About us

Introduction

In what way can we enrich and give greater depth to the preaching of the gospel in Africa and parts of Asia? This is a pressing problem of our time. Daily, thousands of people in Africa and Asia convert to the Christian faith and join churches where the preaching is sincere, but often not sound of doctrine nor rich in content. The reality is that by far most of the preaching is done by lay preachers. And even if the preaching is being done by a trained minister, he almost always has to prepare his sermons without access to any good preaching material.

At the moment we are trying to address this problem by means of a few projects, and through the grace of God it seems as if we will be able to make a difference. But there are still tremendous opportunities for us! And by opportunities we do not mean ideas that have been dreamt up, but concrete requests of help out of Africa and Asia. For us to be able to really respond to all these requests the Lord is laying on our doorstep, we really need your prayers, and if possible, also financial aid. We hope that you will prayerfully consider helping us!

Background

The traditional form of theological education in most of the West is to enrol students in a seminary for four to seven years. For most aspiring students in Africa and parts of Asia this is too expensive, and no currently unqualified minister can leave his congregation for so long. In the meantime, in some countries there are very few qualified ministers!

On the other hand, the Internet has become increasingly available to the average African (minister). Our projects aim to reach all ministers who want to study the Word of God, but do not have the resources to do so. We believe that, by the grace of God, a studying minister will become a qualified minister!

Having launched projects that help ministers, in the meantime we are also making material available to all Christians who wish to deepen their faith and broaden their obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.

All projects are run from Pretoria, South Africa. We have a good infrastructure at the moment, but God willing we intend to enlarge our buildings and improve our infrastructure very soon. We need to expand to be able to cope with all the requests we are receiving! The idea is to have a physical Study Centre to enhance study and to collect all important literature for the study of God’s Word. The physical buildings are being used as a base and impetus for all our Internet projects.

“We have so much wealth”

This credo brought us together as directors of the Reformational Study Centre: we have so much wealth! We have a tremendously rich heritage of what it means to live and work with God. But what are we doing to spread and share this wealth of ours?

This is something that has also touched the hearts of other people who have become involved in the project. It is not only a question of whether we with our rich heritage are committed enough to missionary work and evangelism, but if we really have the zeal and are prepared to make sacrifices to spread this tremendous wealth that has been given to us - for free!

Since starting this service, we have come to realize more and more how big the need really is. After starting with only a few people, we now have a dedicated group of people working on the project. In the case of those who are not fulltime employees (and responsible for the livelihood of their families), the work is being done without any form of compensation. In fact, most of the time it costs our volunteers something to do the work! We thank the Lord for the great sacrifices and zeal that He is working in the people around us.

“Buy the truth, but do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23). Every day we are experiencing this truth and command from our Lord in the work that we do. The truth is costing us something, but we want to give it away for free. What a wonderful privilege!

We hope you will share in this privilege with us and “buy” into this work. In this way we will be able to give it away in the same way we received it ourselves: free grace!

Vision and mission

In full dependence on the blessing of our Lord, it is our vision to collect, translate and preserve all Scripturally sound publications in order that everybody may have access to a full library of resources through the Internet. We specifically focus on:

1. all the ministers in Africa and Asia that are in need of resources and study help, in order to improve and deepen the study of God’s Word and the ministry on these continents;
2. theological and educational institutions in third-world situations, to enable students to make a full study of all theological and educational subjects in all their detail;
3. any primary school and teacher in Africa where there is a need for Christian education or Christian schoolbooks;
4. all Christians who wish to study the Word of God in greater depth, but do not have the opportunity and resources to do so.

In other words, “to teach them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus Christ has commanded us” (Matt 28:19b).

Our calling (mission) is to distribute resources containing the pure and uncompromised gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We want to eagerly use all the opportunities that our Lord gives us to further the study and understanding of his Word in all churches, institutions and schools. We want to work in full dependence on Christ, each one of us personally committed to follow Him in his work in church and kingdom, regardless of the sacrifices He asks of us. We take all costs on ourselves so that there is no hindrance in the spreading of the gospel and in the obedience and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Experience

After a year of preparation, we started an Internet service in July 2008 through which we provide ministers in Africa and Asia (“those who want to study the Word of God but do not have the opportunity to do so”) with preaching material. At the moment we already have more than 15 200 ministers (all from Africa and Asia) making use of this service, from more than 70 different countries, and from various denominations.

Although we live in a third-world country, we still had a lot to learn about the situation in Africa and Asia on how users function, also with regards to computers and the Internet. We have also gained a lot of experience with regard to the best way to make material available to the users, how to work with educational institutes, at which educational level the users in Africa and Asia function etc.

It is with this in mind that we decided to “build” a Christian Library (through the Internet), specifically for a third-world situation. Although some of the material is “public” and available to everybody, there are specific services for these people only. We have e-mail contact with thousands of Christians in these countries to encourage them to study and to offer our assistance.

Every time more opportunities have become available, we have tried to start new services in the faith that the Lord will also provide the manpower and finances to help us continue the work. We can only look back in amazement at how the Lord has provided. And now that we need to expand — the Lord knows this! — our trust remains in Him!