Christian Identity FAQs

World Vision is a Christian organisation focused on helping the most vulnerable children, in the most difficult places, to overcome poverty and injustice. Because our mission is to help the world's most vulnerable children, we do not make a distinction between faiths. We help based on need, not faith or geography.

We pursue our mission through an integrated, holistic commitment to:

•    Transformational development that is community-based and sustainable, focused especially on the needs of       children
•    Emergency relief that assists people afflicted by conflict or disaster
•    Promotion of justice that seeks to change unjust structures
•    Public awareness that leads to informed understanding, giving, involvement and prayer
•    Witness to Jesus Christ by life, deed, word and sign that encourages people to respond to the Gospel

World Vision believes that all people of faith should be able to worship in peace and security, and calls on all governments to protect their faith communities. We call on people of all faiths to rise above indifference, prejudice and hate. And we pray that, in solidarity, people will come to the aid of all innocent victims of abuse, war, hunger, disaster, terrorism, and disease.

World Vision affirms and defends the right of all Christian and faith-based organisations, including our own staff and World Vision itself, to witness through their lives, words and deeds.

Witness is not, however, the same thing as proselytism. World Vision defines proselytism as the use of aid as an inducement or source of coercion for religious conversion. World Vision believes that nobody should be coerced or manipulated into converting to Christianity – accepting Christ must be a free decision based on consideration and judgment. World Vision condemns proselytism and does not tolerate its practice by staff.

Christian witness is an essential and integral part of the mission of World Vision. Christian witness should never involve the use of pressure or inducement but equally it is unethical and inappropriate to hide that Christian teaching is the underlying motive for all of World Vision's work.

In some projects we co-operate with local church leadership. This must be appropriate in the context of the programme. The families in these communities are given an opportunity for Christian education appropriate to their own culture but it's their choice to participate.