About Cafe 1040
Why We Exist?
Café 1040 was founded to solve two problems:
- Help a generation identify and overcome the obstacles that the world has put in front of them that are keeping them from following God's call on their generation.
- Help guide and direct those students to think strategically about where they will serve, aligning themselves with God's heart for "every tribe, tongue, and nation."
We believe there is another Great Student Movement rising, with the potential to complete The Great Commission within their lifetime, but only if this movement sends its followers to the unreached peoples of the world. In other words, if the current trend of sending missionaries to Peoples with access to the Gospel (approximately 95% of all missionaries) continues, then the same Peoples with no access to the Gospel will remain unreached, and the Task will not be completed in the next 50 years. Amazingly, this trend of "missionaries to the reached" continues even among the rising student movement.
Sadly, the world has saddled your generation with its hopes and its ambitions, which run absolutely contradictory to those of God. Most students will graduate with massive college debt. The parents of many students seek to fulfill their dreams through their children, instead of allowing their children to fulfill the unique dream God imprinted on their heart. The majority of Churches believe that missionaries must be seminary graduates and dress poorly, not giving their blessing to a young, relevant missionary who desires to leverage their college degree for the glory of God. And finally, after living 22 years of hearing, "No! You can't change the world. No! Those folks only want to kill you and us!" this generation has come to believe that lie.
We believe in you, and we believe in what God is TRYING to do in/with/for your generation. We exist to help you identify (call out) and overcome these obstacles. We exist solely to help you get to where God is calling you and your generation. You CAN change the world, and in case you haven't seen the news lately, you MUST change the world!
Statement of Faith
The Scriptures
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. In its original languages it is without error. With the help of the Holy Spirit, scripture is understandable to all believers and authoritative in life.
God
There is one God who exists in three distinct persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Jesus Christ is the Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father. He became flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit. He lived a completely sinless life, died on the cross, and was raised to life on the third day. He will personally return to earth to judge the living and the dead. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and lives within each believer. He regenerates, counsels, convicts, and is the seal of salvation.
Mankind
We believe that man was created in the image of God to have fellowship with Him, but became alienated from that relationship through sinful disobedience. As a result, man is totally incapable of restoring right relationship with God by his own effort.
Salvation
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross provides the sole basis for the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, salvation only occurs when a person places their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as the sufficient payment for their sin.
The Church
The church is the body of Christ of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The members are those who have trusted by faith the finished work of Christ. The purpose of the Church is to glorify God by loving Him and by making Him known to a lost world.
What is Café 1040?
Café 1040 was established in May 2000 as a non-profit organization committed to preparing North American college students and twenty-somethings for evangelism in the parts of the world that are least evangelized (see What is the 10/40 Window). We believe that this generation has the ability to complete the Great Commission! As a result, we have created a program and process for these young people to be able to see what God can do with their talents and abilities on the field. Much of the experience happens in a hands-on context for three months in a closed country inside the 10/40 Window (see Deployment Dates). We also invest in each person who goes through our program through mentoring both before and after his or her time overseas. We also work to make sure that young people who are ready to go and serve among the unreached have the connections and contacts that they need to be placed in areas where they can use their skills, talents and abilities on the field!
As a larger part of our ministry, Café 1040 is also dedicated to helping churches and campuses with resources related to missions. Whether through education, mentoring, explore trips (see Get Involved) we want to be a resource for the Church as a whole in completing the task that Christ set out for us!