Christian Commitment

 

World Vision is a community of Christians who are committed to serve the poor in the name of Christ. Our common purpose and love for Jesus Christ creates a friendly, supportive environment.

Daily Devotions, Weekly Chapel, Annual Day of Prayer

Daily devotions or prayer times occur within each department, giving a time of small-group reflection with co-workers before facing the challenges of the day. We gather at a weekly chapel service for prayer, praise, and updates on our work around the world.

Our Annual Day of Prayer occurs each year on October 1, the start of our new fiscal year. We devote the entire day to fellowship, listening to God, and praying for our donors, our partners, the people we serve, and our work in the upcoming year.

Church involvement

Your church doesn't have to be a bystander to the events that impact our communities and the world. Your church can be a leader in helping children and families overcome adversities and realize their God-given potential.

World Vision can be your bridge to the world's poor. As your church changes the lives of those in poverty, your congregation will be transformed as well.

Our Mission Statement identifies World Vision as "an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God."  Our collective commitment to follow Jesus and serve people in poverty is what unites us.

Our Identity

Within World Vision, we seek to follow Jesus Christ and serve the poor in order to respond to the call to mission that we first heard in our churches: 

"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself?"  "I will, with God's help."  (Anglican Confirmation)

"to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility latent but already present and active in the affairs of the world"  (Catholic [Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi])

"I accept the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour and Lord and will follow Him wherever He leads me."  (Evangelical Prayer of conversion)

Today, we are Christians from a variety of church traditions including Anglican, Anabaptist, Evangelical, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Wesleyan and other Trinitarian churches.  These differences in tradition are increasingly sources of dialogue and mutual enrichment. 

As a partnership, our historical roots are in evangelical Protestantism.  The core gospel commitments that have guided us in the past will continue to guide us in the future.  While the various church traditions have distinctive theological perspectives and liturgical practices, we understand that they also affirm these core gospel commitments.  We choose to articulate these gospel affirmations in ways that unite Christians as followers of Jesus committed to serve the poor. 

Whatever their religious background or church affiliation, WV seeks staff who bear witness to Jesus Christ and give evidence of a desire to grow in their faith.  WV believes that staff participation in church life is key to the maturing of faith and the practice of love.

Our Understanding of the Church

We are aware of the rich history, theology and complex reality of the Church over the last 2 000 years.  We are not attempting a definitive or exhaustive statement, but offer some foundational understandings to guide WV in our commitments and practice.  In a world of increasing pain, suffering, injustice, conflict and alienation from the God who created it,

We believe that the Church

is a community of love reflecting the eternal communion in God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit;

was brought into being by God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the experience of Pentecost;

is a confessing community of faith, hope and love, sent into the world as a servant people to bear witness through worship, fellowship, preaching, teaching, witnessing and service;

as the Body of Christ is one -- holy, universal (catholic) and apostolic -- marked by the fruit of the Holy Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"  (Gal. 5:22, 23);

is the forgiven people of God, baptized into Christ, invited to his Table, shaped by Holy Scripture, and called daily to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit; and

is the sign and instrument of God's vision for the whole world in the coming of the Kingdom of God.  As such, the Church bears witness to God's glory, the potential of humanity fully alive in a restored creation where justice and peace reign.

We acknowledge

that Jesus Christ "loved the Church and gave himself up for her," and regardless of her limitations, the Church is central to the fulfillment of God's purposes in the world (Eph. 5: 25-33); and  

that the Church has had many concrete expressions, forms and structures throughout the ages and that it continues to manifest itself in diversity in local congregations, historic communions, denominations, fellowships, mission movements and structures.  Where these expressions impede mutual recognition between Christians and various churches, we hear a renewed call to commitment to the One who prayed "that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:21).

We encourage

reconciliation and cooperation among diverse Christian churches and organizations.  We emphasize what unites us, rather then what divides us.  When churches are present where we work, WV staff is expected to participate in and contribute to the ministry of their local church.

How we understand ourselves in relation to the Church

World Vision understands itself to be part of the one universal Church with a particular calling and ministry to serve the poor in the name of Christ.  World Vision can never be a substitute, competitor or replacement for the Church;

acknowledges its need for the Church and knows that it does not express all the marks of the Church nor fulfill all the functions of the Church.  Neither is World Vision self-sufficient or spiritually autonomous.  World Vision understands that it is called to serve and involve the Church in our shared mission with the poor; and

seeks to work with the diverse expressions of the Church in the contexts of our work.  Our work calls us to relate to local congregations in the communities where we serve.  We also seek positive relationships with other forms and levels of the Church, locally, nationally and globally. 

Recognizing that the Church, and WV as part of the Church, is a forgiven but not yet perfect people, we desire to relate to the Church with humility, openness, respect and with a servant spirit. 

In Summary

WV is an international Christian relief, development, advocacy and resource-raising organization within God's mission mandate for the Church.

WV is an expression of the Church in mission on behalf of the poor and oppressed.

WV shares the ministry mandate of the Church to work with people in poverty and bear witness to Jesus Christ.

WV and churches resource each other for mission.

WV is committed to work humbly with and in the service of the Church in all its expressions in order to contribute to the fulfillment of God's mission in the world. 

Statement of Faith

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.