If you’re feeling called to be a pastor, there are thousands of voices around the world clamoring for your attention and your wallet. But what if you could attend a free international online bible school? What if the internet could bring everything you need to be trained up as a pastor or a leader in the church directly to your home? What if you didn’t have to relocate to a physical campus area and find thousands of dollars annually to pay high tuition costs?
What we are seeing today is that these questions are no longer hypothetical. The internet and other technologies have advanced to the point where what was unthinkable even 10 years ago is now an emerging reality. As time goes on, distance education and online learning have made it possible for people to receive training from colleges and universities around the world, no matter where they live physically.
Of course, there’s one problem for many people. It’s still not free. The cost may be lower than physically relocating and paying full tuition for a university or seminary, but the cost is still there. Many people in western culture may think of the cost as minimal enough to be negligible. However, the reality is that there are people all over the world who can’t afford even this marginal expense to complete the necessary training.
Christian Leaders Institute Develops a Free International Online Bible School
According to Wikipedia, the first distance learning program utilizing the internet as its primary media was developed in 1996 and named Jones International University. In the first decade, online study saw little growth, with only 8% of students studying at post-secondary schools being enrolled in online classes by 2004. However, by 2008 that number had grown to around 20%, and today more than a third of all post-secondary students are enrolled in at least one online course.
In the early stages of online education, Christian Leaders Institute founder and president Henry Reyenga received his calling to train leaders for Christ all over the world. As God connected him to the right people, he began to develop a free international online bible school. This bible school, named “Christian Leaders Institute,” launched it’s first courses with only six students. Over the next decade, President Henry Reyenga and a dedicated staff constantly tested and improved the CLI online learning model. In about 10 years, Christian Leaders Institute has grown to more than thousands of active graduates and graduates and over 30,000 applications processed in 2013.
Through that time the resolve was tested. Was it really the best option to not charge students anything for this training? Shouldn’t they be required to pay for ministry classes of this caliber? These are questions that came up often as Christian Leaders Institute grew. It was the dedication to the mission – to bring high quality pastoral training to those who couldn’t afford it – that is the reason that CLI still does not require students to pay for these classes.
Why a Free International Online Bible School and not a Missionary School?
For centuries now the church has been operating with a missionary model in foreign countries. Missionaries would go out and establish churches in countries that were not yet reached for Christ. In the middle east, missionary schools were founded as a means to connect to a native populace that was hostile toward Christianity. Schools were also used in countries like India, the Philippines, and other poor countries as a means to reach the local populace.
The concept of a mission school is fairly simple. First the organizer of the school project will seek to raise sufficient funds for the school to be built. Then a missionary team will be trained in the native language, or classes will be offered in English if the natives speak the language. After that, the team will be sent out the country to build the school, giving the people education while sharing the gospel with them at the same time.
Not only does this provide educational benefits for the native populaces of these countries, it also seems to accelerate church growth in the regions where such schools are implemented. Church meetings are often held in the same building as the schools. The parents of the children who are receiving their education – which of course includes information about the Bible, God, and the work of Jesus on the cross – will be brought to the church either by their children or by invitation of the missionaries. Once the first is brought in, more will follow.
So why not do the same thing for pastoral training? The concept could be the same. Raise money, send in a specialized team, and establish a local seminary building right in the area you want to go. You don’t need a traditional campus in the local area. Something large enough to hold a few students and books would be sufficient.
Yet, regardless of how we consider the implementation of a free international online bible school there is no way to reach more geographically diverse locations with greater speed or more financial efficiency than the internet. The internet is now present in most if not all countries in the world. While a local seminary can reach a fairly large local geographic area, the internet is not constrained by geographic locality. Each new area would require a new bible school to be built, which in turn would require more money to be raised and a new team to be trained and sent out. It is for these reasons that when all methods of implementation were considered, the internet stood out above all other possibilities.
The Focus on Ministry Training
Christian Leaders Institute recognizes that there are already many organizations that are sending and commissioning people with the goal of gaining new disciples for Christ. Our goal is not to compete with these people and organizations. Rather, we seek to find a specific group of people among indigenous disciples of Christ – those called to lead His people. We want to provide training for those who are called to be pastors and evangelists throughout the world so that they are better prepared to preach the word and instruct people in sound doctrine and in the living out of the Christian faith.
While some organizations in the past have tried to maintain western cultural control in the areas that they visit, Christian Leaders Institute wants to train leaders who are indigenous to the environment. We believe leaders who are native to the country where they serve God will be more effective than foreigners transplanted from other, often more wealthy, countries. This is why we seek to provide training in sound biblical doctrine and living a reproducible walk with God to people all over the world, and we are determined that there will never be mandatory cost associated with this training. By the Lord’s will we will remain a free international online bible school where many leaders of His church receive their training.
For a long time Christian Leaders Institute was not affiliated with any accrediting organizations. Because of the nature of the mission of CLI, the expenses involved in traditional accreditation were just not feasible for this ministry. However, accreditation is a question that comes up a lot, and with good reason. Yet many of the people who ask about accreditation aren’t entirely aware of its meaning.
What is Accreditation?
When most people hear accreditation, they associate it with credibility. They know that accreditation means something in education. They know that it’s something desirable. However, if the issue is pressed most people will admit that they are not entirely sure what precisely accreditation means or why it gives educational institutions credibility.
Accreditation is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the granting of power to perform various acts or duties. In terms of educational accreditation, Wikipedia defines it as “a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.” This agency is known as an accrediting organization.
Accrediting Organizations and Their Role in Educational Accreditation
Accrediting organizations exist with the purpose of overseeing the accreditation of educational institutions. They evaluate campuses, classes, diplomas, and degrees offered based on a set of standards agreed upon by a board of qualified members. If the educational institution applying for accreditation is not found to be in compliance with all standards, they are notified of the rejection of their application with one or more codes that delineate the reasons for rejected. If they meet all standards of the organizations accreditation requirements, they become full members of the organization and receive accreditation.
There are various accrediting organizations that exist throughout the world. Since Christian Leaders Institute was founded in the United States, the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada would have been of particular interest. This organization is the major accrediting organization for theological schools all over the country, including Calvin Theological Seminary and Moody Theological Seminary.
The Association of Theological Schools, or ATS, includes over 270 graduate schools of theology in various denominations. Admission into this association and the transition from associate member to full member are a lengthy process with costly requirements such as tenured professors and extensive physical libraries. The application process includes a $1000 initial application cost and a $2300 fee for initial evaluation. This, however, is small change compared to the enormous amount of income that is required to maintain a large physical library and a physical campus with amenities, pay tenured professors, counselors, and other faculty members.
Traditional Accrediting Organizations didn’t Fit Christian Leaders Institute’s Mission
Christian Leaders Institute was founded with a single goal: to bring ministry training to everyone in the world who needed it, even those who couldn’t afford it. When you are bringing ministry training to people with no money, there are certain realities that come with that.
CLI didn’t choose the non-accreditation route because we have anything against accreditation or accrediting organizations. It was a choice based on necessity. Even with some very generous donors to start Christian Leaders Institute off, the costs required to maintain the necessary resources for accreditation were impossible if we held to our mission of training people for ministry without charging them any money. If we had chosen to seek accreditation through traditional means, CLI would be required to abandon the vision of free ministry training. There would be no possibility of maintaining an entirely free ministry training school or seminary with a physical location, physical library, and full faculty on campus.
The Strength of Non-Accreditation
Some people would say the phrase “strength of non-accreditation” is an oxymoron. However, during the initial years of operation we discovered this was not the case. In fact, the non-accreditation factor produced success in reaching those who had no other means. People who came to study at CLI were truly motivated to be trained as pastors, teachers, and church leaders because they were called. Many already served in some capacity, including pastor, because their community lacked anyone better qualified to fill that role. They didn’t care about accreditation. They just knew that they could do better with training, and they sought training out where they could find it.
What they discovered at CLI was that non-accreditation doesn’t mean low quality. The courses were rigorous, and students who weren’t truly called would end up dropping out because of the work required to complete them. Students who did complete the courses expressed their satisfaction at the changes they could see in their own preaching and teaching. They would also share how their congregations had noticed the changes. They affirmed that the courses were indeed producing fruit in their lives and in their teaching.
Non-Traditional Accrediting Organizations Emerge
Christian Leaders Institute is not adverse to accreditation. In fact, we recognize the benefits of having a peer review process by which your standards are examined and tested. As it says in Proverbs, “Iron sharpens Iron, and one man sharpens another. (ESV)” However, as stated before, initially accreditation wasn’t an option for us.
Then, while doing some research on theological education, one of our team members stumbled across a new possibility. As educational capabilities evolved with the improvements in technology, the realization was starting to arise that an educational institution could have a great program without a traditional brick and mortar building. The team member discovered an accrediting organization called the Academic Council for Educational Accountability, or ACEA. Unlike some other accrediting organizations, ACEA was not tied to approval by the U.S. Board of Education or the requirements that come with it.
While the greater credibility of the U.S. Board of Education and other more traditional accrediting organizations were not present with ACEA, this non-traditional accrediting organization also did not carry with it the necessity of physical location, physical libraries, and full faculty including tenured professors, counselors, and the like. The leaders recognized that the internet holds many resources that can be used in teaching, including old and modern scholarly books, various sermons from preachers in all denominations, and even biblical Greek study aids. Research that would formerly have been done wading through page after page of various books in a library could now be done with a few short commands on a keyboard.
In light of this, ACEA provides accreditation through a strictly peer-review process. The process evaluates courses, training programs, and the like based on the educational merits and the dedication of the faculty to quality theological education. Membership fees are substantially lower, and there are no requirements for physical campuses or physical extensive libraries.
When we discovered ACEA, Christian Leaders Institute quickly took advantage of the opportunity to incorporate a peer-review process into our organization. We applied for membership and received approval to join the ACEA community of Christian theological education institutions. This membership in a peer-review accrediting organization will be beneficial to us as we seek to hold our training to the highest educational standards and train up leaders for Christ wherever they are all over the world.
Training for Ministry Is Possible For Kenyan Man
Christian Endurance- Our location does not define who we are in Christ. Only our heart, soul, and mind define the location of our walk with Jesus Christ. Many Christians face persecution and struggles, but this is what Christian endurance is all about!
Kefa Auta Machoka, a student at CLI, faces many obstacles while training for ministry in his Kisii County community in Kenya. As he says, “Most of the Kenyan communities have heard about Christ, but there are other communities that have not yet been reached with the gospel of Jesus. They include Muslim and traditional communities. These communities live in hardship areas which are sometimes hostile to Christianity.”
Training for Ministry- Born in a Challenging Place
Born in a Christian family of twelve children, seven brothers and four sisters, Kefa’s father was a pastor but had passed when he was just eight years old. As he states, “Like other children, I attended and participated in Sunday school classes. At the age of fourteen, we had visitors to our church who came to evangelize in our village. I was involved in guiding the visitors to the right places at the right times. One day as we were going to the open-air meeting, one of the evangelists asked me, “Are you saved?” “Yes,” I replied. He asked me to tell him how I knew I was saved. After my response he explained to me that I couldn’t earn my salvation by good works. He showed me that salvation is by grace and is through faith in the Lord’s work, not mine. That day, I accepted and confessed the Lord in my heart. Now I am happy knowing I am not saved by good works, but by the grace of God, so that I can do good works.”
Christian Endurance While Training For Ministry
Since the time of Kefa’s salvation, the Lord has put into his heart a burden to reach out to people who have never heard the gospel, and to explain the true way of salvation by faith. Now he is reaching many for Christ and enduring the obstacles while training for ministry as he dreams to plant churches among those who have not heard the gospel. It is his prayer to help the people of Kenya to become mature Christians who will be able to reach others for Christ. As he writes,”Most people depend on relief food. I am working with a local faith based agency which supports us when they have received donations from local churches. My own local church has not understood our calling. When we share with them how the Lord is working and our experiences, they sympathize with us, but suggest that we go back home.”
But for Kefa and others in training for ministry in Kenya, the challenges they face include:
Loneliness. There are only a few churches and they have been planted far apart and only have a few members. The loneliness because they do not have people to fellowship with nor to help in their training in ministry.
Illiteracy and opposition. The majority of the East Pokot people are traditionalists and illiterate. They do not understand the national language -Kiswahili nor can they read any written material or speak Kiswahili. This has forced them to learn their language so that they can communicate. Christianity is a threat to their traditional practices and therefore they are against anything associated with Christianity.
Getting internet services. In relation to taking CLI classes and training for ministry, the biggest challenge is getting internet services because the network doesn’t cover everywhere. Kefa must move about 500 meters from his home to search for a network. Also, because of the lack of external power supply, sometimes laptop shutdowns happen before they have done all the work needed to. Yet, despite this and other challenges, Kefa knows he will be able to do his lessons to accomplish his training for ministry.
Training for Ministry No Matter What It Takes
Even under such opposition, Kefa continues to find a way to continue his training for ministry through CLI with the support of those close to him. As he writes, “I thank God that my wife supports me in this ministry. CLI is of great importance to me. It will equip me for ministry so that I can be more effective and it will also help my spiritual growth. In the past, I had tried to apply to a Bible College but was unable to continue due to school fees and other admission requirements.”
Let us pray for our fellow brother in Kenya with his training in ministry as he asks, “Pray for me that God will give us strength and courage as we reach the Pokot people. Pray for our protection from the gun men in the area and the evil powers which people use to manipulate their spiritual world. Pray that God may bring these people to himself. Pray that I may be able to do the lessons effectively despite the challenges and that I may gain the skills needed for ministry. Pray for my spiritual growth and my family.”