to challenge elements of their society that conflict with God’s kingdom values. Over time, through growing networks of believers, the Spirit begins to redeem communal patterns—restoring relationships and reshaping communities to increasingly reflect God’s justice and shalom.

A Slow Leavening

In one city, a foreign believer hosted monthly gatherings of musicians and artists. As more among them began to commit their lives to Isa al-Masih, the shared tea, singing, and poetry time also included reflection on Bible passages. As new acquaintances joined in, the foreigner did not need to explain the context to them, all those who were experiencing the blessing of God in the gathering eagerly shared what was going on. No church had been formally planted, yet community transformation was quietly beginning as they shared their griefs and joys and experienced God in their midst.5

Gospel transformation is never meant to remain private—it’s intended to reshape communities. As Paul writes in Ephesians 2:22, “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Many Muslim cultures have habits that echo kingdom values, such as hospitality, communal responsibility, and daily rhythms of prayer (affirming the greatness of God, looking to him for help). These values create a foundation for the Gospel to resonate deeply when shared in culturally meaningful ways. Bridges already exist across which truth can travel. As gospel messengers live out the truth, the Spirit affirms what is good and brings these cultural expressions into fuller alignment with God’s reign. Paul acknowledged in Acts 17:26–27 that God “marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands,” so that people might “seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.” Those who seek will discover indeed that he is not very far from them.

Community Transformation

The refugee camps were full of people from different tribes, who did not trust each other. Many women had lost their husbands and family members in the war and were traumatized at the violence they had seen. When they shared their stories with one another, it felt like a competition as to who had suffered the most. This increased their anguish, rather than bringing healing.

A refugee herself, Shaheen had just given her life to Isa al-Masih and felt compelled by his love to serve other widows in the camps. They were surprisingly responsive. As teachings about Isa al-Masih began to spread, the dynamics among the widows changed. Instead of competing in misery, they began to support each other. One day, a widow’s son had to be hospitalized. The other women rallied around to care for her other children, wash her laundry, cook for her family, and take her to hospital. This was unprecedented. Over a few years, Jesus transformed this group of despairing women into a caring community through Shaheen, who embodied a contagious new kind of humanity—one marked by hope, compassion, and motivation to bring about change.6

Is this the image Paul had in mind when speaking of Christ creating “one new humanity” (Eph 2:15)? Through the cross, Jesus has broken down walls—not only the ones dividing Jew from Gentile but also those dividing all peoples from each other.

Human societies all over the world are characterized by sexual immorality, idolatry, occult bondage, hatred, strife, envy, murder, addictions, violence, etc.—“works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19–21). Many people walk in darkness (Isa 9:2), forced to cope with fallen human nature, using their own wits, not realizing that there is an alternative.

Those who give heart allegiance to God through Jesus turn from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). Jesus invites us to follow him fully within our own cultural worlds, honoring our heritage even as he makes us new in him. The gospel message affirms and values cultural distinctiveness while demanding that our hearts and lives be transformed. Muslim believers like Shaheen embody this vision when they remain within their cultural context and follow Jesus faithfully. They demonstrate that it’s possible to be fully part of their people and fully part of God’s family—a community not defined by bloodlines, conflict, or suffering, but by hope, compassion, and the reconciling love of Christ (1 Pet 2:10).

This pattern is at the heart of the healthiest gospel movements today among Muslims. In Jesus, people discover the fulfillment of their deepest spiritual longings as the gospel takes on local form—embodied by family, friends, and neighbors who speak the heart-language and live the heart-culture of their communities. MBs who purposefully remain become bridges, not barriers, to the gospel. Their lives proclaim a profound truth: Allegiance to God's kingdom through Jesus is not a rejection of their culture, but its fulfillment in the true king—the Messiah who redeems every people, language, and tribe (Rev 7:9).

A Timeless Pattern for the Future of Mission

Throughout history, the most profound advancement of the gospel has come not through cultural imposition or erasure, but through redemption from within. From the first-century Jewish world to Greco-Roman cities, from Celtic tribes to African villages, the Spirit of God has consistently birthed a new kind of humanity— transforming lives, relationships, and entire societies through allegiance to God as king, through the work he accomplished in Christ Jesus.

What we now witness among MBs is this same ancient and living pattern. As MBs remain rooted in their communities, the gospel takes on local form. Their wholehearted allegiance to God's kingdom through Jesus allows the Holy Spirit to reshape hearts and relationships, making them agents of transformation who embody the values of God’s kingdom from the inside out.

As we look to the future of mission—particularly among Muslims and other least-reached peoples—this vision of a new kind of humanity offers a compelling way forward. It calls us beyond the current edges of mission strategy, where extraction and external forms have often limited gospel impact. What is emerging instead is a Spirit-led movement from within: one that honors and illuminates the best of culture, flows through trust networks, and redefines church and discipleship on local terms.

This is not cultural erasure, but cultural redemption. God wants every people group to align with his justice, mercy, humility, peace, and love—to bring the glory and honor of their culture into the kingdom (Rev 21:24,26). The Holy Spirit infuses daily life with divine purpose. The kingdom of God need not be imposed from outside, it will grow organically (Mark 4:26–29) wherever heart allegiance is given to God, Jesus embraced as his Messiah, the Spirit welcomed, and culture honored (Mark 4:26-29).

A new humanity is within our reach. Many in the world today experience the growing shalom as they become part of God’s kingdom through Jesus. As the gospel advances to the unreached cultures, across generations, it quietly and powerfully produces this enduring community of living stones (1 Pet 2:5) who become agents of transformation and hope. This is how the kingdom advances—quietly but powerfully—through transformed lives and communities, as God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.