The River of God People
The River of God board and ministry members are volunteers that work to support the efforts of resident missionaries. We are brothers and sisters in Christ from several different churches in Indiana and Kentucky. Our primary focus has been to serve multi-generational missionaries in Costa Rica, who work everyday to improve the lives of indigenous people and to share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ through their words and actions.
“Translation and printing the Bible in the indigenous languages is important to all of the ministry work. Without the word of God available in their native tongue, the barriers to witnessing and creating disciples are great.”
– Blane (current River of God, President)
Our History
Before the River of God organization was created, we were all members of the same church in Indiana, and frequently traveled to Costa Rica to work on building projects, medical trips, and witnessing in the mountains. Most of us have been to Costa Rica many times, and even though some have moved or joined different local churches, we remain united in serving together in the ministry.
Vision
The mission and vision of the River of God organization is the same as the ministry of the Apostle Paul as he explains in Colossians 1:24-29.
- To endure all things for the sake of the Church
- To make the word of God fully known
- To warn and teach everyone
- To present everyone mature in Christ
What We Believe
(Statement of Doctrine)
The River of God ministry is a group of Christian believers who welcome all to join us in worship through service of the one true God.
We seek to practice our faith in a simple way that honors this God who is eternal, personal and three-in-one. There is only one eternal, almighty and perfect God. Within the Being of this one true God exist three eternally distinct and coequal Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons are the one true God.
We believe there is one Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to earth from heaven to give us an example for meaningful living, rescue us from self-destruction through his death for our sins and give us eternal hope through his resurrection from the dead. We believe acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord over our lives is the only way to reach the God who lives forever in heaven.
We believe this great God is a gracious God whose desire is to restore the personal relationship that He originally intended for man to have with Him. We believe God has freely opened this path to each of us without an expectation that man must earn his way into God’s presence. We believe man and woman were made uniquely and equally in the image of God to live in peace with God and His creation. However, we believe man and woman failed their responsibilities by refusing to believe God’s blessing and His warning, thus making it necessary for Jesus Christ to become the sacrifice by which the price was paid to remove earthly and eternal consequences of man’s failure and the accompanying evil that goes with it. He who is true God became true man, uniting two natures in one person forever. Christ lived a perfect, sinless life, died on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, rose bodily from the dead, and ascended into Heaven where He now serves as our High Priest, our only Mediator.
We believe in a real God, a real Devil and the eternal reality that our souls survive life on this earth to enjoy either life in heaven with God or life in desolation away from God, depending on our choice regarding God during life on earth. We believe this choice is the driving force behind the lifestyle and actions we choose to practice while living on the earth. Jesus’ death on the cross provided as a substitution atonement for the sins of humanity. In salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by His unmerited grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone.
We believe the Bible, comprised of Old and New Testaments, to be the true Word of God, providing us with an understanding of God’s character and how He has demonstrated that character in the history of mankind. We believe the Bible has proven itself over 3,000 years to be the most consistent foundation for moral instruction and practice. The Holy Scriptures are fully and verbally inspired by God and are therefore infallible in the original writings and completely trustworthy in all areas in which they speak.
We believe the church is to see itself as one church with one Head who is Jesus Christ, gathered and united around a common faith as taught in the Bible. We believe the people of the church are not perfect, but still called to serve in a pattern first modeled by Jesus Christ in his own ministry of teaching and service.
Mission Partners
We work with several mission families and individuals. They are members of the same family and represent second and third generation workers in the mission field.