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Showing posts from May, 2011

Church, para-church and christian ministry

The Bible teaches that all believers in Jesus Christ are members of the Church. Church is thus comprised of members from all regions across many generations. But believers do gather for worship and fellowship at many local settings. This local congregation is what is known as visible church. In local church membership is open to all followers of Jesus Christ, so to speak. Para-church organisations are set up by members of the Church to achieve specific objective. Bible society prints Bible; OM & ISPCK etc promote commentary and other literatures; Leprosy Mission & EHA etc are into healthcare; World Vision & EFICOR etc are into social service; YWAM & YFC etc are into youth ministry; IEM is into church planting ministry; RZIM & SAKSHI are into apologetics; CEF is into Children's ministry; and UESI is into university mission. All these kinds of para-church organisation exist to serve the church. But in para-church organisation "membership" is not open to

Who is an Evangelical Christian

John Stott lists 6 features of an evangelical Christian belief in the book Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity and Faithfulness. The 6 features are shared by others like J.I. Packer, Alister McGrath et al. Since these individuals have been associating with IFES in various ways there should not be plausible reasons for members of IFES India to disagree with them. The words may differ, but the points go like this: 1. The supreme authority of the Scripture with matters regarding faith and conduct. 2. The majesty of Jesus Christ, both as incarnate Lord and God and as Saviour of sinful humanity. 3. The Lordship of the Holy Spirit. 4. The need for personal conversion. 5. The importance of evangelism. 6. The importance of Christian fellowship. The need to assert orthodox Christian belief in clear terms became necessary as various heretical and liberal groups emerged. This kind of declaration is not new. Christian orthodoxy have been proclaimed and reaffirmed over the years

UESI-Delhi Regionalisation

UESI-Delhi has been divided into 7 regions: East, West, North, South, Central, South-West and North-West. Each region can have Regional Committee (this will suffice for now). Each Regional Committee can comprise of at least Regional Secretary, Regional Treasurer and 2 students members (plus staff as ex-officio). Each region can then plan for its own, and implement the plans accordingly. The regions can include EC, DTC, LTC etc in their planning, but urged to keep those days reserved for combined programmes of all regions free. This concept of regionalisation was initiated in 2005. There were various reasons why such initiative was taken. Firstly, it was felt that when programmes were organised not everybody could take part actively though there was such desire. Reason being that 20 graduates were not required to run a camp of 40 students! But regionalisation would enable every member to take part without overcrowding the programme. And with the number of students increasing every year