MOJ Statement of Faith
• We believe that the old and new testaments are the inspired Word of God. In these testaments we find the complete revelation of God's will for the salvation of men and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

• We believe in one God, creator of all things, who is perfect and eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man and that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe he died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins and that He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is now at the right hand of the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

• We believe that man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore lost. Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained. The shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation.

• We believe that water baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the church in the present age, however, they are not to be regarded as means of salvation. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and He guides, instructs and empowers the believer for godly living and service. Every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and should be available to the Holy Spirit for the manifestation of His gifts.

• We believe that the nine gifts of the Spirit listed in I Corinthians 12: 8-10 are available today to all believers as the Spirit wills and that the ministry gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher (Ephesians 4: 10-13) are given by Christ to the church today for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.

• We believe that faith without works is dead (James 2: 17) and that faith should be expressed by service, not only to those in the church, but also to those outside the church, including unbelievers, and that the ultimate goal of every believer is to become as Jesus is (I John 4: 17) and to act this out in his or her everyday life.

MOJ Ministry Overview
From the time the Lord sovereignty sent Tom and Joan Beak to "Togoland" in 1984, the 'raison d'etre' of the Ministry has been church planting. However, as early as November, 1984, the Lord impressed upon them that He required them to minister to the whole person—physical, mental and spiritual.

At the first meeting, the Prefect of Tone (in the northern region) gave Tom and Joan an engineer, a social worker, a car and a chauffeur and asked them to tour the Savanne (grasslands) and tell him how they could help the people deal with the severe water shortage that plagued the area. It was on that inspection tour that the Beak's felt the Lord required them to help the people dig wells to meet the desperate need for drinking water.

In 1985 the Beak's started the well program along with the evangelism program with six community self-help project wells. The unexpected result was that within six months, in every village where they helped the people did a well, the chief asked them to come and evangelize his village. This started the close link between well digging and evangelism. By 1998 over one-hundred wells had been dug and in almost every case a church planted. It appears to be that the witness of Christians helping the villagers dig a desperately needed well drew them to seek Christianity for themselves.

Since 1984, over one-hundred churches have been planted in Togo, and twenty-six in Benin by MOJ. The social work of the Ministry has greatly helped to achieve this, and it is certain from historical experience that without the social arm of the work, this high rate of success would not have been achieved.

Between 1984 and 1991 the law of Togo required any new churches to be under the supervision of one of the seven churches registered and approved by the government. As MOJ was working in collaboration with the National Church of the Assemblies of God, the first fifty churches planted were placed either in Assemblies of God or the Pentecostal church.

In 1989, in collaboration with some Sunday School classes in America, MOJ started a program to pay the school fees for orphan children in the Savanne who otherwise would not be able to attend school. This program became very important to the schools as well as to the orphans.

In 1991 the national church registration law was changed and The Ministry of Jesus was able to register as a Togolese church under the name Ministere International de Jesus (MIJ). The late Jean Kodjo Djagniti was the operational head of MIJ in Togo, and had three zone directors as his assistants. These men were also trained at Abidjan and were each responsible for supervising churches in their zones. In addition to zone directors, there were several sector leaders in each zone supervising two to three churches.

It is the policy of The Ministry of Jesus to develop the national to be leaders in the churches. Training Centers have been constructed to accommodate leadership and ministry training.

In 1992, the people of Bobogou, where a church had recently been planted, asked MOJ to help start a school for first grade children because the government school was too far for first-graders to walk. A cooperative was set up, which would eventually take over responsibility for the school, and MOJ built them a building to serve as a school during the week and a church on Sunday.

In 1994, a primary health car ministry was set up to help the villagers improve the health of their families. The pagan practices, traditions and life style lead to unsanitary conditions. When people become Christians, they want to break away from these unsanitary conditions, but do not know how to do so.

The primary health care ministry sets up care committees in every village where MOJ has a church. Village women are trained to be leaders in their own villages. In this way it is possible to enhance the health of all of the people in the Christian villages. BACK TO TOP

In 1995, MOJ started work in northern Benin, based in the town of Tanguieta, with the work developing along similar lines to that which the Lord showed to be so effective in Togo.

In 1995, the African workers of MOJ formed a cooperative called West African Trading Cooperative (WATC) to sell used goods imported from the USA and Europe to make money to support the social work of the Ministry. MOJ collects used shoes, clothes, truck tires, and other surplus items in the USA and sends them to Togo to give to the WATC. Some of these items are given to very poor people, others are sold to those who can afford them a very low prices. The proceeds are used o support the social work of The Ministry of Jesus. Some of these goods are also used to help people in the villages start up their own microenterprises and to provide them with some much needed cash.

In 1997-1998 MOJ paid school fees for over 1,300 orphan children in the Savanne in thirty-five government and village schools.

By 1998 MOJ was actively engaged with villagers in more than forty cooperatives, all associated with a church, or a school, or both.

The cooperative program developed in other areas of activity and now includes:
1) Training villagers to set up and run a cooperative, including administration, accounting, etc.
2) Helping villagers develop a credit system so they can buy fertilizer and seeds without paying the high usury rates (30%-50%) charged by traders, and in some cases, the government.
3) Helping villagers develop a program for community granaries to store their harvest, and to avoid the problem of having to sell at low prices at harvest time and buy it back a higher prices a few months later.
4) Helping villagers improve their agricultural methods by demonstrating on cooperative plots improved agricultural methods, such as forestry, composting and water conservation.

The Vision Given to the Beaks for The Ministry of Jesus
(The following was written by founders, Tom and Joan Beak, May 25, 1990.)
Between 1982 and 1990, the vision of The Ministry of Jesus was given to the principals of the ministry by word of prophecy, visions, and direction.

The Lord has actively made known His wishes and plans for this work since its inception. In 1982 Tom and Joan Beak were told to sell their business and work full time for the Lord. At that time, He gave the name that the work should have—The Ministry of Jesus. The Beaks went ahead in obedience to this instruction, continuing their Bible studies at the same time.

The Lord has said that the business would take 14 months to sell, and so it came to pass, but in 1983, about two months before the sale was completed, Tom and Joan received a long prophecy telling them that once the business was sold they should set themselves aside for 12 continuous weeks during which time the Lord promised that He would teach, purify and prepare them for the work that lay ahead. He laid out a broad outline of the future of The Ministry of Jesus and said that He would teach them step-by-step, as a father teaches his son, and that they must depend entirely upon Him at every stage. He said that He would tell them what He wanted them to do at the end of that period of time.

In obedience to this directive, the Beaks went into seclusion from January to March of 1984 and spent their time in study, prayer and fasting while the Lord dealt with them and taught them many things. In the twelfth week, at the end of a directed twelve-day fast, He said, "Pray for the nations for your inheritance" and followed this a little later with one work, "Togoland". This seemed so strange to the Beaks that they asked for confirmation and the next day the Lord spoke again and said, "Dahomey is the next nation". At that time Tom and Joan were unaware that either Togoland or Dahomey existed as nations. At the library they learned that Togoland was a pre-First World War German colony which was later divided; part becoming a part of Ghana and the rest Togo. Dahomey is now know as the Republic of Benin which lies on the eastern border of Togo.

The Beaks were sure that they had heard from the Lord and so made preparations to take an exploratory trip to Togo. They tried in vain to find out something about Togo, but the Lord made it clear that He wanted to be their sole source of direction. They arrived in Togo in August, 1984, knowing no one there and nothing about the country expect that the people were French speakers.

During the early days of their stay in Togo, the Lord performed many miracles to help them settle in quickly and learn about the country. Joan was able to speak adequate French with only nine weeks instruction. They were led to he northern Savane region centered on Dapaong where there had not been a full-gospel missionary for fourteen years. It was made clear that they must help the people in their desperate need of water by digging wells, and to touch their spiritual needs with a film ministry.

They returned to the States after four months and went out to Dapaong again in April, 1985, when the ministry's work began in earnest. The program had four main thrusts:

1) Evangelizing, using Christian films in the villages as a tool;
2) Raising up local evangelists and teachers;
3) Helping the local pastors to strengthen the church, and
4) Helping the village people dig wells.

During the period from 1985 to 1987, many new churches were planted in formerly pagan villages; the existing churches grew and became stronger; many wells were dug and, in every case, a church was planted in the village as a result of the people seeing the love of Jesus in action. Several church buildings and pastor's houses were built. This was accomplished under the daily direction and teaching of the Holy Spirit.

In 1986, while attending a conference in Florida, the Lord gave Joan a vision which He confirmed to Tom. In the vision, Joan saw a very large tent lying flat on the ground. Gradually a gentle wind came and lifted this tent up so that it was fully erected and supported entirely by the wind. The tent was very large, covering several spacious fields. It was not held to the ground by cords, but by the weight of a border of heavy rag matting peculiar to the Seychelles where the Beaks had formerly lived. (The Beaks had been given just such a mat by the people of the Seychelles as a gesture of love.)

Inside the tent, the roof and walls were multicolored; dark brown and various lighter shades. Within the tent were numerous partitions with little pockets in which seedlings were growing. (In 1990, while visiting Epcot, the Beaks saw partitions with pockets of seedlings growing in them in the hydroponics exhibit—identical in every way to those in the vision.) In the vision, Joan saw many people of various nations working diligently. The enormity of the tent was a source of amazement to Joan. Interesting and fascinating as this vision was, Tom and Joan laid it aside. They had no desire for a big ministry.

In 1987, the Lord began to impress on the Beaks, directly and by prophecy, that He was changing the ministry. He intended to bring other workers into the field and to change their role to one of supervision, direction and raising support. He also showed in a dream to Tom that they were to continue "in the driver's seat" or the ministry would be destroyed.

John and Mary Elizabeth Kepley and Ted Topper visited the mission for six weeks in May and June, 1987. A station was started in Kara in 1987. Ted and Diane Topper joined the ministry and took over in Dapaong in 1988.

By 1990, about 40 new churches had be planted, 26 churches and 11 pastor's houses built, 30 wells dug and many thousands of people had accepted Jesus as Saviour.

During a visit to a very large and wonderful African church in Abidjan, under the direction of Pastor Robert Dion, the Beaks were convicted that they had never really accepted the vision that the Lord had given them about the tent. The witness of Pastor Dion, who himself had been given a detailed vision of an immense church in which the Lord showed him all the structural details and brought it to fruition, finally convicted Tom and Joan. They repented and prayerfully agreed to go forward actively to bring the vision of the tent into being.

The interpretation of the tent vision is that the tent is The Ministry of Jesus. It is entirely supported by the Holy Spirit and is held in place by love. It is a multinational ministry. The little pockets of seedlings represent many new churches being nurtured by people of many colors and nationalities. The emphasis of the vision is that it is the Lord's intention that the ministry will be enlarged, covering "many fields".

In practical terms, what this vision implies is the following:

The Ministry of Jesus is to be a multinational ministry, dependent upon the Holy Spirit for support and direction. It is to be help in place by love.

Although the prime purpose of the ministry is to extend the Kingdom of God to many nations, this is to be accomplished not only by preaching the gospel, but also by strong witness of the love of God through helping people meet their physical needs as well as their spiritual needs—ministry to the needs of the whole man.

In the ministry, great emphasis is placed on training nationals to gradually take over as much of the work as possible. It is anticipated that there will always be many more nationals working inthe ministry than there are 'foreign' missionaries, and that the primary functions of the foreign missionaries will be the establishment of new missions in untouched fields, as well as the training and support of nationals to take over these missions. Eventually the function of the foreign missionary will be to act as a bridge between nations and churches. These bridges will ultimately carry two-way traffic.

It is very important that anyone who feels called to work with The Ministry of Jesus should clearly understand the vision that the Lord has given the principals for this ministry and seek the Lord's direction in their own lives. While it is unlikely that the vision will match in every detail, it is essential that each be mutually compatible in order for the work of the Lord to be accomplished through The Ministry of Jesus.

A Note from the Beaks: We look to the future with expectation and excitement, knowing the Lord is faithful to do what He has promised. He will see that the people, the funds and the inspiration are provided to accomplish His will. We give Him all the credit and all the glory for what has been and will be done, and we thank Him for the high privilege of being His servants.