about us

ginkworld was "born" in late 1997 and grew out of an earlier incarnation called "pointx" and was hosted on a free service provider until 1999.  at the end of 1999 www.ginkworld.net was purchased and the adventure began.   over that time we have experienced several changes and growth spurts.  in 2001 www.ginkworld.net offered free web-based email and became more community connected.  when www.ginkworld.net was founder there were just a few postmodern ministries on the net helping to develop and maintain community.  as we enter the 21st century www.ginkworld.net is poised to expand and reach the emerging church and skeptic for christ.

 

this is not a "doctrinal" statement page - the reason we do not post a "doctrinal statement" is that we have many voices who express themselves on ginkworld, and we like that.  we enjoy hearing voices from people with different opinions then others may hold.  if we place a "doctrinal statement" on this site we are telling others, who may differ from us, that their voice is not valid - and that is something we refuse to do.

 

our visual:

to be a resource center for all  communities of faith desiring to outreaching to this generation of people seeking to heal from life pain, develop authentic friendship with others and a lasting and true loving relationship with God in their lives

  

our purpose:

To help all communities of faith minister to the not-yet-believers, and those who are believers develop, a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

  

We desire:

To celebrate the diversity of the individual. Discrimination, on any basis of gender, race, ethnicity, appearance or distinguishing characteristics is unacceptable.  We appreciate the individual and encourage them to use their creativity appropriately in-group settings.  We strongly encourage people to be who God desires them to become, and not what others place on them as limitations.

 

To understand and develop our need for authentic and caring friendships.  We understand that all of us want true and lasting friendship, but are not sure how to develop them, and not sure how to act when we do.  We believe small groups are the key to developing such relationships.  We believe that small groups allow us to develop intimate friendships in a caring and participating environment, while allowing us to express our individuality.

 

To truly experience the fullness of God in our lives. We desire to open our lives to God, and in so experience His full power and love.  We believe this is accomplished by our desire to study, be in fellowship with others and share our understanding of God with those around us.

 

To love people and help them develop a healthy wholeness. We desire not to judge, we desire strongly not to judge.  We see people, all people, as having value to God and seeking to know how God is working in their lives.  To help people see the wholeness of self, we believe we need to help them look deep inside who they are, and see the junk that clogs their lives.  This is messy, and time consuming.  But we believe it to be central to our understanding of how we are to be in relationship with others, and God.

 

God transforms people at their core.  We, as people, may want to develop shades to help us deal with certain issues in our life; still, God is God.  We believe we can share the truth in a gracious and loving way – Jesus never shared with those seeking God in a mean spirited, hurtful way. 

 

To help people mature in their walk. We believe we are all walking this thing we call life together, and as such we need to be willing to walk with each other.  Walking alone is lonely – walking with others allows us to help carry each other when needed.  Faith, and faith development, is challenging – it can alter us at the core of who we are, and we strive to be challenged and moved ahead in our walk of faith.

 

ALL the work on www.ginkworld.net  is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit Creative Commons  or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

 

 

 

  

john c o'keefe:  founder/architect.  john also writes under the name of his alter ego "punk monkey."

heather cardiel:  chief editor/creative voice - while heather is not new to the team, she will be joining us officially in june 2005 and has started to edit all new articles on ginkworld.  heather's talent and her ability to "see" the need for changes make her a great and needed addition to the team; she works best when john actually gives her his stuff to edit.

steven miracles:  the code guy who is always finding new and fun things to do on ginkworld.  steven is the brains and direction behind ginktionary and more.  his coding has help us reach many more people, and increased our bandwidth by a ton.  

moderators on the message board; those shadowy figures who do so much to keep voices going:

 

Off Center    LyssaJane    mhc57   Joseph Ostrander