There are few things I’m more passionate about than the truth of the Christian worldview and preparing Christians to live it out in every area of life. That’s why I love our Centurions Program.
Our Centurions dedicate themselves to a year of intensive Christian worldview study. They learn to share and defend their faith winsomely while confronting faulty worldviews, particularly naturalistic materialism, which has begun to dominate the West. But the West isn’t the only part of the planet in dire need of the truth.
Recently, I heard that one of our Centurions who has been teaching Christian worldview to young veterinarians and teachers in Mongolia, a predominantly Buddhist country. Several years before joining Centurions, Morris Harper, a former real estate investor from Houston, had learned about Christian Veterinary Mission.
Intrigued by this ministry, Morris began taking trips to Mongolia to teach small business skills to young veterinarians, their spouses, and their communities. He soon discovered that there was something his students needed far more.
Although many of the young men and women Morris interacted with had professed faith in Christ, they had no real context for understanding who Christ was. Their worldview was largely shaped by Buddhism.
Buddhism had taught them that they had been reincarnated from an unknown life form, from an unknown place and unknown time. It also taught them that man’s ultimate goal is to achieve a state of nirvana, which is non-existence or self-extinction.
That’s where Morris stepped in. He began using a series of questions he learned in his Centurions training to introduce his students to the hope of Christ. Starting with, “Where do we come from?” Morris explained how man was created by God for intimacy with Him. Although sin tarnished this relationship, God sent Christ to redeem us and offer them the promise of eternal life.
That message captivated many of Morris’ students, and began to set them free from a worldview that offered them nothingness.
Morris isn’t alone. Other Centurions have ventured overseas, Christian worldview in hand. Wendell Cantrell was in the middle of his Centurion year when he decided to join his son, a pastor in Johannesburg, South Africa. Even in post-apartheid South Africa, racism runs rampant, as does HIV/AIDS and the orphans it has left in its wake. Wendell noticed the needs and decided to organize a conference on Christian worldview, something his son has continued even after Wendell returned home.
Here’s the thing: God’s truth extends far beyond our American shores. One of my favorite quotes comes from Dutch theologian and political leader Abraham Kuyper: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"
That message is at the heart of our Centurions Program; and our 700 graduates are living out their Christian worldview, engaging the culture in extraordinary ways — just like Morris and Wendell.
Are you prepared to defend what you believe in the public square? Here’s what I want you to do: Go to CenturionsProgram.org today. Find out more about this wonderful worldview training program. We’re accepting applications now.
Chuck Colson's daily BreakPoint commentary airs each weekday on more than one thousand outlets with an estimated listening audience of one million people. BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends via radio, interactive media and print.
Publication date: February 1, 2012
