Mission Statement:
Ikthoos.org exists to provide a cutting edge link to Christian businesses & organizations to the general public through the internet in a God honoring way.
Ikthoos.org was born out of a desire to connect, integrate, and promote Christian owned businesses & organizations with the ultimate goal to glorify God.
After returning from a deployment to Iraq, SFC George Fuller (U.S. Army) started a small business in Springfield, Missouri. After operating that business for a period of time, George observed local business owners sharing their faith in Jesus.
Their faith set the tone for their life, to include their business practices. Encouraged by the commonality and commitment of fellow Christian business owners, George set out to bring them together online.
He developed a mechanism that links consumers, businesses, churches, missionaries, non-profits, and other organizations committed to God’s glory.
Ikthoos.org brings Christians together from all over the map. Use it to find a church. Use it to find a plumber. Use it to take your business to the next level. Above all else, use it for God’s glory!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ikthoosorg/213700628674250
https://twitter.com/#!/ikthoos/
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Why the fish?
Christians have used symbols to express their faith in Jesus for hundreds of years. Many Christian symbols have been found in the catacombs under Rome. Some symbols included the cross, Greek letters such as XP (which was the first two letters for the Greek word for Christ), and even a peacock. A fish was also used as a Christian symbol. Some believed it was used as a code. When two people met face to face, one would draw an arch. The other person would draw an identical arch completing a stick figure fish shape. During the underground church age in Rome, this expressed their faith in Jesus.
Fast forward a couple thousand years and the “Christian fish” can be found on the back of cars or even tattooed on the skin to express faith in Jesus. The Greek word for fish is IXΘYΣ or spelled phonetically as ik-thoos. The Greek letters form an acrostic;
I – Iησοῦς, Greek for “Jesus”
X – Χριστός, Greek for “Christ” (synonymous with “Anointed”)
Θ – Θεοῦ, Greek for “God”
Y – Yἱός, Greek for “Son”
Σ – Σωτήρ, Greek for “Savior”
Together, this forms the statement, “Jesus [the] Christ, God’s Son, Savior”
The fish symbol is still used today to distinguish Christians. More specifically, the ikthoos is used to distinguish Christian businesses and organization. And rightly so;
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Using the ikthoos on your car or your business card lets others know that you follow Jesus; that you are a Christian. Christians, according to Scripture, are known by their love. Christians are called to possess high moral values and are ambassadors for Jesus. Christians are to live by Biblical standards and conduct themselves in a God honoring manner. Christians are called to be equally yoked, not only in dating relationships and marriage, but in business as well. Christians are to fulfill the Great Commandment of loving God with their all and loving their neighbor as themselves. Christians are to fulfill the Great Commission.
So go ahead, put an ikthoos on your business card. Slap a chromed out ikthoos on your car. Just remember, if we show the world we are Christians, what will the world see?
Ikthoos.org is not a church. However, we are conscious of God’s glory, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the fulfillment of the Great Commandment in our daily lives.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.