Dear Reader,
I want to kindly invite you to a fresh look at Christianity. Not the Christianity of rules and regulations that are imposed on people and enforced by social control, psychological pressure or cultural norms as it has been developed by churches and religious orders over the centuries. I invite you to leave such a concept of Christianity behind you and look at the Christ-ianity as has been exemplified in Jesus Christ himself, in his teachings and in his actions. True Christianity is not about memorising and strenuously trying to adhere to a set of (human-made) religious rules, failing which results in guilt, condemnation and shame, or "succeeding" in self-delusion, self-righteousness and spiritual pride. Jesus himself says that he did not come to condemn but to save, heal and bring fullness of life. Genuine undiluted Christianity has its origin in Christ himself and is first and foremost Christ-like in philosophy. After all, all our actions are inspired, informed and guided by what we truly believe. If we believe that life is about “live and let live”, or, “every man for himself and God for us all”, or “everything is acceptable as long as it does not physically harm our fellow humans”, then this will affect the way we live, the choices we make, what we consider permissible, acceptable, right or wrong. Now we may cloak our philosophy of life with religious language and religious practices, rituals or symbols, but if our core philosophy is not Christ-like, we are not truly Christ-ian in the Christ-like sense of the word. The philosophy of Christ is “love God with all your being and love your neighbour as yourself”. We need to love God as He was revealed by Christ as the embodiment of love, kindness, forgiveness, patience, justice and goodness. Just as He loves us we must learn to love our neighbour as ourselves. The core of True Christianity is about a deep inner conviction, a strong belief and genuine faith that this Christ-like philosophy of life is the way we should live. It is for this very reason that the apostle Paul writes “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. It is this philosophy that translates into a Christ-like life-style from the heart and results in Christ-like morals and values, words and deeds inspired by love.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Who we are
Mission to the World
We are a community of mission minded Christians from all kinds of ecclesiastical backgrounds who are serious about following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Our name is based on John 20:21 where Jesus tells his followers that as the Father has send me so I send you, and Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus tells all his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations by teaching them to obey everything he taught them. These and other scriptures teach that Christian mission is not a human initiative but it is a divine initiative. Consequently Christian involvement in mission is really a matter of working along with God in His Mission to the World, a mission characterized by love, kindness, righteousness, justice and salvation.
It is clear from Holy Scripture that God loves to involve His people in what He is doing in the world. The community of believers is called a royal priesthood and a people belonging to God with the wonderful task to proclaim the wonderful things God has done as 1 Peter 2:9 teaches. In as much as God is pained by the evil and suffering in this world, for now He endures this pain so that people may still repent before the final judgement commences as 2 Peter 3:9 confirms. God so loved this world that He gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ to provide salvation as John 3:16 teaches. He therefore invites those who have already enjoyed the benefits of the salvation to reach out to others.
Empowered by His Holy Spirit and prompted by the love He puts in their hearts (Rom. 5:5) Gods people strife to be faithful witnesses in word and deed, attitude and behavior wherever they are in the world (Acts 1:8). Therefore, as Mission to the World we join hands to work with God in mission and also pool our resources to make it possible for some of us to be in full-time missionary work anywhere in the world.
We believe that as followers of Christ we are part of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12) and that we need each-other's support to be able to be faithful in working with our heavenly Father in His work. As Mission to the World we have created the necessary structures for this to be done effectively whereby 30 committed mission-minded believers are identified who contribute 50 euro each so that one person can be set free for full-time Christian service. This person in turn keeps them informed about his or her activities, prayer needs, successes and so on since together they form a mission team. We also provide missionary training and support services.
We encourage Christians who aspire to be in full-time Christian ministry to apply to join our community and use our structures to raise their support. We also create opportunities for approved mission-projects around the world to raise support using our structures. We currently have offices in the Netherlands, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Contact addresses are as follows:
Mission to the World – p/a Head Office Stg. Afrika Zending, Leeuwenberg 2, 2641MD, Pijnacker.
Email: missiontotheworld@outlook.com
Mission to the World – Africa, with Stichting Afrika Zending/Africa Outreach Foundation
- Malawi: P.O. Box 2363, Blantyre, Malawi
- Zimbabwe: 15 Mountbatten road Marlborough, Harare Zimbabwe
Email: africaoutreach@hotmail.com
We are a community of mission minded Christians from all kinds of ecclesiastical backgrounds who are serious about following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Our name is based on John 20:21 where Jesus tells his followers that as the Father has send me so I send you, and Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus tells all his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations by teaching them to obey everything he taught them. These and other scriptures teach that Christian mission is not a human initiative but it is a divine initiative. Consequently Christian involvement in mission is really a matter of working along with God in His Mission to the World, a mission characterized by love, kindness, righteousness, justice and salvation.
It is clear from Holy Scripture that God loves to involve His people in what He is doing in the world. The community of believers is called a royal priesthood and a people belonging to God with the wonderful task to proclaim the wonderful things God has done as 1 Peter 2:9 teaches. In as much as God is pained by the evil and suffering in this world, for now He endures this pain so that people may still repent before the final judgement commences as 2 Peter 3:9 confirms. God so loved this world that He gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ to provide salvation as John 3:16 teaches. He therefore invites those who have already enjoyed the benefits of the salvation to reach out to others.
Empowered by His Holy Spirit and prompted by the love He puts in their hearts (Rom. 5:5) Gods people strife to be faithful witnesses in word and deed, attitude and behavior wherever they are in the world (Acts 1:8). Therefore, as Mission to the World we join hands to work with God in mission and also pool our resources to make it possible for some of us to be in full-time missionary work anywhere in the world.
We believe that as followers of Christ we are part of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12) and that we need each-other's support to be able to be faithful in working with our heavenly Father in His work. As Mission to the World we have created the necessary structures for this to be done effectively whereby 30 committed mission-minded believers are identified who contribute 50 euro each so that one person can be set free for full-time Christian service. This person in turn keeps them informed about his or her activities, prayer needs, successes and so on since together they form a mission team. We also provide missionary training and support services.
We encourage Christians who aspire to be in full-time Christian ministry to apply to join our community and use our structures to raise their support. We also create opportunities for approved mission-projects around the world to raise support using our structures. We currently have offices in the Netherlands, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Contact addresses are as follows:
Mission to the World – p/a Head Office Stg. Afrika Zending, Leeuwenberg 2, 2641MD, Pijnacker.
Email: missiontotheworld@outlook.com
Mission to the World – Africa, with Stichting Afrika Zending/Africa Outreach Foundation
- Malawi: P.O. Box 2363, Blantyre, Malawi
- Zimbabwe: 15 Mountbatten road Marlborough, Harare Zimbabwe
Email: africaoutreach@hotmail.com
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