Who was
Samuel Zwemer?
Samuel Marinus Zwemer blazed an apostolic trail in the Muslim world—one that the church is still called to finish. It is both a privilege and a responsibility to take up the legacy of the faithful ones who have gone before us and to continue their work.
Zwemer was a pioneer missionary to Muslim peoples. Among those who have labored in this field, few compare. He was singular in vision, wisdom, spiritual truth, prayer, strategy, mobilization, courage, winsomeness, influence, scholarship, and leadership. Known as the “Apostle to Islam,” he is perhaps the most influential voice in Muslim ministry to this day. His example, his values, and his character continue to shape ours and are preserved through the Legacy Conference.
Legacy Conference began in 2001 in Zwemer’s hometown of Holland, MI, and was later moved to Dearborn at the suggestion of the missionary community there, in the heart of one of America’s largest Arabic Muslim populations. Seventeen years later, Legacy has become an international conference—mobilizing and equipping believers to complete the Great Commission among Muslims.
Today is a Kairos moment. Our heavenly Father has orchestrated times and circumstances to fulfill the promise of Psalm 2: the inheritance of the nations for His Son. Two billion Muslims remain unreached. Yet many have migrated en masse to Europe and North America, often as refugees. They are all around us. In our neighborhoods, cities, businesses, and schools. Even as militant Islam has terrorized the world, multitudes of Muslims are increasingly being drawn to Christ.
To respond to this urgent need—and incredible opportunity—we’re seeking churches to host regional Legacy Conferences in strategic cities across the U.S. and around the world.
Join us in equipping believers to reach Muslims with the gospel—contact us to learn how you can take part of host a Legacy Conference in your area.
Notable Quotes by Samuel Zwemer
“It will be all in vain for us to seek to emulate the apostolic methods in our day if we have lost the apostolic message. Evangelism without words, without a message, is a contradiction. Yet there are those in our day who use the term “evangelism” for anything and everything save preaching the Gospel.”
— Zwemer, “Into All The World,”: p. 185
“No — the gospel tells of human bankruptcy and Christ’s wealth, of man’s tragic failure and Christ’s triumph, of a whole world guilty before God: because all have sinned and come short of God’s righteousness. The Gospel to Paul was a message of coming doom and of divine deliverance. It sounded the death-knell of all self-righteousness and proclaimed the joy and peace of Christ’s perfect righteousness, first imputed and then imparted, both freely of God’s grace.”
— Zwemer, “Into All the World”: pp. 192-3
“There is no other way into that kingdom than the way of the cross. Only by the preaching of the cross can we expect among Moslems conviction of sin, true repentance, and faith in the merits of Another. The cross, and the cross alone, can break down their pride and self-righteousness, and lay bare all hypocrisy and self deception. More than this, the cross will win their love if rightly preached. The cross is the very antithesis of the spirit of Islam, because it is the spirit of Christianity. This issue must be made clear at the very outset, for it is wrapped up in every other truth of the Christian religion. Our conclusion, therefore, can find no better expression than in the words of Denny: ‘…if we do not begin with something which is essentially related to the atonement, presupposing it or presupposed by it or involved in it, some thing which leads inevitably, though it may be by an indirect and unsuspected route, to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, we have not begun to preach the gospel at all.’ –Denny, The Death of Christ, p. 302.”
— Zwemer, “Dynamic Christianity”: pp. 93-94
“And what then is this message of good news, this gospel, so emphatically introduced by a fivefold repetition? “That Christ died for our sins as the scriptures had said, that he was buried and that he rose on the third day.” There is no other evangel than these historic facts and their tremendous implications. Any kind of evangelism that is silent in this respect is no evangelism at all. If Christ died for our sins, His death was a reality and His resurrection confirms its necessity and validity as the only atonement for sin. The Cross is the one central message and method and power of Christianity.”
— Zwemer, “Evangelism Today”: p. 16