- How do I become a member of Theosis ?
- What can I do to help ?
- Why doesn't Theosis do something in my
neighbourhood ?
- Who is in charge of Theosis ?
- Is Theosis a religious
organisation?
- What does the word Theosis mean ?
- I represent a Trust / Corporation / Estate and
would like to contribute to Theosis, who should I speak to?
Its as easy as pie. You become a member by becoming a
shareholder. Fill out the registration form on this site, pay your small
affiliation fee, and away we go. Your Shareholder Certificate is mailed to
you within a week.
Once you are a shareholder you will receive regular feedback about services,
projects and new projects we are planning. You will receive financial
statements, a regular newsletter and ample opportunity to get involved in any of
the many areas of your organisation's operation. You become eligible for
nomination to committees and, if you want, you can help setup a local branch in
your area.
Follow the Shareholders link on top of every page to get the ball rolling.
Phew!...so glad you asked
There are literally thousands of things you can do to help--more than we can
list here. Let's put it this way. Look at what you have to give and start
there--you may have a bit of time, or a PC, or Internet, or money, or contacts,
or expertise, or skills, or you want to volunteer at one of the projects, or you
want do help with informal research in your area, or formal academic research,
or you want to start a local branch, or fund-raise, or help source resources,
recruit shareholders or volunteers, come up with new ideas...
Almost anything you can do will be a help. What we need most is always
people who do public relations, write newsletters, web site content, newspaper
articles, manage local branches, residential volunteers, people who look out for
grants and funding opportunities we are not utilizing at present...
Money buys the means by which Hope is given to the people we serve.
Without money all of Theosis will come to a standstill. Although we do not
earn proper salaries and most 85% of all work is done unpaid--money is always a
major concern. Instead of living in hope (and we do) that Microsoft will
donate a couple of million our way, in the mean time we rely on another
system. If every caring person who agrees with the Theosis way can give
only $30 or so per month then there will never be an end to continual expansion
of service delivery.
If you have any ideas in this regard, please let us know. Please know that we
need you. We need you seriously. Start by becoming a shareholder and
things will develop from there.
Thank you for caring.
Theosis is limited only by three things-- volunteers, shareholders and
clients. It may be that we do not know about the needs of clients in your
area. If we understand the needs in your area and we decide to do
something about it we would need volunteers and shareholders to help address the
issue of service delivery.
We have the infrastructure and the expertise--but we need information,
volunteers and shareholders to keep growing into other areas. If you would
like to help us get involved in your area, please let us know and feed us
information, help us get volunteers in your area if you can, and help us to get
shareholders ... together we can do it.
Shareholders are in charge of Theosis. Theosis belongs to its
shareholders. Shareholders elect a management committee, from within their
ranks, to manage the organisation for a period of three years.
Shareholders are also eligible for nomination and election to scores of other
committees, collectively, responsible for the running of the various projects
and services.
Theosis was built on public money, volunteer sweat, and client tears, and
everyone involved contributed tons of hope to keep the organisation
going.
We are a spirited people--sometimes a bit too activist for governmental
comfort, terribly loyal to the family, fiercely proud of our achievements and
very very close to the cause. We come from different cultures and
backgrounds but we are united in the cause to serve humankind and creation in
Humility, Simplicity and Compassion.
We all serve one another--in various ways.
Follow the Shareholders link on top of each page to learn more about this.
No, Theosis is a spiritual organisation. We do not punt any specific
religion but we do hold to specific spiritual ideals. We do not hold that
there is any one RIGHT religion or denomination but we hold to spiritual ideals
that we believe are present in all good religions. See the meaning
of the word Theosis for more detail.
All donors are regarded as shareholders and thus constitute a service area,
however, should you or your client prefer to remain anonymous we must respect
that and will therefore not be able to provide feedback services.
Some large donations are conditioned by written agreement and may require
specific types of feedback or reporting. This is entirely possible since
our financial management is done on state-of-the-art software.
Some large donations are conditional in the sense of the geographic,
demographic or specific project area where the money must be invested. We
are used to this. This is welcomed and our systems can cope with it as
well.
Theosis Education Trust is registered (in South Africa) to provide assistance
only with education and skills training of girl children previously from the
street. Because of its special registration with the SARS the Trust
provides donors with the opportunity to claim donations back from company and/or
personal tax.
Please contact the Director
by email.
THE
WORD THEOSIS COMES FROM THE ANCIENT GREEK LANGUAGE. THIS IS THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS SOCRATES,
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE, AND WAS ALSO USED TO WRITE THE WESTERN BIBLE. IT WAS
THE LANGUAGE THAT JESUS WAS RAISED IN AND IN WHICH HE OFTEN TAUGHT. IT IS THE
LANGUAGE OF THE EARLIEST CHURCH AND MOST OF THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WROTE AND
TAUGHT IN THIS LANGUAGE. ANCIENT
GREEK IS NOT IN USE ANYMORE AND IS NOT THE SAME AS MODERN GREEK ALTHOUGH THERE
ARE MANY SIMILARITIES.
THE
WORD THEOSIS IS TWO WORDS PUT TOGETHER; THEO (WHICH MEANS GOD) AND THE ROOT OF
THE WORD 'SYNTHESIS'. THEOSIS THUS
MEANS 'TO SYNTHESIZE WITH GOD', OR TO 'GROW SPIRITUALLY TO BECOME', OR 'TO MOVE
TOWARD THE DIVINE ASPECT OF OUR NATURE'. WE
SEE THIS IDEA IN USE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WHEN ST. PAUL TELLS DISCIPLES TO,
'IMITATE CHRIST', TO 'BECOME CHRIST-LIKE', AND WHEN JESUS TELLS US TO 'BECOME
PERFECT IN YOUR LOVE LIKE YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT'.
-
THEOSIS IS NOT AN EVENT - IT IS A PROCESS.
-
THEOSIS IS A LIFESTYLE.
-
THEOSIS IS A COMMITMENT TO THE ULTIMATE GOAL - BECOMING IN CHRIST.
-
THEOSIS IS SOMETHING WE WORK ON EVERY MINUTE OF OUR LIVES.
-
THEOSIS IS A WALK WE WALK WITH THE SPIRIT AT OUR SIDES.
-
THEOSIS IS WALK, NOT TALK...
-
THEOSIS STARTS IN OUR HEARTS AND INFLUENCES OUR THOUGHTS, AND SHOWS IN OUR
ACTIONS.
-
THEOSIS IS NOT NECESSARILY ONLY A CHRISTIAN CONCEPT, IT GOES FOR HINDUISM,
BUDDHISM, TAOISM, AND MANY OTHER RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHIES AS WELL.
WE
LIKE THE NAME THEOSIS BECAUSE IT REMINDS US THAT WE ARE MOVING CLOSER TO GOD,
THAT WE HAVE TO BE GOD'S TOOLS OF COMPASSION TO OTHERS SO THAT THEY TOO WILL
MOVE CLOSER TO KNOWING GOD. THAT WE HAVE TO BE AN EXTENSION OF GOD'S GRACE
TO ALL CREATION.
Copyright © 1999 [OrganizationName]. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 23, 2001
.
| 