Frontiers (Mission)
Frontiers is an international Christian - evangelical mission company that has specialized in development aid in Islamic states in which there are not yet any independent Christian communities . Frontiers is committed to partnerships with other plants in holistic development cooperation. The word Frontiers comes from English and means borders. The organization wants to overcome this and serve Muslims "in the love of Jesus".
The work is financed exclusively through donations. According to the company, around 1000 Frontiers employees currently work in the countries of assignment. Frontiers has offices in German-speaking countries in Germany, Switzerland ( Rorschacherberg ) and Austria.
History and way of working
The association was founded in 1983 by the American Greg Livingstone and was headed for many years. He presents the special way of working and the approach of Frontiers in detail in his book Planting Churches in the Islamic World , published in 1993 .
The central method of Frontiers is teamwork . According to Frontiers, this reflects the experience that lone fighters have little chance of success in a difficult environment. A team usually consists of six to twelve employees and is led by a team leader who is responsible for the team's work. The team leaders form the top management body of Frontiers and should thus ensure practical relevance for all important decisions.
The aim is also to found communities and lead them into independence so that they can then be multipliers in their respective surroundings. He emphasizes the contextualization, i.e. the consideration of the local tradition and culture. This is inspired by the apostle Paul, who according to the Bible (1 Corinthians 9:20) was a Jew to the Jews and a Greek to the Greeks .
Partnership and collaboration
Teamwork is also important for Frontiers at the level of churches, congregations and other organizations. That is why Frontiers basically offers partnership and cooperation. In Germany z. B. gained employees from various Protestant regional churches as well as numerous free churches and independent communities.
According to its own information, Frontiers is active in almost all countries with an Islamic population. When working with other missions, Operation Mobilization and Wycliff are mentioned, among others . Membership in Germany is the German and Swiss Evangelical Alliance (DEA / SEA), the Working Group Evangelical Missions (AEM) and the Working Group Pentecostal Charismatic Missions (APCM).
literature
- Ben Naja and Mussa Sy, "And you should be a blessing! A practical book for dealing with people from other cultures", Verlag für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft, ISBN 978-3-933372-04-8
- Greg Livingstone, Church Planting in the Islamic World - Dynamics of Teamwork , German translation 1996, Brunnen Verlag Basel, ISBN 3-7655-1101-3