My name is Christopher (Chris) Steggles, and I live with my wife Sue in Eastleigh, which is a town close to the City of Southampton in the UK. We have been married for 34 years and have three daughters now all living away from home. Professionally I am a retired Information Technology Consultant, a field I went into in 1968.
I had been loosely connected with the Church since I was a child I went to Sunday School and maintained some connections over the years. But I became a Christian in 1970 in the Open Brethren. They gave a solid grounding in Scripture, and I was baptised in 1971. I had some problems with alcohol in the years 1972-1975 but came back to a relationship with Jesus and was an active member of one of the Restoration Churches in London. But my problems with alcohol were not quite over – and my first marriage came apart in 1981. God’s Grace cannot be measured – despite all my problems, He brought Sue and me together, and I started to resolve my alcohol problem. It took some time – and with active participation in both Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the Church I finally achieved a measure of sobriety.
With 23 years of sobriety, I have now been very active in AA over the past nine years. I have a clear vision that the level of fellowship achieved in AA is what we so desperately need in the Church. Philip Yancey talks about this in his books – he refers to the Midnight Church as demonstrating the deep commitment of AA members to one another.
I have shared this vision with two of our pastors – I am not sure they fully understand it, but I have their support, and my senior pastor has arranged a suitable mentor for me.
I believe that God has called me to preach the message of real commitment to both Jesus and each other within the Church. A meeting on Sunday and a mid-week home group that does not meet every week are a mere shadow of what I believe God is calling me to. Real revival depends not only on prayer but on Christians living out the Gospel by really demonstrating that they love one another.
For this I do need some formal Bible College training – it’s a missing area for myself, and it will show commitment to my church leadership team. Why CLI? I am retired on a modest pension, and UK Bible College fees are simply unaffordable.
In terms of prayer, please ask God to show clearly to me the path He wants me to take. Step 11 of the AA program states that I should seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out. That’s what I need!
Hey Local Christian Leaders,
Many new churches are failing. Why?
Church planting is necessary for the spread of Christianity, and we need to find effective ways to plant churches that do well. If you are looking into church planting, learn why new churches fail!
Check out this video about this topic. I hope it helps you!
Yours,
Henry Reyenga
Christian Leaders Institute
P.S. Christian Leaders Institute has recently launched new church planter training and ordination. Click here to see this video. We are recruiting leaders to be part of the Christian Leaders Alliance.
P.P.S. Some of you may want to restart your training. Login here at Christian Leaders Institute.
Strong Foundation
CLI graduate, Christina Morgan and her husband have built a life on God’s strong Foundation and hope to bring others to that strong foundation in their life.
Hello. My name is Christina Morgan, and I live in the United States. In 2011, I married a wonderful Christian man that I met through Singles Ministry. Before we married, we declared that God was our foundation, and I try to live that out through kingdom work. Though we legally have the freedom to worship, ministry in the United States is difficult because people are most content to ignore religion entirely and live for the day. I always dreamed of being able to volunteer and help in those many activities in which the church needs volunteers. Being single most of my life, I did not have time to commit fully to much. God has blessed me with a husband who finds my unpaid work for Christ more important than any other job I could have. Since we have the opportunity for me to remain at home, I have embraced all the ministry opportunities God has placed before me.
Christina Strong foundation was built at a young age and hard time in her life.
I have been a Christian most of my life. When I was in 1st grade, a VBS came to my school, and I accepted Christ into my heart. My parents had divorced before I was 1, and there were many difficult days ahead in my life. Those women who dedicated themselves to that Children’s Ministry gave me the armor I needed to be protected throughout my life.
Christina willingly wants to bring a strong foundation to those hurting in her community.
I currently work in several ministries in my community. I want to be educated and equipped to take these ministries as far as they can go. I want to have resources to grow the ministries and others within them. I am a small group and women’s ministry leader. I want to pursue every avenue God shows me to do my best work for Him.
I live in the American South or the Bible Belt, so I have the most openly Christian area imaginable. However, so many of the people here go to church for the social appearance and acceptance. Many claims to know Christ but only know about Him, and many are as close-minded and apathetic as everywhere else. The most challenging aspect of my work seems to be getting people beyond head knowledge and into heart knowledge. Most people have heard about Jesus most of their lives, have Christian examples in their families or friend groups, but just don’t want to put in any work to living a Christian lifestyle.
Christina’s mission and strong foundation are encouraged by her church family.
I have been blessed with a church that finds me worthy to teach and lead ministry work. I feel it necessary to do justice to their faith in me by learning and studying as much as I can to strengthen my leadership abilities.
CLI has given Christina the chance to built up her strong foundation further as well as grow in her knowledge.
Christian Leaders Institute will enable me to fulfill that goal in a way I wouldn’t otherwise be able. Thanks to the goal of CLI to provide free doctrinally sound ministry education. I will be more confident, more knowledgeable, more connected with others, and more effective in ministry to my Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
I ask for prayers in growing our volunteers and encouraging our women to be women of action. Pray that we are able to reach into our community and harvest fruit for Christ. I ask that I focus on what will glorify God and not external signs of success. Mostly, I ask for prayers that my heart, and those I lead, be open to the Holy Spirit and committed to following where He leads.