“Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.”
Psalms 103:1
My name is Laurie, and I live with my husband on the west coast of the vast country of Canada. I am blessed to be surrounded by the beauty of the natural revelation of our God. Towering trees, rushing streams, crashing ocean waves and majestic mountains frame the city of Victoria.
Although a “developed country”, the need for the Savior is great in Canada. Often against the backdrop of “much”, the struggles become those of complacency, independence and the acceptance of sin as normal. How that must grieve God who longs for us to seek Him with all our hearts, to lean on Him only for all our needs, and to set apart all our lives for Him in holiness.
I am eternally grateful that the Holy Spirit called me when I was but a child of 12. Special meetings were held at a local church to which I and my mother had been invited. Each day the thought of God choosing me to be a part of His Bride for His Son before the foundation of the world fills me with wonder, much encouragement and humility. Although my life has been strafed with sorrows and many challenges – God has had His Hand on me.
After college I ended up working in the very department I graduated from and was drawn to teaching. Completing an Instructor’s Diploma the Lord affirmed through many sources that teaching was something I was gifted at. It is hard to match the excitement of seeing someone grasp a concept or skill and make it their own. Truly students leave the class better for being there. This stirred me to want to translate this experience into teaching and learning the Word and encouraging the Walk of my fellow believers. I have felt this avenue may have closed due to an accident I had. I now feel I had lessons to learn and God has been schooling me in anticipation of His plan for me. His timing, as always, is perfect.
Although a door is not open at the moment to fulfil this desire to teach “officially”, I believe opportunities are all around to instruct others about our wonderful Lord. The way we live speaks volumes. It is my job to be ready, as Paul told Timothy, to “be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Tim. 2:21)
This is why I was excited to discover CLI which gives ministry training in Canada as well as everywhere else in the world. It was an opportunity to marry my desire, my own studies, and the biblical-based curriculum of the Christian Leaders Institute. The online program was just what I was praying for – something I could work on at my own pace with my health needs, disability, and without the financial burden. Now, that is a ministry! God richly bless you! I long to be prepared for God’s moment.
I would ask you to join me in prayer in asking “that He may grant me, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, and that the Messiah may dwell in my heart through faith. That I may be rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that I may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
(Eph. 3:16-19)
I’m currently living in the United States, in the state of Maine. In general, doing ministry in the USA is challenging. Where there isn’t currently the threat of persecution to the same degree it is in other countries, there are many opponents to the gospel message and strong political forces that would otherwise eliminate Christian thinking if possible. With a very large “melting pot” within the borders, it is possible to affect a worldwide audience without leaving the country.
My ministry dream centers around a few things and I’m certain my focus will be more fine-tuned as I continue through my coursework with CLI. I have a strong interest in the spiritual disciplines (meditation, fasting, solitude, simplicity, etc.) that the early Church Fathers demonstrated and I’ve always been inspired by men like Francis of Assisi. I believe I will use my biblical studies and writing gift to work toward spiritual formation materials and probably leading or co-leading groups with that. I’m also a fervent lover of nature and animals and have a strong conviction that Christ-followers ought to be leading the way toward reconciling the earth and its creatures. I believe although we (rightfully) see our fellow man as fellow “image bearers” we often do it to a fault. In our fervency to “save the world”, we’re forgetting that the world is made up of more than people. Too many think Christianity is anti-enviroment, this is a sad mistake. While we believe that worshiping nature is wrong, we are instructed in the Bible to be stewards of God’s creation. So my dream is to work in helping followers in their disciplines and see real transformation and I’m also interested in creation care.
Initially, before I started looking at schooling, I thought perhaps I’d be a pastor. I took several online spiritual gift tests and rank high in discernment, teaching and giving. First I thought I would just go on a sabbatical, staying at a monastery for a weekend or taking a guided retreat. But those searches led me to feel pulled toward a deeper ministry and pursuing a college degree. I spent a lot of time contemplating and praying about my new direction and, through a set of circumstances, happened upon the Christian Leaders Institute site and was immediately attracted to their model of not charging for REAL Biblical studies training. Often the church tends to reinvent the gospel or make it a commercial enterprise, but Jesus never did that kind of thing. He didn’t charge His disciples to follow Him around and CLI is showing true Christianity with this model. CLI makes ministry training available to everyone.
I have worked many different jobs since leaving my five-month DTS, pursuing many different careers. Sometime in 2011 I started thinking about going back to school. I hadn’t gone to college at this point and was thinking I’d pursue English or better my writing as that was my strongest interest at the time. That aspiration got shelved for the time being, but in late 2014 I lost my job. I knew of a temporary assignment I could take and decided to take the time to reassess and figure things out.
Christian Leaders Institute is so very important to my ministry goals and dreams because it allows a cash and time strapped father, husband, and full-time worker to pursue what might otherwise be improbable. It allows me to do it as I can, it provides experienced and knowledgeable faculty and makes it available to the entire world.
My name is Joshua Makawa. I come from a country whose religious history and the church are darkened by Idi Amin’s tyrant regime against the gospel. Amin ruled Uganda between 1971-1979. When I read from the history of Uganda’s religion, my passion increases to embrace the gospel all the more. My hope is a chapter of revival in an oppressed land starts today and the banned evangelistic movements come back stronger than before.
How I came to know the Lord
My journey to Christianity is unique. I yearned for a spiritual connection with God, so I joined a cult because I wanted to see the “so called” prophetess lady who lived by country side through my sister. She was travelling with a group of “born again” so I had to be “born again” in order to meet face to face with this prophetess “woman of God”. Her description compelled my heart to accept the invitation. I was a young boy of 18 years at the time. I was told that the prophetess woman of God had super ordinary eyes. Of course it wasn’t true! But as a young boy, who wanted to achieve what I had accepted, I was eager to believe and make a difference. Little did I know that she ‘the prophetess’ was the leader of a cult, a liar, an agent of the darkest kingdom claiming to live within the house of God! Her teachings were not of scripture and after five years I finally changed to the church because this cult hindered my spiritual growth. This was in 1993 when I started down the path to Christianity. I served with a new church and discovered that missionary work was quite interesting to me.
It was in the year 2001 that I attended a Christian Congress in Nairobi- Kenya. I was empty during this time of the meeting to things concerning a ministry. But something during that congress touched my heart. I was called to reach out to a hurting world of abandoned children who find it hard to live in dark and harsh conditions on the streets. To minister to the lonely poor and elderly in their homes, to the prisoners, and to the sick in hospitals. The congress at Easter taught me secret weapons of changing the hearts of many people using the gospel. I learned the gospel is not for selfish motives, but for the defense of weaker people. The gospel is a uniting factor, warring against the dictatorships of materialism, which comes only with intention to cause division in humanity. The gospel has helped me to stay closer to people who are abandoned, staying in lonely places, visiting the ghettos of this world, and the poor with my missionary work. The gospel looks at humanity as one family.
In my community I’m identified as Pastor/Evangelist.
My Biblical Pursuit
Jesus according to the gospel in Mathew 9:36-37, the gospel writes; ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’’. ‘Get this as the picture of the world today’. People are looking for directions. As a leader of the ministry of the gospel I need to help in the proper guidance of direction for the people in the interest of the will of God.
This is my ministry, ‘Proper guidance for my community to live together, work together, and listen the gospel together. This is what it means to live as a one family.’
The Unique Challenge of Ministry in Uganda
In Kampala much unrest in the city is a result of the lack of respect. Respect is very important amongst the people. Without respect the young ones ridicule the old ones, their peer groups, their teachers or guardians, their parents etc. The youth have always violated against the will of the old people’s longevity in existence because they are looking for properties. They want them to die, thinking that when they die there is a possibility for them to acquire the land and other properties, which after selling them, they purchase motor bike (boda-boda) for transport business in towns and many cities. Some of the old people are being lynched to death, under claims that these elderly are actually “witch doctors”. In some places in Africa the Old are condemned by the population to death. This is a growing trend which needs to be closed down. There is no alliance between generations. This hatred against the old people in Africa has eaten up our society and the youth are the masterminds of these projects seemingly intended to injure the old people and to leave them lonely till death. Building an alliance between generations is what my ministry is aiming at. The harmony of the people, by the people, and for the people.
My Local Church’s Support
One of the local churches’ gave us the space to share love with children from slums with social and scholastic difficulties. The support to these children with various difficulties requires the heart of good men and women that look at other people as fellow brothers or sisters. We are lobbying for space within the church premises for an entertainment form them as well for the old people! Old people find it joy to be reminded of their old youthful days with music.
My Family’s Role in Ministry
My family always prays for me that we prosper in the works of God and the entire ministry to acquire many fruits.
Why CLI has an Important for My Ministry in Uganda
A scholarship with CLI would enable me to learn outreach programs with intimacy. Because of the limited funds to enrol for seminary institutes in Uganda, at CLI, I see the opportunity to accomplish this dream. I need to learn various methods of missionary work to communities. The world is hungry for God. A materialistic approach to life and dictatorships in our world decay the hearts of people. Outreach programs in lonely places and societies often abandoned is where I want to serve.