Mission TRIPLECORD Ministries is a protestant evangelical non-denominational faith mission whose purpose is to bring faith, hope and love to the ethnically diverse peoples of the Balkans and beyond. The biblical virtues of faith, hope and love characterize the overall mission focus of TRIPLECORD Ministries (TCM). They guide our direction and focus in ministry, our vision, our goals and our guiding principles. Although we realize that all three virtues are indispensable for every true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, we accept, and indeed strive to put into word and action the admonition of the apostle Paul who said, “...but the greatest of these is love”. 1 Corinthians 13:13b Here’s a quick look at these distinct virtues -- the three woven strands that comprise our triple-braided cord: • Encouraging Faith “ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 Daily walking in the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ and encouraging others to do the same. It is not only by faith that we receive God’s forgiveness but it is also by faith that we learn to walk in obedience to His Word. We have become the righteousness of God in Christ but must choose to walk in righteousness daily--dying to self and living for God. This is accomplished by faith and total dependence on God. By earnestly seeking Him who supplies seed to the sower, He (God) will supply and multiply the seed we have sown and enlarge our harvest of righteousness. The result...blessing! And what should be our response? Through faith, to encourage others to do the same and experience His blessings personally. (2 Cor. 5:20; 2 Cor. 9:10) • Offering Hope “ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 Appropriating the hope to which we have been called and offering others the same. God is good. Consequently, His plans for our lives supersede any plan we could conjure up for ourselves. Only He can offer hope and a future beyond our wildest dreams. He offers us abundant life here as aliens on this terrestrial globe and promises us an inheritance with Him forever in heaven. Our response then is to offer this living hope to others so they, too can experience God’s plan for their lives personally. (Psa. 145:7; 2 Pet 1:3; John 10:10b; 1 Cor 2:9; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet 1:3, 4) • Sharing Love " For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Loving our neighbors and sharing God’s love so others can do the same. God is love. He loves us with an everlasting love and has drawn us with loving-kindness. He demonstrated His love for us while we were still sinners by sending His only begotten Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ was the manifestation of the Father’s love to a lost and needy world. It is only through His life that we can know what true love is and how to love others. As He loved us, He commanded us to love one another. Our only response can be to demonstrate and share His love to a hurting world so they can experience the love He offers to each individual personally. (Jer. 31:3; Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:8, 10; John 15:12; 1 Th 4:9) Return To Top
Vision To reach the unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ and teach them to obey everything the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us. Before we can teach Christ’s commands, we must first reach those who need the teaching. Who are they? The ones Christ came to seek and to save...those who have never heard the name of Jesus or have never had an opportunity to sincerely respond to His offer of salvation. We choose to go where the indigenous church is unable to effectively reach the lost without assistance from the body of Christ abroad. Reaching the lost means many things. It means working alongside national believers and churches. It means forging out on one’s own to make contacts, establish friendships, build relationships and lovingly reach out to them. It means doing whatever is necessary --in conformity to His character and subject to His leading-- to fulfill the Great Commission. Teaching is imparting Christ’s commands and instilling the Word of God into receptive hearts and minds. That’s what Jesus did. If we look at the words of Jesus and the life He lived, He not only told us what to teach but taught us how to teach and lived a life that complimented His teachings. In other words, He practiced what He preached. He brought enlightenment, knowledge, understanding and life-style application to His disciples and He commanded us to do the same. Christ did not call us to make converts, He called us to make disciples. One cannot be a true follower of Jesus without first of all being enlightened, knowing, understanding and applying His commands in his / her daily life. “ ...teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” is Christ’s mandate to us, His disciples. (Mt. 28:20) This embodies the content of our teaching and demands a life-style to match. Teaching, then, may include a variety of ministry avenues as well: Church planting, Bible studies, childrens’ programs, youth programs, education, visiting, special interest seminars, etc. But the key point is simply this: You cannot teach people before you reach people. “Teaching Today’s Church and Reaching Tomorrow’s through FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE.”
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Goals 1. To plant and partner with indigenous New Testament churches and international missions organizations. 2. To facilitate and participate in the teaching and training of national church leaders. This includes the continuing development of Path of Life Bible Application Series and TRIPLECORD International Schools of English. 3. To establish American academic Christian high schools in developing countries where biblically integrated instruction is offered in English and Christ-centered life-styles are modeled. 4. To share the love of God in practical ways by meeting the felt needs of hurting people in the name of Jesus. This is the outworking of any true disciple of Jesus Christ. For without a demonstration of His love in meeting real and felt needs of the widow, the fatherless, the poor and the oppressed, the message of the gospel will fall on deaf ears. This truly is putting our faith into action. As John stated in 1 John 3:18, “...let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 5. To develop and cultivate strategic partnerships and productive networking relationships within the international evangelical Christian community. Simply stated, this is an essential part of any ministry and ours is no exception--incorporating other believers, churches and organizations in the body of Christ worldwide to participate and assist in the ministry of missions. This is the heart of God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) It will take the total, combined, cooperative effort of the Church of Jesus Christ to fulfill the great commission. No one denomination, mission organization, church or para-church ministry will accomplish this mandate alone. Consequently, TCM works in cooperation with other like-minded believers in Jesus Christ to “make disciples of all nations”. (Mt. 28:19) Return To Top
Guiding Principles of Ministry 1. Governed by the field
TRIPLECORD Ministries is not governed by a USA-based home office. Although our home office is stateside, the governing of the mission’s ministry is relegated to the oversite of the field director. The field director is responsible for the on-location work as long as it operates in accordance with the policies of the mission and established parameters as approved by the Board of Directors. We believe that those directly involved in the ministry are the ones best prepared to make decisions relative to the ministry. Those serving on-location work as a team with the ultimate decision resting with the field director. 2. Oriented by grace
The old adage, “To err is human, to forgive is divine” has some merit in our day to day mission’s work. We all know that dying daily to self, to sin, to the flesh and to the old nature is paramount for successful Christ-centered living. Instead of centering on ourselves, we choose to center on Him and allow the Holy Spirit and the indwelling Christ to live through us. We choose, by God’s grace, to live in the Tree of Life--To not take offense; To not be easily angered; To turn the other cheek; To give and require nothing in return; To keep our pledge even when it hurts; To return good for evil; To forgive from the heart.... As imperfect beings, we need to understand that extending grace to others is nothing more that doing what Christ did for each one of us. “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom. 5:20) (1 Cor. 13:5) 3. Led by the Spirit
Those who are “led by the Spirit are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14) and as such “we live by the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit”. (Gal. 5:25) To do otherwise is to deny our absolute dependance upon God. The result is self-reliance versus God-reliance and serves only to hinder the advancement of God’s Kingdom--the rule and reign of God in our lives and the lives of others. Missionaries with TCM must serve with a commitment to rely daily upon the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Missions is not a game we play nor is it some challenging adventure for our own fleshly nature. It is the role of fulfilling the very heart of God for each man, woman, boy and girl. (2 Pet 3:9) 4. Cooperating cross-denominationally
We’ve already referred to this guiding principle under “Goals”, #5. For the sake of the gospel, we choose to cooperate and participate with other like-minded believers in Jesus Christ. Naturally, we will plant churches and make disciples based on our interpretation and understanding of the Holy Scriptures, but that should never exclude us from working alongside our true brothers and sisters in Christ for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Our theological differences are generally few and most times petty in relationship to the need to see the lost saved and mature in Christ. Return To Top
History Gary and Kathy Opfer, founders and co-directors of TRIPLECORD Ministries began serving in overseas missions in 1987. After serving in many European countries (both East and West) and Russia in Christian school education and music evangelism, TripleCord Ministries was founded in September, 1994 and registered as a 501(c)(3) religious, nonprofit charitable organization in the United States of America. The ministry of TCM in the Balkans began in 1993 in the country of Croatia. As we ministered in the wake of the war in former Yugoslavia, we soon found ourselves following the path of the war from Croatia to Bosnia & Herzegovina to Albania to Kosovo. Currently TCM serves a global audience--primarily in developing countries. Since the inception of TCM, we have cooperated and / or partnered with the following organizations or ministries: - ARK (Kosovo)
- Agape (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
- Baptist Missionary Society (England)
- Baptist Foundation of Tirana (Albania)
- The Bible League (Albania)
- Black Forest Academy (Germany)
- Black Forest Christian Fellowship (Germany)
- Camp Cinta (Croatia)
- Campus Crusade for Christ (Albania, Croatia)
- Canadian Baptist Ministries
- Canadian Food Grains Bank
- Child & World Foundation (Holland)
- Christian Reformed World Relief Commission (Canada)
- Cooperative Baptists (USA)
- CordAid (England)
- De Brug (Holland)
- Dorcas Aid International (Holland)
- Every Home for Christ (Croatia)
- Federation of Italian Protestant Churches (Italy)
- Frontiers (USA)
- Global Pastors’ Network (USA)
- International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (USA)
- Kosovo Bible Society
- McCall’s Magazine USA)
- My Neighbor (Croatia)
- Rotary Club (United Kingdom, USA)
- Rumanian Hilfe (Germany)
- RUTH (Kosovo)
- The Salvation Army (England)
- Samaritan’s Dienst (Germany)
- Samaritan’s Purse (USA)
- Service International (USA)
- Smile International (England)
- Spiritual Restoration Ministries (USA)
- Timotheus Haus (Holland)
- United Nations High Commission for Refugees
- United Nations World Food Programme
- Vineyard (South Africa & United Kingdom)
- World Prayer Center/World Prayer Team (USA)
- Youth With A Mission (Switzerland)
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Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the fully inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God; the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of man and the divine final authority for all Christian faith and life.
We believe there is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and 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 to power and glory.
We believe that man was created in the image of God; that through Adam's sin all people inherit a sinful nature and are in themselves totally depraved and unable to remedy their lost condition.
We believe that salvation is the gift of God, purchased by Christ's death on the cross and received through personal repentance and faith.
We believe that the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ; convicts of sin; regenerates and indwells each believer; baptizes into the body of Christ; desires to fill every believer; seals each believer unto the day of redemption; empowers for service, and imparts spiritual gifts to each believer as He wills for the edification of the church.
We believe that the church is a company of all true believers in Jesus Christ; that the church is God's instrument in this present age for preaching the good news of salvation by faith in Christ.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of believers unto eternal life and of unbelievers unto everlasting punishment.
We believe that Jesus Christ appeared to destroy Satan and his work and that He gave the church authority and divine power to demolish strongholds, cast out demons and overcome Satan's evil schemes.
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