Mission
As a part of the wider worldwide Iris Global ministry of Heidi and Rolland Baker, Iris Global UK (formerly Iris Ministries Ltd) is committed to fulfilling the same mission.
Iris Global is a Christian NGO committed to expressing a living and tangible response to those commandments that Jesus called greatest: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It is our conviction that the Spirit of God has asked us to make this love concrete in the world, incarnate in our thoughts, our bodies, our lives and our every action. Iris Global exists to participate in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth in all its aspects, but most especially through our particular calling to serve the very poor: the destitute, the lost, the broken and the forgotten.
The King will reply, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
— Matthew 25:40
We have been sent to places where “love” must every day mean bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty and healing for the sick. It must mean family for the orphan, freedom for the captives and peace for the war-torn. We want always to make our love real in these ways, for as long as the poor are with us. Our ministry is built around the application of the Gospel to some of the most desperate economic and spiritual circumstances on earth, with all the boldness of which we, in Christ, are capable.
As we seek to display God’s heart in the outpouring of this love, we have found that we are also constantly blessed by a great many treasures uncovered in the hearts of those we are sent to serve. We believe it is also an important part of our calling to share these treasures with the whole body of Christ. It is our hope, therefore, that every one of our trials, our testimonies and our victories may in turn become life and encouragement for the entire church – “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.” While our primary efforts are focused on the poorest of the poor, we remain constantly aware that we are enabled to make those efforts through the astonishing faith and generosity of men and women from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. As God has provided for us in this way, so we believe that together we receive our greatest reward, as members of a single people – one Body, one Bride.
On the national level, we are committed to working with indigenous leaders, with the aim of facilitating a strong, empowered citizen leadership that can ultimately take the reigns of Iris’s main in-country activities. In our home nation of Mozambique these include the building of schools, children centers, homes and churches; extensive feeding programs; evangelism and healing; well-drilling; medical care; training programs for local and international ministers; conference hosting and local pastoral care. In Mozambique, without exception, we are also committed to offering a home to every child we find who does not have a family. As our organizational capacity has grown we have been privileged to extend many of these activities to other nations, a growing list which currently includes Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Korea, and Tanzania.
Iris Global has worked with a broad spectrum of churches with varying theological backgrounds. We believe in the present power and desire of the Holy Spirit to guide, to teach, to inspire prophecy, to give gifts of all kinds and to work signs, wonders and miracles. We are committed to remaining sensitive, flexible and obedient to the day-to-day leading of the Holy Spirit, from the least of our organizational decisions to the greatest. We are closely affiliated with Bethel Church in Redding, California, and belong to the Revival Alliance and also the Partners in Harvest network of churches.