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Development of Missiological Thinking on Insider Movements within Islam
An early published writing on the topic of Muslims following Jesus while still remaining a part of their own religious community is a 1941 article by Henry H. Riggs. Riggs stressed that in much of the world, religion, politics and culture are highly interrelated and that Jesus needs to be brought into existing social and religious groups in order to make following him a viable option. In 1969, a Southern Baptist missionary, Virginia Cobb working among Muslims in the Middle East, stressed the centrality of Jesus in Christian witness: “We are not trying to change anyone’s religion. Religion consists of affiliation with a group, cult, ethic, dogma and structure of authority…The New Testament is quite clear that none of this saves. It is possible to change all of them without knowing God….[O]ur message is a person we’ve experienced, not a doctrine, system, [or] religion…”

Articles on this issue began to emerge in mission publications in the mid-1970s. John Wilder, a Presbyterian missionary to Muslims in South Asia, observed that thousands of Muslims were open to Jesus, yet few were taking the step of accepting him as savior. He believed a major problem was in having to leave Islam and joining another religion, an act viewed by Muslims as “the ultimate betrayal, a stab in the back to family, clan and nation.” Wilder suggested a way forward was to follow Jesus in ways that were culturally appropriate and still honored family and community. Martin Goldsmith highlighted the inseparability of religion from life in Islamic societies:
 * Islam is within the whole warp and woof of society-in the family, in politics, in social relationships. To leave the Muslim faith is to break with one’s whole society…Many a modern educated Muslim is not all that religiously minded; but he must, nevertheless, remain a Muslim for social reasons...This makes it almost unthinkable for most Muslims even to consider the possibility of becoming a follower of some other religion.

In that light, British mission leader John Anderson wrote that a great “sin” of missionaries was trying to persuade Muslims who accept Jesus to leave Islam. He asserted that by pushing Muslims who follow of Christ from “the culture of Islam” missionaries had unintentionally “robbed Islam of the most powerful reasons why it should reconsider Jesus Christ.” In 1979 Harvie Conn and Charles Kraft published important articles in this discussion on the nature of Islam, Muslim culture and new ways to follow Christ. In 1989 Dudley Woodberry produced a seminal article that showed strong links between Muslim beliefs and practices and those of Jews and early Christians, as well as providing, without mentioning the country, one of the first case studies of an insider movement. In 1998 Evangelical Missions Quarterly articles by Phil Parshall and J. Travis described and critiqued six types of Christ-centered communities found in Muslim majority regions of the world.

In the year 2000 the International Journal of Frontier Missions devoted an entire issue to this topic. Since then numerous articles have appeared in mission circles, bringing greater clarity to insider movements (also referred to as Jesus Movements), such as those by Rick Brown, Kevin Higgins and the 2010 article by Travis and Woodberry. Articles that illustrate both sides of the debate are Gary Corwin, Timothy Tennent with responses by John Travis, Phil Parshall, Herbert Hoefer, Rebecca Lewis, and Kevin Higgins; and an analysis by J.S. Williams.

Examples of Insider Movements among Muslims (case studies)
While some insider movements have been facilitated by outside influence or intentional strategy, others have been sovereign works of God. In addition to the in-depth study done by Woodberry, a few other case studies have been published. See Rick Brown's “Brother Jacob and Master Isaac: How One Insider Movement Began,” as well as John and Anna Travis, and John Travis.