Generosity-Driven Model of Ministry Training Changes the World
Jesus set up the first free ministry training school. Joanna, Susanna, and Joseph supported his ministry training school and his life work of redemption. This donation model of ministry training changed the world and launched the early church.
Jesus started his ministry training school by networking with fisherman and calling them: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
Interestingly, I must defend the generosity-driven model of ministry training often. I must defend that it is not cheap training. I point out that our professors are noted in both their credentials and their ministry experience. I point to the non-traditional accreditation options open for mission-driven education. I point out the opportunity of technology to deliver performance-based ministry training including lectures, quizzes, transcripts and certificates at a fraction of the cost of traditional education.
Why am I encouraged that the generosity-driven model of ministry training changes the world!
I am most encouraged that Jesus used this model of ministry training. This donation model of ministry training changed the world and can be used again to raise up leaders everywhere. I am encouraged daily by the stories of those who heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
One of these called leaders is Cassey Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen from South Africa. She writes,
I come from South Africa where everyone is free to believe what they like. On many occasions, the Lord has spoken to me in my past, but I never listened. Many times, the Lord helped me and kept me from harm. Many times, the Lord crossed my path through other people, but I never listened.
But one day, I heard Him, and it was the sweetest sound I ever heard. He called me, and I heard Him. I know now that He wants me to spread His word through evangelism. My dream would be to speak of the Lord freely and constantly to those who would listen, and let them hear His voice as I heard it.
When I read the calling of Cassey to be an evangelist, my heart is moved. I want to do everything possible to help her share Christ! I’ll help Cassey get all the ministry training she needs.
When graduates summit the stories of their life and their calling into ministry, it strengthens my resolve to defend the donation model of free ministry training. Cassey tells about her life and how God raised up a local mentor:
I had a rough start to life, but made it through His glory. Eventually, God raised up a woman who mentored me and helped me grow in my faith. I did not know this lady was a strong believer in Christ, although I knew she believed. She showed me the way, and taught me how to listen. It was a long journey, and she never pushed. She allowed the Lord to do His own work within her and me. When I experienced this, I knew that after becoming a believer, I would also want to ignite the spiritual fire in others and allow the Lord to do His gracious work to allow them to believe.
Christian Leaders Institute values the work of mentors. We ask new students to include their mentors in their ministry training. We also ask local churches and pastors to get involved. Our ordination program at CLI helps students become ordained at a local level as a ministry deacon. The local church involvement for called leaders is vital. Cassey has that kind of support.
My local church has been very supportive as they have received me as a ministry deacon. It is very difficult to translate from English to Afrikaans as my home language is English and my church is Afrikaans. This is one challenge I face in doing ministry.
Christian Leaders Institute is passionate about training local leaders for local churches. This donation free model will help churches in every nation train more qualified leaders. As I promote and defend the donation-free model, I see everyday that the donation model of ministry training changes the world in nearly 15o nations with thousands of graduates. See Global impact.
Cassey understands this at a personal level,
A CLI scholarship is very important for me! In the past, one did not need to be considered “qualified” in order to render services of things to which one had experience. But these days, we all need an “education” before people will listen. People want to see that we have qualifications and a quality education before they will even turn their faces toward us.
Cassey is right about that. In the 1990s, I was also about raising up local leaders and helping them do ministry. Most failed because of lack of training and lack of respect for their leadership. CLI was started so that every called Christian leader would get the training and respect needed to do well in ministry. I am called to make this training available everywhere to everyone God calls!
This donation model of ministry training changes the world because of the leaders God calls into ministry. It is the Christian leaders that do the work of the gospel. Cassey understands this and she asks for prayer. She recognizes the role of God’s presence and power in her life:
My prayer I would ask for would be for the support to learn and reach new heights in the understanding of the Word. A prayer to help understand and translate my understanding so that others may understand. A prayer to allow others to see the Lord working in me and allow me to talk with them and allow them to hear.
I feel that way about the donation model of ministry training. I pray daily for the support to learn how to reach new heights for training called Christian leaders grounded in God’s Word. I pray that we will be able to reach the world by translating this training into more languages like French, Spanish, and Chinese. I pray that that the Lord will allow millions of called leaders to find CLI. I pray that God will enable the entire CLI team of professors, staff, graduates, and me to be used by God to change a world in chaos through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Donation Model of Ministry Training Changes the World Though Your Faithful Giving – Give Now
Kendell T. O’Brien of Toronto, Canada – Christian Basics Graduate.
Toronto Free Ministry Training – “READY TO ANSWER GOD’S CALL”
Heavenly blessings in the Name of The Lord Jesus Christ! My name is Kendell T. O’Brien, and I am 39 years old. I am married to my gorgeous and lovely wife Samantha, and we have two adorable children.
I live in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world; it is very exciting to see. However, it is heartbreaking to know that millions have not surrendered their lives to Jesus.
When I was a little boy, I truly asked Jesus into my heart. When I got older, I began to make my own choices, which caused me to stray. I began to get full of the world; my eyes were blinded and my ears were dull to hearing the Truth.
In 1996, for about the entire month of August, God graciously began to pour out His Spirit upon my life in a series of supernatural encounters. I knew he was seeking me as according to LUKE 19:10, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Then on August 31st 1996, I cried out to Him, surrendering my life to His Lordship. That day, I was born again and fill with His Spirit.
My dream is to see my city, my nation, and this world to encounter one of the greatest REVIVAL the world have ever seen, and to see others like me doing the same.
I have at times sought a way where I can be equipped to go and do whatever The Lord has purposed my wife and I to do, but there seemed to be no way. Then I stumbled across The Christian Leaders Institute website, after typing in “Ready to answer God’s call”.
I am currently serving as an Elder in my church. In the past I was involved in various ministries, the most recent as a Youth Leader. My wife and I are current Life Coach Leaders(one of our church various ministries). We mentor and lead a small group in our home, to help them grow in Christ and become disciples for Him.
Having a scholarship at CLI will be a tremendous blessing to me and my family. My wife and I prayed for God to make a way, and thank God, He did! The fields are ripe for harvest and we must fulfill Jesus’s commission(Matt. 28:19-20).
Whereever you live in this world, this Toronto Free Ministry Training not just offered in Toronto. Enroll now yourself!
This New York Graduate has ministry dreams as he continues his studies at Christian Leaders Institute.
Now the age of 27, I am glad to be the husband of my lovely wife, and father to our spirited son (with one more on the way, due April 2 2016). I was raised in church and involved with numerous ministry activities and outreaches throughout my childhood and young adult life. Though I had somewhat of an understanding of who God is, and though I had wonderful examples of walks with God in both of my parents, somehow I had not yet fully set my heart in God’s hands.
Around the ages of 19-20 years old I was a wayward young man; I was still attending chirch services 2-3 times a week, but my heart was far from God, and my actions proved it. It was at that age that I began to search in the wrong places for satisfaction and purpose, only to find myself without any particular direction or identity. I would float from one group of friends to the next, always craving to be in the middle of the next big event. I quickly found out that the sorrow and guilt of living a life apart from God were far worse than it seemed, no matter how great I dreamed the independence would feel. No party, no relationship, no thrill or experience could appear to fill the void in my heart. After some deep searching along with some divine intervention, I came to know Jesus at a more personal level. I was invited by a friend to visit Mexico on a quick mission trip, where I was invited to share my testimony.
I frantically opened up a Bible to look for something I could say, but quickly realized that my testimony was no better than the prodigal son before he returned home. I returned home after that trip with a new desire to know God, and a deep hunger for His word. Out of that time I began a new walk with God, that did not rely on the influence of others, but rather a deep understanding of my Savior’s love for me personally. Now I can say with absolute certainty that I know the Lord for myself; He is no longer the God of my father and mother, but my personal savior and friend. From that point on, despite the many attacks of the enemy, my foundation has been strong. The decision of choosing God for myself as a young man, and the experience of encountering His love and presence in my life, has been the beginning of a great walk with God which has only grown stronger with time.
You could say that I come from a family pedigree of ministry; not anyone famous, but some genuine, humble men of God. My paternal grandfather was an Assemblies of God pastor who planted 5+ churches throughout rural Michigan, while my maternal grandfather was an ordained Nazarene minister who spent most of his working years serving a church in a poor Hispanic community in Arizona. My father is now the pastor of a small church in rural Oregon with my mother and youngest 3 siblings. Throughout my short life I have helped to lead youth programs, Bible studies and outreach teams, while constantly looking for opportunities of one-on-one evangelism.
In December of 2013, in obedience to God’s leading, I moved with my “newly-wed” wife from San Diego, California (where I grew up) to Staten Island, New York (one of NYC’s 5 burros) to be near her family and their church, which is pastored by my father-in-law. I have been amazed at the Lord’s provision as He has faithfully supplied all that we have needed. As a young man with no degree (I initially dropped out of college to start my own business, and have not gone back), I have been blessed with an excellent job taking care of the maintenance of 2 buildings for a ministry organization in Manhattan, NY.
Over the past two years, God’s plan has been unfolding little by little, and my wife and I have been able to learn and grow together in Him. We have a growing circle of influence with new friends and family members and feel a strong calling plant a church near our home. I have for several years felt a strong calling to ministry, and one day hope to be a pastor. There are many young men and women near our home who have never known or experienced the love of God, let alone his ability to forgive and transform them from sinners into saints.
Most have grown up in Catholic homes while only attending mass for Easter and Christmas, thinking that a bite of a cracker and a sip of wine for communion will be good enough to get them into heaven. I am excited for this opportunity with Christian Leaders Institute to pursue ministry in a more studious manner while still being able to support my growing family. With a growing family in New York City, it can be difficult to get by, but with God’s provision and this new educational opportunity I am extremely glad for the scholarship offered by CLI. I am looking forward to seeing what God does next on this amazing adventure of serving Him!