Vision
From the beginning of the calling to serve Jesus and serve people in Peru, a vision has progressively developed as we allow “…the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding” (Job 32:8) to work in the spirit of each of us, inspiring us to work out the plans and purposes that God, the Almighty, has for our lives, and for this location in the Andean Mountain range.
In other words: we wait and watch, to see what God brings about, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
The vision began in 1997 with Isaiah 58 and the hymn, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love”. So we expect that these themes are a good context into which we might formulate a Vision statement.
Love, unity, humility, are the three principle characteristics of a local Christian community that we will promote and hope to establish.
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 NKJV) (Yes, the Great Commission, “go make disciples”, that are learning to love.)
“…for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one; as You, Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:20-21 NKJV)
“…learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NKJV)
From the beginning, the Heritage of Jacob Peru Mission (HJPM) has given priority to helping children. Our motto has been rescuing children, transforming hearts. We did this through a certified care facility and by helping others that lived elsewhere. Also, HJPM has helped disabled elderly and people embedded in extreme poverty situations.
One aspect of allowing Jesus to transform hearts has always been understood by Isaiah 58:6. In a place where animistic spiritist idolatry has dominated for centuries, the liberation and healing mentioned in Isaiah 58:6 are perhaps the greatest need for people of all ages to know Jesus.
Now, as time progresses, we find our ministry will no longer be limited as it was in the past. A Christian educational facility is being developed with a kindergarten, grade school, high school, vocational/technical school, and ministerial institute. At last, beginning recently, our vision can now include a church community congregation on mission land, where we can pray, worship, and study/learn together.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
to loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke?
Isaiah 56:6
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?
when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him;
and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Isaiah 58:7
Isaiah 58:7 has always spoken to us with a vision to form a community of homes, a community of people operating in the bond of the Holy Spirit, in the grace of God that has been poured out since Pentecost resulting in a community of believers that were “of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32) sharing with, and caring for, one another.
Isaiah 58:8 continues to inspire us to watch and wait, pray for better understanding of, and expect to experience, what is written in 2 Peter 1:19.
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,
and thine health shall spring forth speedily:
and thy righteousness shall go before thee;
the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
Isaiah 58:8
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
2 Peter 1:19
Isaiah 58:9 has taught us the importance of not participating in accusing or condemning others. God, our God whose will is only love, is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). While the Father draws us in and waits patiently for each individual to decide to enter in to His Covenant of Grace, we also hope to reach out to those who do not yet know Jesus, overflowing to all with His mercy and grace.
Isaiah 58:10-11 gives us the hope of an ever increasing flow of the Holy Spirit, filling us to overflowing, that we might increasingly experience the wonders spoken of in Ezekiel 47:1-12 which Jesus referred to in John 7:38-39, passing along to others, and blessing others therewith.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer;
thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.
If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke,
the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isaiah 58:9-11
10 and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted soul;
then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
and thy darkness be as the noonday:
11 and the Lord shall guide thee continually,
and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones:
and thou shalt be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isaiah 58:12 continues to inspire us to allow Jesus to build a local body of Christ congregation (Zechariah 6:12-13), progressively becoming a community of believers that Jesus perfects, edifies, and unifies by knowing Him, His heart, in a profound and intimate way, ever moving toward the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13 NKJV). We believe that all of the God-given graces listed in Ephesians 4:11 have, over time, continually been given to those that Jesus calls, prepares, anoints, and commissions, to minister in those graces, and so our vision hopefully expects those graces to be manifest as we continue to allow Jesus to minister through us.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places:
thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;
and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isaiah 58:12
Isaiah 58:13 has, from the earliest of years of this calling, spoken to us of the need to “rest” from, cease from, our own willing and doing, continually, a way of being, as the “rest” that gives freedom, the inner peace and joy, the humility and reverence, by which the grace of God can accomplish the vision God has given us, through us. Doing only what we see our Father doing brings us into the “rest that remains” to be found, entered into, and experienced, here and now, as it is described in Hebrews 4:9, 10. So, as mentioned above, we continue to wait and watch to see what God will do, and yield our will to Him, that His will might be ours.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight,
the holy of the LORD, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isaiah 58:13
And finally, although we have a small understanding of all that might be promised in “…the heritage of Jacob…”, (Isaiah 58:14), we are certain that it will indeed be a delight to experience, and since Jesus gave us the name “Heritage of Jacob Peru Mission”, so we include this in our vision statement. The vision is to be fed with it, as promised.
then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 58:14
Since Isaiah 58 is a fast that is a way of being, we vision a lifestyle that will help children to grow up with an identity based on what the Bible tells us we all are; a lifestyle we, of all ages, choose to live simply because we know and understand our true identity as human beings. Psalm 82:3-4 has long inspired us to be a “father to the fatherless”, and to act on behalf of those who who need help. And the whole Psalm 82, as we study the Hebrew original words, inspires us to know and understand our true identity as humans, and to help others to know and understand their true identity as a one-of-a-kind individual that God created, and whose heart God has formed, to be a part of a greatly numbered host of His children, to love in an eternal Paradise.
For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him who has a contrite and humble spirit
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones”.
Isaiah 57:15 NKJV