More About Ransom's Approach to Ministry

Ransom Fellowship is the writing, mentoring, and speaking ministry of Denis and Margie Haack, under the direction and oversight of a Board of Directors.

We are committed to “the four D’s” – Developing Discernment and Deepening Discipleship. But what does that really mean?

We live in a pluralistic and post-Christian world, where increasingly our neighbors, friends, and co-workers no longer share our deepest convictions and values. Daily we face challenges, questions, and issues that require us to make choices. Do we attend the house-warming of a colleague who’s living with a partner outside of marriage? If someone tells us they were comforted after the death of their mother by participating in a Native American religious ritual, what do we say in return? What music should we listen to, and what films should we see? Often, there is no specific text of Scripture that definitively settles the issue. No verse tells us whether we can attend a housewarming for an unmarried couple, or whether we need to give them a Bible as a gift if we do decide to attend.

Yet, Scripture is God’s word to us and the final authority in our lives. Even though we face issues that are not directly addressed in the Scripture, the Bible provides a world and life view, a way of seeing everything. We can learn to deal with every issue by developing a Christian mind, which Os Guinness defines as “thinking about anything at all in a distinctly Christian way. Of allowing the truth of God’s word to so inform and influence our thinking in terms of our assumptions, values, and presuppositions that increasingly we see as God sees, though in an imperfect way.”
Discernment is a skill that can be learned and practiced. It’s simple enough to be taught to children, but can be honed within the community of God’s people to tackle any question and every challenge. Ransom exists to provide training, materials, and encouragement to help the people of God grow in discernment.

Our goal is to equip Christians with the ability to engage the world in a way that brings glory to Christ. This doesn’t mean we all need to be philosophers. We are called to be faithful in the ordinary things of life, whether it’s teaching, or art, or carpentry, or raising a family at home.
Ransom exists to help find a way to think and live in a distinctly Christian way at just those points.

© 2007 Ransom Fellowship, Rochester, MN