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Mission and Values

The Need

3.14 billion people are "unreached" by the gospel

65% of the world live in religiously restricted areas

1.45 billion people in the world live in poverty

Our God told us to go. To bring tangible care and hope — across borders, over boundaries, through cultures — for the love of the world.

History

Since 2009, GoCorps has been placing 20-somethings globally for two years of impactful gospel service. Many of these young people didn’t previously see themselves as part of the missionary landscape—until GoCorps helped them put their degrees and passions to strategic use. Now recent graduates are rising to the opportunity of investing two years of their career in ways that change their own lives and the lives of those not yet reached with the gospel. And the Church is helping mobilize a new kind of missionary.

A New Kind of Missionary

"We believe the world needs a new kind of missionary—and 20-somethings are uniquely positioned to fill the gap. So we remove barriers for recent college graduates to serve globally for two years using their passions and degrees by connecting 20-somethings with strategic long-term projects and mobilizing others to support them in their efforts."

-Paul Van Der Werf, GoCorps Founder and Executive Director

Statement of Faith

We are a network of Christian ministries, each existing for the purpose of loving, and living for, Jesus Christ.  Our biblical worldview impacts the way we serve the people of the world around us.  This is what we believe...

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the absolute deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in His virgin birth, His sinless life, the authenticity of His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His present mediatory work in heaven.

We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit. We believe He gives life, He sanctifies, He empowers and comforts all believers.

We believe that humanity was originally created sinless. Tempted by Satan, humanity fell and thereby brought the whole race under the condemnation of eternal separation from God.

We believe that humanity is saved through repentance and faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Justification is through grace alone.

We believe that the Church is the body of Jesus Christ composed of all true believers. The present work of the Church is the worship of God, the perfecting of the saints, and the evangelization of the world.

We believe in the personal and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to consummate our salvation and establish His glorious Kingdom.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that Christ commanded the church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, baptizing and teaching those who believe, and that the natural outcome of such activity leads to the establishment of local congregations.

Values and Beliefs

A person’s global zip code is the single biggest determining factor whether they will ever actually have a chance to know the good news of Jesus Christ.

Missions in the next 30 years is going to look a lot different from the last 100 years. The people with the greatest need and least access to the gospel live in places where it’s impossible to get a missionary visa. Today, Christians with marketplace skill sets have the most opportunity to make a difference.

In general, the impact of short-term missions is short term and one-sided, and it doesn’t touch the hardest to reach. In most cases, a short-term trip isn’t enough to instill a change in worldview and habits. Our culture is simply too strong and pervasive.

Investing two years is long enough to learn a language, develop relationships, and contribute in a meaningful way to longer term projects. Yet, it’s short enough where almost anyone can serve for that length of time no matter their long-term career plans.

Recent college grads are the most available and most equipped to make impact globally. Yet most collegiate ministries invest less than one percent of their time and resources in helping students transition well from the campus to living missionally in the first few years of their career. For seniors who are entering these first uncharted years of their life, they are largely left to figure it out on their own.

Comfort is the American church's blindspot as we have subtly conformed to our culture’s value of comfort and security to the extent that the choices and decisions of how to invest our lives often eliminates following Christ’s example of incarnational ministry among those with the greatest need.

Church planting without meeting felt physical and social needs is usually ineffective. Christian service without the gospel lacks power and is immensely short-sighted in light of eternity.

We put the calling and will of God first, and trust God for his provision as we obey and follow him in faith wherever he leads.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

In 2020, GoCorps began an intentional journey of introspection, learning, and listening in order to grow in equity, diversity and inclusion in the work that God has called us to do.  GoCorps is a mobilization and placement organization with a vision to see a new movement of Goers who dedicate two years of their lives to live and serve cross-culturally, joining God’s global work of reconciliation, peace, mission and life to the full.

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