PURPOSE STATEMENT & PHILOSOPHY
OTAN exists to train and resource persecuted pastors in closed or restricted-access countries primarily in Asia to reach their own people for the Lord.
II Corinthians 10: 15-16: “Not boasting of things without our measure, that is of other men’s labors: but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the Gospel in the regions beyond, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.”
We believe that OTAN was raised up by God for His use, and in this belief only will the needs of OTAN be met.
We can in no way exceed the authority of the local church. We are helping agents, available for use by the local church.
THE VALUES THAT WE FOCUS ON
- Transformative biblical training
- Multiplying churches
- Sacrificial generosity
- Relationally driven
- Encouraging the persecuted
DOCTRINAL POSITION
God is the Creator of heaven and earth and of all living creatures on earth and in heaven. (Genesis 1:1-31, Exodus 20:11; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 11:3)
God has revealed Himself in the Trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – three persons but one almighty and all righteous God. (Matthew 28:19, Acts 5:3-4, Hebrews 1:8)
Jesus Christ is God, was born of a virgin, died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, rose bodily, ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will bodily return again to judge the world and set up the Kingdom of God forever. (John 1:1, John 1:14, Luke 1:35, Isaiah 7:14, Galatians 4:4, Matthew 28:1-7, Acts 1:8-11, I Corinthians 15:1-9, Hebrews 4:14-16, John 14:1-3, Hebrews 9:28)
Salvation and eternal life were provided by our Lord’s shed blood on the cross and His substitutionary death, and salvation is free to all who accept Him as Lord and Savior of their lives through grace alone. (Isaiah 53:4-11, II Corinthians 5:14-21, I John 2:1-2, I Timothy 4:10, John 3:5-8, Romans 5:9,
Ephesians 1:7)
The Holy Spirit, as the agent of the new birth, seals, indwells, and baptizes each believer into the Body of Christ at the moment of conversion. The Holy Spirit fills, empowers, and gives gifts to all believers. However, the sign gifts of the Apostolic Age are no longer necessary or operative. (John 3:5, John 16:8-13, Ephesians 1:13, Romans 8:9, I Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:11-12, Ephesians 5:18, Romans 12:6-8, Hebrews 2:3-4, I Corinthians 13:8-13)
Man was created in the image of God but thereafter sinned, bringing upon him and generations to follow not only physical death but also spiritual death, and separation from God. All humans are born with a sinful nature and are sinners incapable of the remedy for sin. (Genesis 1:26-27, 3:1-6, Romans 5:12, 19; 3:10-13, Titus 1:15-16, Ephesians 2:1-3, 12)
Sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed between a man and a woman within the love and bonds of marriage. Therefore, we believe that any other form of sexual intimacy is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift. (Genesis 2:24-25, Proverbs 5:18, 1 Corinthians 7:1, Thessalonians 4:3-5, Hebrews 13:4, Leviticus 18:1-30, Proverbs 6:32, 1 Corinthians 6:18, Romans 1:26-27)
We believe in the eternal security of the believer. A born again Christian can never lose his salvation. (John 6:39-40, John 10:28-29, Romans 8:35-39, Jude 1, I Peter 1:5)
The Bible consisting of the Old and New Testaments was verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as originally given and is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God. (II Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:19-21)
The Church consists only of those who are born again and are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at the time of regeneration. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head, Builder, Owner, and Nourisher of the Church, and guarantees that “even the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” (Ephesians 1:22-23, I Corinthians 12:13)
In its local expression, the Church is established for worship, edification of the believer, fellowshipping, witnessing to the world, and making disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the primary organism used by God to carry out the “Great Commission” and receives its power and authority for this work from Christ himself. (Acts 2:41-47, Matthew 28:18-20, Ephesians 1:22)
The Church and its members are free from all ecclesiastical authority to follow Christ’s leadership as head. They should not associate with any effort to compromise the truth of the Bible. Individuals within the Church should keep themselves from all appearance of evil. (Romans 16:17, II Corinthians 6:14-17, I Timothy 6:3-5, Romans 12:1-2, Romans 14:13, II Timothy 3:1-5, I John 2:15-17, I John 3:5-9, I Thessalonians 5:22) The scriptural ordinances of the church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism by immersion pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed regularly to show “the Lord’s death till he comes”. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 2:41-47, Acts 8:26-39, Romans 6:3-6, I Corinthians 11:23-28, Colossians 2:12)
Prayer is the great weapon of the believer and of the church in conquering and doing battle with Satan. (Ephesians 6:10-18, Colossians 4:2-4, Philippians 4:6-7)
We believe in the personality of Satan, the great deceiver of the world, who is called the Devil.
(Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:14-17, I Peter 5:8, 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11, Revelation 20:7-10)
The return of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent. It will be visible and bodily to the believers in the rapture of the Church and to all mankind in His second coming to set up the Kingdom of God on earth. (Titus 2:13, John 14:1-3, I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I Corinthians 15:51-58)
God is not done with Israel but will return to His chosen people after the rapture of the Church to fulfill all of His promises. (Genesis 13:14-17, Jeremiah 16:14-15, Jeremiah 30:6-11, Romans 11)The saved will be raised to everlasting life and blessedness in Heaven, and the unsaved will be raised to everlasting and conscious punishment in Hell. (Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 16:19-31, I Thessalonians
4:13-18, Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:1-8)