‘I like the vitality of the participation and the vitality of hospitality within the Hizmet Movement’


Date posted: March 21, 2015

Dr. Alan Jones is the Senior Pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Sacramento since 2011. Dr. Jones has Master’s in Religious Studies at University of Cambridge. He completed Doctorate of Ministry at the Claremont School of Theology. He has also attained training in psychotherapy, marriage and family therapy.

“My views about Mr. Gulen are …. that he has been an extraordinary inspiration and a source of a lot of wisdom that is grounded in the Movement. I very much appreciate his insistence that at least in this branch of Islam it’s very important to see sisters and brothers in other religious traditions.”

“I believe, certainly in the United States as I’m experiencing the Hizmet Movement, I’m experiencing extraordinary hospitality, a great warmth of people, a genuine spirit, an openness, a compassionate style.”

“I believe that what Hizmet is doing and what those of us in the Christian world and in other religious traditions are doing in building connections and relationships is vitally important, not only for us and for our interaction with each other but for the wider world community.

I really believe that we can teach the world a different way of operating so that we don’t operate simply out of fear and violence and suspicion but rather out of mutual affirmation and sharing and love and compassion and working together to build a different kind of world, whether we’re talking about our local neighborhood or our schools or our community institutions but around the world we can stop 13 thousand children dying every day in the world, if we work together on this task.”


*Produced by Spectra Media exclusively for Irmak TV, Atlas of Thoughts (Fikir Atlasi) connects the scholars, politicians, jurists, religious figures, journalists, and academics reflecting on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement with the audience. Each episode features a person from a different segment of the society with diverse experiences regarding the Hizmet activities and its volunteers. If you are interested to hear about the Hizmet and Mr. Gulen from these people’s perspectives, do not miss this show!

Source: Spectra Media , May 2, 2014


Related News

“Hizmet Movement making tremendous contributions to Muslim culture”

The Hizmet Movement, as an organization, with Fethullah Gulen’s inspiration for the movement, is a bright light for the Muslim-American community because of the focus of the organization in doing community service through relief work, and in focusing on education, in scientific education in particular, and also, with regards to interfaith and intercultural exchange.

Slandering Turkish schools is treason according to well-known politician

In an interview with the Cihan news agency, Durak showed reaction to Erdoğan’s order to the ambassadors and he visited some of the Turkish schools in foreign countries. “Children of prime ministers and presidents and high-level bureaucrats are sent to these schools opened in Africa and many parts of the world… Many significant people are given education in these schools. I am of the opinion denouncing these schools to the ambassadors instead of supporting them is equal to treason,” said Durak.

Austria arrests two after arson attack on Turkish cultural center

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with an attempt to set fire to a Turkish cultural centre in the northern Austrian town of Wels, police said on Monday, at a time of heightened tension between Vienna and Ankara. The attack took place in early morning and the suspects, whom police declined to identify, were arrested immediately.

Why would Gulen choose to attempt a coup that’s contrary to all his views?

I believe it is unlikely that Gulen was the mastermind behind the dramatic failed coup attempt against Erdogan last week. Of course, in the absence of evidence, so far no one can speak with certainty. Gulen’s social movement probably has well over a million followers or sympathizers who are not under centralized control.

Ayan: Halkbank operated like Iran’s Central Bank

“The extent of this operation is far beyond the reach of the cemaat [the Hizmet movement],” [“The extent of this operation is far beyond the reach of the cemaat [the Hizmet movement],” Famous Turkish investor Nasrullah Ayan said. He thinks, rather, that powerful international groups could have pulled the trigger or provided technical support to the probe. He pointed to the fact that the operation was launched after the agreement between Iran and the P5+1 nations in Geneva — which gave Iran partial relief from a harsh regime of

The Shadow Politics of Shadow Education

It is no secret that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has grown wary of the so-called Gulen movement, a faith-based network centered on the charismatic preacher Fethullah Gulen that promotes a mild and modern understanding of Islam. Started in the 1960s, it now runs or influences, through its adherents, a large network of businesses, think tanks, newspapers and television stations — as well as a successful chain of tutorial colleges and private schools.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Kimse Yok Mu lends helping hand to 3,000 orphans in 4 countries

Coexistence Awards largely honor Turkey’s minority groups

Turkish entrepreneurs open eye hospital in Senegal

Prove it [that Hizmet linked to graft operation]

Kimse Yok Mu: A charity with a difference

Religious freedom threatened by Turkey’s response to coup

Rumi Forum Pakistan for fostering intercultural dialogue

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News