About Reasons to Believe

  • 5 Research Scholars
  • 50+ Visiting Scholars
  • 250+ Apologetics Community Members
  • 140+ Scholar Community Members
  • 40+ Chapters Worldwide

Meet our Team

Our Mission

“The world has good questions, and we have great answers.”

Our mission is to show skeptics and Christians alike that sound reasoning and scientific advance will always strengthen rather than erode our confidence in the truth of the Bible and in the personal God revealed therein.

We are thinkers who have sufficient reasons to believe that faith and reason are friends, not foes.

Our History

It all started with a conversation. While talking with his friend and mentor, Fazale Rana, Balajied Nongrum expressed the need to bring apologetics to the foreground of Christian mission in the Indian subcontinent. People from all walks of life, young and old, have long expressed their desire for a place where they could engage in meaningful dialogue at the intersection of Christianity and science as well as find answers to pertinent cultural issues facing us today—a place that would provide a balanced, biblical framework.

With this vision in mind, RTB executive team members Hugh and Kathy Ross, Fazale Rana, and Phil Chien met with Balajied to explore the possibility of collaborating to launch a global partnership. Affirmed and encouraged by this development, Balajied sought much-needed counsel from select senior Christian advisors, national ministry leaders, and like-minded friends, including Barkos Warjri, Charles P. Joseph, Bishar Hek, and Tikicus Polepaka—who prayerfully gave valuable input. These conversations would eventually give birth to Reasons to Believe Asia-Pacific (RTB A-Pac).

While all the groundwork for RTB A-Pac started in March 2021, a major step was taken on May 1. On that date, our team was formally commissioned by global Christian leaders and international board members during a deeply meaningful and warm commissioning service, accompanied by their spouses.

RTB A-Pac officially launched July 10, 2021, marking a new and historic chapter for the mission of , Reasons to Believe the Christian community in Asia-Pacific, in general, and India, in particular. This launch comes at a most critical time as Christians are being challenged for their biblical convictions, which are perceived to be in conflict with reason and scientific discoveries. It is our prayer that the mission of RTB A-Pac will spark a paradigm shift in this discourse.

Our Impact

RTB A-Pac serves thinkers and truth-seekers of the Asia-Pacific region. People in this area, as everywhere, are seeking answers to deep questions such as who am I? where do I come from? why am I here? what is the meaning of humanity’s existence? what is the purpose of life? what happens after we die?

These questions matter. That’s where RTB A-Pac comes in.

Our team of thoughtful, highly educated scholars have spoken at universities, conferences, churches, and forums around the world, demonstrating how the latest scientific advances build up rather than tear down our faith and hope in a purposeful Creator.

Let RTB A-Pac help you on your journey to test out what is true.

Is there a way to combine the two?

Our Convictions

At a time when controversies abound and threaten to disrupt unity among Christ’s followers, we at Reasons to Believe want to affirm and clarify our spiritual, moral, and scientific convictions.

Conviction #1: God’s revelation in the words of Scripture and in the world of nature is wholly trustworthy and will always prove consistent when thoroughly understood because God is the Source of both.

Conviction #2: Scripture and nature deserve humble, careful, and prayerful investigation/interpretation. We must look at all available research data, making every effort to mitigate personal, political, and cultural biases.

Conviction #3: We are called by God to present our findings and engage with others—those who agree with our views and those who disagree—in earnest, respectful dialogue that supersedes our desire to argue or persuade.

Our Beliefs

We believe questions and dialogue are good because truth invites and withstands testing.

  • Scripture is our supreme and final authority on all matters
  • Includes all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments
  • We believe the Bible is 100% without error
  • We believe the Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God, written. As a “God-breathed” revelation, it is thus verbally inspired and completely without error (historically, scientifically, morally, and spiritually) in its original writings. While God the Holy Spirit supernaturally superintended the writing of the Bible, that writing nevertheless reflects the words and literary styles of its individual human authors. Scripture reveals the being, nature, and character of God; the nature of God’s creation; and especially his will for the salvation of human beings through Jesus Christ. The Bible is therefore our supreme and final authority in all matters that it addresses.

  • We believe that the physical universe, the realm of nature, is the visible creation of God. It declares God’s existence and gives a trustworthy revelation of God’s character and purpose. In Scripture, God declares that through his creation all humanity recognizes his existence, power, glory, and wisdom. An honest study of nature—its physical, biological, and social aspects—can prove useful in a person’s search for truth. Properly understood, God’s Word (Scripture) and God’s world (nature), as two revelations (one verbal, one physical) from the same God, will never contradict each other.

  • We believe in one infinitely perfect, eternal, and personal God, the transcendent Creator and sovereign Sustainer of the universe. This one God is Triune, existing eternally and simultaneously as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons in the Godhead share equally and completely the one divine nature, and are therefore the same God, coequal in power, nature, and glory.

  • We believe that Jesus Christ is both true God (the second Person of the Trinity) and true man (the Incarnate Son of God). We also believe in the great events surrounding Jesus Christ’s life and ministry, including his eternal preexistence, his virgin birth, his attesting miracles, his sinless life, his sacrificial death on the cross, his glorious bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his present work in heaven as High Priest and Advocate. He will return in glory to resurrect and judge all mankind.

  • We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is indeed a Divine Person, coequal with the Father and the Son. We also believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation, a ministry which includes anointing and glorifying Christ, convicting men of their sin, bringing about the regeneration of lost sinners, and indwelling believers and empowering them for godly living and spiritual service.

  • We believe God created mankind in his image and likeness (having rational, moral, relational, and spiritual capacities) to fellowship with him and give him glory. Human beings are therefore the crown of God’s creation (possessing inherent dignity and moral worth), and thus distinct in kind from all other life on earth. Adam and Eve, the first human beings, chose to rebel against God and go their own autonomous way. As a result, all of mankind became separated from God, the image of God in man distorted, and the sinful nature passed on to all their progeny. Because of original sin (which includes both corruption and guilt), unregenerate human beings are incapable of pleasing or commending themselves to God. The only remedy for mankind’s pitiful predicament is redemption through faith in Jesus Christ.

  • We believe God has acted sovereignly to bridge the gap that separates people from himself. He sent his Son to bear the full penalty for humanity’s sin. He demonstrated himself to be God in that he was born of a virgin, performed miracles, and led a sinless life. Jesus Christ suffered and died in the place of sinners, thus satisfying the Father’s just wrath against human sin, and effecting true reconciliation between God and mankind for those who believe. In the atoning death of Christ, both God’s love and God’s justice are fully manifested. The righteousness of Jesus Christ in perfectly fulfilling the law of God has been graciously credited to all believers. Redemption is solely a work of God’s grace, received exclusively through faith in Jesus Christ and never by works of human merit.

  • We believe justification is a judicial act of God’s grace wherein he acquits a person of all sin and accepts that person as righteous in his sight because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Justification is strictly a work of God’s grace, apprehended through faith alone and solely on the account of Christ.

  • We believe Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, conquering sin, death, and all the powers of Satan. The resurrection is God’s historical affirmation and vindication of Jesus Christ’s unique identity, mission, and message. Historical evidence of the resurrection is manifest in Christ’s empty tomb, his many resurrection appearances, and in the emergence of the Christian church. Jesus Christ now resides at the right hand of the Father, and lives to indwell all who recognize their sinfulness, who repent, and who turn their lives over to his authority.

  • We believe the church is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ (its Founder, Head, and Shepherd) and that it encompasses all true believers at all times and places. The function of the church is to carry out the Lord’s expressed will through the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the central purposes of the church is to preach the gospel in both word and life, the good news that humankind can find salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. All people who have placed their faith (confident trust) in Jesus Christ for salvation belong to the church and are, thus, the people of God. This community of believers is made up of people who are neither perfect nor sinless, but by grace their lives are coming more and more under the control of the Holy Spirit, expressing his love, joy, peace, and other Christlike qualities.

  • We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth personally, bodily, and visibly to establish his glorious reign in a kingdom that will never end. As the sovereign Lord, he will resurrect and judge all humanity. Those who have received his offer of life through the gospel will go to eternal blessings in heaven; those who have rejected it, to eternal conscious torment in hell. We look forward to the blessed hope, Christ’s Second Coming in glory.

  • We believe Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. And since Christ has commissioned his people, the church, to go into all the world to disciple, to baptize, and to teach everyone everywhere to obey his Word, we desire, by his grace, to play our part in reaching the world with the gospel of Christ.

Our Core Values

RTB embraces a matrix of core values, based on what we see in the life of Jesus:

  • High View of Scripture and Science The words of the Bible and the facts of nature come from the same Source, from God himself, who chose to make himself known.
  • Ongoing Development Of a testable creation model because the world needs a positive growing case for faith in a caring Creator.
  • Readiness to Give Reasons People have questions and doubts that deserve reasonable, well-researched responses (1 Peter 3:15a)
  • Communication of Those Reasons With gentleness, respect, and a clean conscience because people observe attitude and demeanor as much as they listen to words (1 Peter 3:15b).
  • Commitment to Application Because intellectual engagement should lead to effective evangelism, not merely to winning arguments.
  • Apologetics for Evangelism Because history awaits completion of the commission Christ charged his followers to fulfill.
  • Constructive Integration Of God’s revelation because truth will always be consistent whenever it’s found.

Reviews

There are rigorous apologetics ministries, and then there’s Reasons to Believe Asia-Pacific (RTB A-Pac). The launch of RTB A-Pac is one of the most welcomed news for Christian apologetics in the Asia-Pacific region. RTB A-Pac will surely raise the intellectual respectability and representation of the Christian faith in one of the most populated but least Christian-represented regions of the world. I welcome them heartily, support them unreservedly, and wish them well sincerely.
Dr. Kethoser (Aniu) Kevichusa
Evangelist and Apologist, India
It is my distinct privilege to commend Balajied, Charles, and the mission of RTB to you. I have known these men for many years and this organization is one I deeply admire. Hugh and Kathy Ross and their team are terrific scholars, they are serious about truth and evidence, and they are committed to model the interaction between science and faith. I cannot think of better representatives for this work in Asia than the ones presented here.
Dr. Stuart McAllister
Evangelist and Apologist, USA
I am most thrilled to learn that RTB will be starting a chapter in Asia. Having worked with Balajied and his team in the past, I am confident that Reasons to Believe Asia-Pacific (RTB A-Pac) will make a big impact for Christ in the area of faith and science integration and Christian apologetics and outreach. Questions of origins are universal, but they may be asked differently in the Asian context. Hence, with the formal establishment of RTB in Asia, these questions can be engaged in a way that is biblically faithful, scientifically testable, and culturally relevant. I wish them God’s best in this exciting new development of ministry.
Ms. I’Ching Thomas
Lausanne Co-Regional Director for South East Asia, Singapore
Many of the questions of the day concern faith and science—and I know of no Christian ministry better equipped than Reasons to Believe to answer those questions. I’ve known many of the RTB team for years and have been hugely impressed by their commitment to doing the hard work to “give a reason for the hope we have.” And so I’m tremendously excited that RTB has launched an Asia-Pacific team! I urge Indian Christians and others across the region to get behind what RTB are doing, to support and encourage Balajied and the team, and above all to make use of the excellent resources they’ve created for sharing our faith in Christ in a sceptical age.
Dr. Andy Bannister
Director, Solas Centre for Public Christianity, UK