Anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment has reached a modern high, and homegrown radicalization is a growing fear in the West. The powerful narrative of Islamic righteousness, victory, and world domination propagated by ISIS (Daesh) sweeping the Middle East concerns the entire global community. The vast majority of moderate Muslims and Christians share a collective disdain. This cancer needs to be countered, and the church, though reticent of late, holds a powerful alternative narrative in the gospel. Highlighting stories and statistics gathered from on-ground ministries working among refugees in the Middle East, and recent literature on the process of radicalization, this paper seeks to dispel stereotypes and implore the Western church to engage proactively in Muslim communities both here and abroad. The church has a role to play in preventing radicalization as a direct positive consequence of the great commission, and can, in carrying out its core mission, prevent the very thing that it fears.
