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RZIM Europe and the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. What do we do?. Our mission is to ‘ help the thinker believe and the believer think ’
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What do we do? Our mission is to ‘help the thinker believe and the believer think’ • We therefore seek to share the credibility and beauty of the Gospel, believing that there are coherent and relevant answers to the intellectual objections and heartfelt concerns that people have. • We also seek to come alongside the church to equip Christians to share and defend their faith.
How do we help the thinker believe? • By engaging people’s hearts and minds through the questions that they have. • We speak in a variety of settings and countries around the world, whether in the business arena, in halls of government or universities. • We work in partnership with other organisations at their invitation.
How do we help the believer think? • In a number of ways, including through training days, weekends and our week-long Oxford Summer School. For full details, see www.rzim.eu • More in-depth training is offered through the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) where we run a six-week business programme, a one-year Certificate course and a two-year Master’s programme. For full details, see www.theocca.org
Who are the team? The team charged with fulfilling the mission comprises some of the leading Christian thinkers of our time, including (from left) Ravi Zacharias, Michael Ramsden, Amy Orr-Ewing, Alister McGrath, John Lennox and Os Guinness.
What is the annual budget? For RZIM Europe (excluding the OCCA): Current annual budget £1.1 million
What are the OCCA costs? Current annual budget: £900,000
How are we funded? • We are seeking to significantly increase our support base in the UK so that: • our current ministry can continue at a sustainable rate, and • overseas funding can be used for evangelism and apologetics training in other regions of the world.
Growth and key plans • The stretch for 2012-13 is to increase the budget from £2 million to circa £2.3 million – a 15% growth plan. • Additional income will, among other things: - fund new evangelist-apologists on the team; - help the expansion of existing projects, including our work with the media and developing our Associates programme; - enable the OCCA to equip the very best emerging evangelists, regardless of their ability to pay.
How can you help? • By praying for our team and the OCCA students. • By supporting financially. Email david.lloyd@rzim.euvisit www.rzim.eu/supporting-us or call David on (07595) 023035. • RZIM Europe is the working name of the RZIM Zacharias Trust, a UK registered charity (number 1067314), based at 76 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6JT (pictured right).
Final word on being apologetic • The need for Christian apologetics - which simply means giving a reason for our hope (see 1 Peter 3:15) - is as great today as it always has been. Christianity grew in a rigorously pluralistic culture where its truth claims had to be defended in the public sphere, and we continue to do this today. • With the rise of ‘new atheism’ and other worldviews, we want to equip business leaders, lawyers, politicians, academics and others who can exercise a marketplace ministry among their peers, so that they too can ‘help the thinker believe and the believer think’.