Our Mission
A Mission for Transformation
So many news headlines are screaming for our attention, but you’ll soon discover that they say all kinds of contradictory things that do not give us a steady life direction. Reading all these news items, you’ll find that many things around you are troublesome. Every day you learn the same thing: many arguments explode; couples fight; family discord is troubling; neighbours quarrel; young people (and older ones as well) get depressed and at times die from overdoses; people get shot or stabbed; wars are being fought all over the place; world leaders threaten each other and some start a war, shedding the blood of their own countrymen and that of others; national leaders tell you what they want you to believe, whether they are right or not; the West accuses the East of misrepresenting the truth and the East blasts the West for its hypocrisy. Whom do you believe? Whom can you trust? What is true? How can we build a better world? We tend to get lost listening to all these frightening episodes. And when we lose heart, life becomes so useless.
This need not be so, however. You ought to ask yourself whether there is a sensible alternative to all of this chaos. I very much believe that there is. What I have found has given my life great stability. I’ve overcome my own deep-seated anger. Confusing issues are fitting together into a clearer vision, giving me light along my pathway in times of darkness, a sense of security, and also as a firm direction to follow. Even in old age I tend to be excited about life. I wish to share this sensible vision with you, so that your life may become more stable, more steady, more sensible, more secure, and more mature. Later I hope to tell you how this life vision has guided me into very meaningful activities that are helpful to others. If you want to make sense of life, you need to move from a subjective self-focused way of thinking to an objective, other-centred way of living. That makes all the difference in the world. Such an approach will inspire you. And you need to begin with yourself.
Our Values
Core Values
The Christian faith is not merely happy-clappy Sunday morning rituals, weekday Bible reading, prayer, and meditation
It is much more the daily, persistent articulation of upbuilding words and loving deeds that actualize the teachings of the Bible. As we live “in Christ.” we begin to usher in the restoring Kingdom reign of God. The big reason for the present lethargy in the Christian community is the lack of exuberance in deliberately and earnestly living what they believe. Numerous Christians regard their faith in God as a comfortable Sunday service ceremony, securing them an eventual spot in heaven. However, the intent of Christ’s coming into the world and subjecting Himself to a very torturous and shameful death sentence was to liberate us from sin. What is sin? It is the destructive, self-centred way of living when we ignore the Creator and His norms. It is doing what is pleasing in our own eyes. Christ came to renew us in a right relationship with God, to share good news with the poor, to bind the wounds of the brokenhearted, to liberate us from captivity to hateful feelings or self-satisfying addictions. On a daily basis, we should want to show our gratitude to Him by offering ourselves in other-centred living, loving God wholeheartedly and others as much as we love ourselves. Such loving obedience and sacrificial living will begin to heal our inner brokenness and will also begin to restore our relationship with others. As we thus put the main biblical teachings into practice in very earnest and intentional ways, the Kingdom of right and loving deeds is actualizing God’s reign in and through us. When we follow His norms for personal and communal living in our families, workplaces, businesses, schools, and all our public activities, the new life in Christ will blossom all around us. This restorative new life in Christ is to be the main focus of our existence here on earth. This is the good news that we are to share with others.
In the Mission Statement, I touched on a number of questions that we tend to ask when we are young. Yet, from time to time we may also ask them as we get older. There may not be easy answers, however. First of all, as humans we view reality in different ways. Some believe that the universe came into existence by accident. This means that there is no intended purpose to our life, except whatever purpose each one of us chooses to give it.
Others believe that only an extremely wise and caring Being caused this universe to come into existence; therefore, life must be meaningful and full of purpose. Our view of the nature of reality, then, makes a big difference as to how we answer the deep-seated questions that bubble up in our minds. But how can we know with certainty which view is true? Which view makes actual sense and which doesn’t? What is the authentic nature of reality? How do we determine the accuracy of our existence? Nowadays we claim that only science gives us reliable answers, but science is a human activity that can reach conclusions only about whatever can be seen, measured, or weighed. Humans cannot use science to know something about the unseen world.
Science knows nothing about any existence before the universe came into being. And what reliable facts can science tell us about anything unseen in the universe (e.g., our emotions, our will, our conscience, our mind, our consciousness)? Science cannot provide us with trustworthy results if the universe is a mere accident or some fluke. If we humans are the result of some haphazard, accidental process, how can we know anything dependable? Our existence makes sense only if a wise, loving Creator called the universe into being in an amazingly regulated, reliable, purposeful way. Orderly organization does not arise from chaos. Scientific predictability is possible only within a stable, constant, coherent structure and is not possible in a random, haphazard, disorderly universe. Careful research indicates that there is much more evidence for a well-designed cosmos than for an undirected chaotic one.
When we ask the question, “Who am I?” we are confronted with a mystery. We can see ourselves as an object in the mirror and can describe ourselves outwardly, but what can we say about the unseen subject inside? We know that we have visible internal organs, but what about the invisible entities? We know that there are emotions within us. Also, we talk about an inner entity such as a soul or spirit or will or character or conscience or imagination or mind or intellect or consciousness. We know that these elements exist inside of us, but we cannot fully fathom them. This is the fascinating intra-personal world within us. We cannot entirely understand it. Yet, this outwardly noticeable person with an inwardly invisible reality can interact with another, similar person and can form an interpersonal relationship that can be close or distant. And these interrelated persons organize communities (e.g., marriage, family, clan, tribe, race, church, business, soccer club, orchestra). Each of these communities has an intra-communal existence with its own norms. At the same time, these communities impact other communities in intercommunal ways. These people and their organized communities today form the intra-national structure of a country. We can also relate to people at an international way. Thus, humans are organized in six major types of relationships