Philippines Church Planting
I am Russell Cunning. My vision is to do Philippines Church Planting and to start a school in the Philippines. The school will offer free English lessons to the children who can attend. Having lived in the Ukraine, China and India, and having visited Poland, Turkey, Thailand and the Philippines, I can testify that people who speak English well will get better jobs than those with higher qualifications but poorer English skills.
As a child I attended a Protestant Sunday School and Church, and as a young adult a Protestant Church. When I was 24, I heard a man speaking about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and salvation in a way that was completely new to me. My heart was opened and I quickly came forward for prayer and made my first real commitment to God. Soon afterward I was baptized in an above-ground swimming pool! That was many years ago. For a long time I attended an Assemblies of God church in four different locations. After a personal crisis, which I was unable to handle well, I backslid for many years. While never losing my core beliefs, I did lose my faith. I had no faith to believe that God was seeing me through my trials, and chose to believe that I alone was ‘working through my problems’. It is only now where I am living in a predominantly Hindu culture, that I have begun to long for the Lord once again.
My step-mother is from the Philippines, and I have visited there on three occasions. My heart was deeply wounded each time when I saw the children on the street begging for food, even scampering past restaurant employees, to grab gnawed bones from the rubbish. I gave some cooked rice sometimes, but it was like trying to empty the Pacific with a thimble, the need was so great. I want to build a church and a school to offer free English lessons. I believe that giving a child some cooked rice will feed him or her for a day, but teaching them English will provide the opportunity to get a better job and to earn enough, so that their children will not need to beg.
Of the titles mentioned, I prefer pastor because it means ‘shepherd’. A shepherd is a guide, not a ruler. A shepherd helps and looks after the flock. It is through gentle and loving guidance, advice and counseling, as well as God driven prayer and teaching, that I see myself overseeing the church and the school.
During my years of doubt, I became a teacher of English, and soon realized that I was a natural teacher. I loved helping people to learn. I felt my lessons were the most effective when my students thought we didn’t study so much as enjoy our time together.
The Philippines presents some personal challenges for me, I am very overweight and if I didn’t feel led here, I would have chosen somewhere less humid and perhaps a bit cooler! Then there is the annual typhoon season which destroys buildings and crops, and kills many people. Another challenge is the presence of militant separatists seeking to create an independent Islamic state, and who target foreigners.
Being a properly qualified pastor is important to me, even though I know that this is a calling from the Lord. While it is God’s earth, he has put earthly rulers in place and they will want to see evidence of qualifications. I also want to ensure that during my time in the wilderness, I did not pick up any incorrect beliefs.
Though I feel like I have gained many strengths over the years, I have also become weak in other areas, so I would greatly value prayer to support my personal walk with the Lord. In teaching we have a saying: “To teach is to learn twice.” So often I have found greater understanding of something when I am teaching – and in my pastoral duties it is the same – as I explain aspects of Jesus or the Holy Spirit, I gain a deeper understanding myself.
Greetings in Jesus name. My name is Owro Charles, I am from Nigeria. Currently, I live and work in Italy but my parents are living in Nigeria. Here in Italy, Christianity is different because of the Roman Catholic teachings, which are predominant.
Because my parents are Christians I had the opportunity to grow up as a Christian and to understand what Christianity is really about. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and personal Savior and was baptized as a child. I have continued to walk with God to this day.
My ministry dream is to become a successful preacher. I know the Bible says that he who wins souls is wise. My dream is to make sure I preach the gospel to the world.
Most of the time people call me pastor, but I call myself an evangelist. I want to really move with the word of God to all parts of the world as a church planter, not as a residents pastor.
My church has played a very important role in my studies, they have encouraged me and prayed for me. My family has also really encouraged me in this because they know I have a ministry dream and this is one opportunity for me to bring it to pass.
A scholarship is very important to me because it has been a very big challenge for me to study more about the Bible. Money has always been an issue whenever I have tried to attend a ministry school, but with this opportunity, I will be able to complete my course, in Jesus name.
I need prayer to be able to complete my studies and to fulfill my ministry dreams.
My name is Nana Kweku Bennie, born in the year 1981 and I live in Ghana; From Ghana ministry training online at CLI. I am currently residing in a town called Asankrangwa in the Western Region. Fortunately for me, I was born into a Christian home. My parents were very devote Christians so it was a matter of course that my siblings and I had to attend church every Sunday morning. Thankfully, that upbringing stayed with us and when I graduated from the children’s ministry into my teens, I gave my life to Christ. This took place on 16th November, 1996. On the day, I stood before the entire congregation and prayerfully said the sinners’ prayer. On the 24th of December of the same year, I received the Holy Spirit baptism. Hallelujah!
It is a well-known fact that Ghanaians are very religious and Christianity is the dominant religion here. Since Christianity is the dominant religion, there is minimal religious or political opposition to church activities. There are lots of cooperation between the various Christian denominations here which actually creates a conducive environment for ministry. We have a very high illiteracy rate and this affects peoples understanding of issues. With low or no education, it becomes difficult to inculcate modern ideas which usually is a break-away from the status quo.
My dream for ministry is to stay on the course that the Holy Spirit has been leading me on ever since I sensed a calling upon my life. I have graciously been gifted with a wonderful teaching ability and understanding that in the coming years, my desire is to write books, journals and write ups explaining key biblical truths to the Christian community both locally and internationally. My prayer is also that during my teaching services, the Holy Spirit will manifest His power to deliver, heal and encounter people in exceptional ways.
I tend to identify myself as youth leader because I love to work with the youth. Most of my activities in my ministry has been centred on the development of the youth. I hope to continue in that line even if I progress into other offices in ministry.
The Bible makes me understand that out of the mouths of two or three witnesses, a something is established. There have been more than three prophecies concerning my work as a minister of the gospel during prayer meetings. Before these prophecies, I have had dreams where I see myself ministering to people in diverse ways.
In Africa, one key challenge to effective ministry is witchcraft and black magic. These present strong battle grounds in the spiritual realm. If one is able to engage an effective spiritual warfare to defeat these spiritual hood hogs, you will have a successful ministry. The other challenge is ministry training. If you ever wanted to upgrade your knowledge in ministry, you have to leave your post and enroll in a Bible school and stay on campus. This serves as a big barrier for further studies.
I have the backing of my Senior Pastor who has been a constant source of encouragement to me. Also since I will not need to travel before undertaking this course, my team of executive and study group are excited about the course and after completion, others have expressed interest in enrolling at CLI.
By the grace of God, I have been married to a woman who has been my prayer partner for many years. She is really interested in my ministry and this phase presents a new opportunity for ministry.
Enrolling at CLI has really actualized the adage killing two birds with one stone. Once I secured a scholarship at CLI, I have been relieved from the burden of having to make a savings of a specific amount for at least five years in order to enroll in a bible college. In this way, my family’s finances have not been affected much. However, if I need to stay on campus to undertake my course at the bible college, it means I have to stop working altogether. In short, a scholarship from CLI has helped me realize my dream of ministry training and at the same time working along the way to support my family.
I will need prayer support to stay strong and focussed in accomplishing whatever the Lord has commissioned me to do.
Thanks