So what is "Passage to Purpose" all about?

Trying to explain what Passage to Purpose is all about in a couple of paragraphs is quite a challenge. I must admit that if I had to do this at different times over the past year I would probably have formulated it differently every time. But at this point in time I would say that it is about discovering the two programs that God has been running with since the beginning of time (the Redemptive Program and the Kingdom Program) and how he longs for every person on earth to be a part of both programs.

Most Christians and churchgoers are fairly familiar with the Redemptive Program. Some of the prominent Scriptures that point to the redemptive program are John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” and also Eph 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Churches in general are very good at running with the Redemptive Program . . . If we take a close look at the two verses above you'll notice the words “faith” and “believes”. The question is have faith in what . . .? In Jesus of course! But what about Jesus? Everything about Jesus . . . ! This is exactly where the problem comes in . . . .

So why is this a problem? Because during the three years that Jesus ministered on earth his teaching was often radical when we consider it from our frame of reference. No wonder that the church of the time desperately wanted to get rid of Him. Because you see there is also the Kingdom Program whereby God is as committed to establish His kingdom, than what He is to save mankind. You see Jesus also said (Mat 10:37-39): “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

So in summary I would say that “Passage to Purpose” is about discovering that God also has a Kingdom Program and that He longs for every believer to play his (or her) part in that. To establish His kingdom and glorify Him, is ultimately why He created you and me. Once you have discovered this, "Passage to Purpose" is about making our roll in Gods Kingdom Program a reality during the time that we have on earth.

So when and how did it all start?

For all practical purposes the journey that we are on at the moment started round about August 2010, almost exactly a year ago. It started with us attending a "Starting Point" presentation presented by Kingdom Encounters. A bit more about that later (or click on this link if you really can't wait). But before I go there I would like to briefly explain why we attended the presentation. Over the period 2006-2009 I had a growing sense of dis-contempt inside of me. That despite the fact that I have been relatively successful according to the norms of the world. I was pretty sure that the level of accomplishment in the world was not the reason behind my dissatisfaction and lack off fulfillment. I was satisfied with what I have achieved from a career perspective. 

On the spiritual front as a Christian I've also been very much engaged all the time and has constantly been at least part of a home cell group and about half of the time leading the group. Then there has also been the normal church camps and courses like discipleship EEIII, etc. Round about 2006, I read a book titled "Half Time" which helped me understand why I did not really felt fulfilled. The title of the book refer to the half time that you would typically have during most team sport events. Half time is an opportunity to take a time out and reflect on what you have accomplished the first half and to make some decisions on how you plan to approach the second half to ensure that you will end up on top by the time the final whistle blows. I realized that from a career perspective I've more or less reached the half time mark and that it was probably a good idea to take some time to contemplate what I wanted to achieve during the "second half". 

The main theme of the book was "moving from success to significance" and after reading the book I was pretty much sold on the idea that moving to significance will bring true fulfillment. The question was how should I go about to become significant and experience true fulfillment? I believe that there is only one answer to this question and that is that you need to find your purpose in life. The very purpose God had in mind when He created us in so much detail. When we discover that purpose and start to live it, we will be fulfilled. So in August 2010 we attended "Starting Point", an introduction to a series of seminars collectively titled "Passage to Purpose" . . .