ABOUT EMNR

Though EMNR was conceived as an umbrella group for ministries to the cults and new religions, our founders and current board members have no wish for EMNR to assume a magisterial role, nor to become a closed guild which might diminish the validity of other ministries who are not part of EMNR. We recognize that many devoted and Spirit-led Christian ministries and missionaries will never affiliate with EMNR, and that in the providence and timing of God, both our own ministries and EMNR itself will one day be drawn to a close. We pray that while we are now active in the service of Jesus Christ, we will acquit ourselves in honorable work and strive for moral integrity in all we do.

As in any coalition, we expect to find believers with varying levels of competence, maturity, and ministerial experience. Some Christians have not developed the skills and knowledge necessary to present a balanced approach to this difficult field. Some of us have engaged in unjust or superficial judgments against others. On occasions some have judged presumptuously, making nonessential matters a test for Christian fellowship.

Because Christians still struggle against fleshly desires and ambitions (Eph. 4:20-32), there are occasions when Christians sin against one another by attitude, tone, timing, or delivery in their attempt to correct. As a result, some have earned the label "witch hunter" or "heresy hunter." We need to be sensitive of such adjuration, and be ready to be instructed and corrected when the charges are valid.

 The founders of EMNR recognized these issues and addressed them in seminal form in the "Statement of Purposes" to which every EMNR member must agree in order to accept membership. They read:

1. Clarify essential principles of doctrine, ethics, and ministry by which movements may be distinguished as sub-Christian, cultic, or non-Christian. 
2. Evaluate the doctrine, ethics, and ministerial practice of controversial groups. 
3. Recognize the qualified and credentialed ministries reaching the unreached in the new religions and cults. 
4. Maintain worthy theological, ethical, and missiological standards among members. 
5. Encourage mutual understanding and cooperation among evangelical Christian agencies. 
6. Assist in avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort among these evangelical mission agencies. 
7. Stimulate research and writing on neglected aspects of strategies, methods, and materials important to reaching these unreached people groups. 
8. Provide centralized storage of reliable and relevant information for pre-evangelism, evangelism, and rehabilitation of people from nonevangelical worldviews and ways of life. 
9. Recommend to the public, churches, and schools those agencies and materials which meet these standards and may help as a protective to involvement with a non-Christian or inauthentically Christian religious movement.