Vision
Living the passion of Jesus
We want to see movements of multiplying disciple-makers, based on the life and example of Jesus, arise and be lived out.
Holistic
The actions, methods, and strategies of Jesus as a movement initiator are relevant to us. We want to follow him not only in his teachings.
Life and death
We honor the life of Jesus by primarily focusing on him as a human being, in connection with God. He did not just die, he also lived.
Church planting today
We are interested in the principles of Jesus and transfer them to today’s context. We do not rely on a modern church planting concept.
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Simon & Conny Löffel
Conny Löffel
I am inspired by Jesus’ love for his fellow human beings and his strategic work.
I want to encounter people in my environment the way Jesus did.
Simon Löffel
Studying the life of Jesus chronologically gives my personal faith a solid foundation and a new passion.
Discovering how focused Jesus was inspires and motivates me.
F.A.Q.
Frequently asked questions
Why the name Founders Passion?
The Founder is Jesus. The founder of the movement called Christianity.
We want to be infected by his passion. Of course, Jesus shares this passion with God, his Father. And accordingly, it is also that of the Holy Spirit.
God wants to live in a relationship with every human being. The goal of this relationship is an active life with God, SO THAT fellow human beings can also experience and recognize God.
Evangelism, discipleship, social engagement, or personal sanctification are all fundamentally components of a multiplicative discipleship that should produce disciples who in turn produce more disciples.
A movement of holistic disciple-makers.
Who are you?
We are Conny and Simon Löffel from Switzerland. Our apartment is near Zurich and we have two teenage children.
After studying theology, we were involved in international junior leader training for several years. We then worked with Campus for Christ Switzerland for 11 years in the area of online evangelism and discipleship movements. We promoted Gottkennen.ch, MyStory.me and some other online tools. With SHIFT and the MyFriends lifestyle, we focused more on building discipleship movements in local churches and organizations.
Since 2022, we have been working independently as Founders Passion, inspiring, training and coaching leaders in the passion of Jesus: Triggering and promoting the movement of disciple-making disciples.
We are active nationally, internationally and across denominations.
In our free time, we enjoy letting the arrows fly while archery. We also enjoy spending time in our caravan, especially on small and quiet campsites. We are also excited to develop a website for a customer from time to time, or our own web projects for our work.
What is your theology?
We fundamentally believe that the events as described in the Bible are true.
We assume that everything that is written about Jesus in the four Gospels is true and happened exactly as it is written.
The man Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, the Christ, the promised Son of God. He lived as the second Adam and had the mission to start a movement of sent ones. He died as a sacrifice for humanity so that they could live again in a living relationship with God, the Creator. His disciples should multiply this message and lifestyle of Jesus into the world.
We see no conflicts or contradictions in the Gospels. We see the four books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as mutual complements.
We are aware that the texts of the evangelists only give us a small excerpt from the life of Jesus. Much was said or done between the events that did not make it into the books. Some things can be inferred or suspected from the context of the culture or the immediate circumstances.
In the end, however, we always stayed with the transmitted Greek text.
What is your biblical basis?
Jesus is the role model of every person who calls himself a Christian. A Christian is a follower of Jesus, the Redeemer, the Christ.
“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6
It is not just about taking his teachings to heart, but about living and acting in everyday life as he did. With the same goal and the same focus. Not out of a sense of duty, but as a logical consequence that arises from the relationship with God.
Do you have a concept?
Our concept is derived from the chronological study of the life of Jesus.
Today, church and community building often proceeds as follows:
- Ecclesiology – Understanding what the church is, often associated with surveys and analyses.
- Missiology – Finding out what the mission of the church is in the current time.
- Christology – Searching for what Jesus taught about it in order to support the findings biblically.
We understand church and community building from the other side:
- Christology – Exploring what Jesus laid as the foundation and lived out.
- Missiology – Understanding what the mission of Jesus was for his life and what passions and goals he placed in his disciples.
- Ecclesiology – Implementing what this means for today’s community and how they can jointly develop a culture in which this takes place.
Contact us if you would like to learn more about our concept.
Did you make the chronology of the Gospels yourself?
Our chronology is based on the work of John A. Broadus (1893). This was continued by his friend A.T. Robertson and elaborated and revised in more detail in the 1920s. Decades later, Robert L. Thomas and Dr. Standley N. Gundry set to work on the Harmony and refined it and added comments.
We as Founders Passion are the only organization in the world that owns the full rights to digitally distribute, translate and make accessible to everyone the NIV A Harmony Of The Gospels by Thomas & Gundry.
We have made it our goal to continue the harmonization, based on the valuable work of Thomas & Gundry.
Why Jesus and not Paul?
As soon as it comes to church and community building, most people look to the Acts of the Apostles and to Paul.
Of course, the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul are also the Bible. And yet, from our point of view, it is already church history. These are the stories of the first few generations of Christians after Jesus.
But we want to get to the source. The disciples implemented what they learned from Jesus. Paul himself confirms this: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1.
If Paul could learn from Jesus, so can we today.
When it comes to how to make disciples or practically live discipleship, Jesus has much more to offer. We have practical discipleship and leadership principles shown in black and white in four books.
Jesus laid the foundation for everything that Paul conveyed and taught to the first followers of God in his time.
Why only study the copy when you can first take a close look at the original?
How are you involved with churches and organizations?
We are aware that many church congregations and Christian organizations are already actively involved in the area of disciple-making. Nevertheless, we see a real living movement in only a few places.
In general, believing people tend to focus more on themselves and their relationship with God. Their personal spirituality is in the foreground. Of course, this corresponds entirely to today’s social way of life of individualism, and is not only bad in itself.
However, we would like to support Christian groups in dedicating themselves anew to the life of Jesus in order to be newly seized by his passion for his fellow human beings.
In this way, we support churches, organizations or groups through inspiration, training and, above all, through coaching. What is discovered should influence and change the existing group culture.
In which regions are you active?
Our heart beats for Switzerland and its residents. Here we can speak as we are used to.
But we are also active throughout the DACH region and, on request, also in other countries from time to time.
Training courses are carried out in Swiss German, German or English.
With which partner networks are you connected?
We are friendly and visionary with Concentric.
In practice, we work with many national and international organizations and churches.
If the interest revolves around the real historical Jesus of the Bible, we are there.
How do you finance yourself?
Founders Passion is a Swiss association that is largely financed by donations. For the most part, we are financially released by mission partners.
In addition, there are the fees and contributions that come together through our training courses, coachings, sermons, training and sales. Since we primarily operate in the church environment, these contributions generally do not correspond to those charged for this in the private sector.