Discipleship Training -I listened to Ray Vander Laan of Follow the Rabbi. He gave a presentation at Holland Christian High School. Ray talked about discipleship training. Jesus not only mentored his disciples, he taught them how to mentor others. Ray Vander Laan showed us how discipleship training related directly to the metaphor of the “shepherd”. Rabbis in the first century Israel were to be shepherds to their disciples, so as to send them out to disciple others. Discipleship training 
included the training to be a better disciple and training to make disciples.
Ray Vander Laan showed pictures of grass on the hills and the mountains of Israel. The first thing we noticed in the pictures is that there is not a lot of green grass in the holy land. Vander Laan explained that “green pastures” means different things in different parts of the world. In the holy lands green pastures are harder to come by so the shepherds need to have insights into where the green pastures actually exist.
To be Christian leaders, we need to be pastors and leaders who stay close to our great Shepherd, Jesus. Ray Vander Laan repeated an ancient Rabbi saying. I wrote it down:
“Find a Rabbi. Drink his words like you are thirsty. Always be covered with the dust of his feet.”
Discipleship Training – Staying Close to the Savior
A Christian Leader needs to drink up the Word of God with thirst and daily stay close to the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Christian Leaders Institute believes that every student needs to be covered with the dust of the feet of Jesus. When someone starts at Christian Leaders Institute, they take a getting started class that deals with staying in a close walk with God in part one of the class.
Discipleship Training – Knowing Where The Grass is Located
The second part of the class is about knowing where the “green” grass is located.The second part of the class deals with basic Christian doctrine. When you conclude this class you receive your first award at Christian Leaders Institute, THE CHRISTIAN BASICS CERTIFICATE. This is a great way to start your discipleship training at Christian Leaders Institute.
After you receive this Christian Basics Certificate, you are given a scholarship to take any of the 22 advanced ministry training courses. A more advanced certificate is the Christian Leaders Certificate which includes 23 credits. The classes are the following:
- Getting Started Class: Reproducible Walk With God and Christian Basics (7 Credits)
- Old Testament Survey (3 Credits)
- New Testament Survey (3 Credits)
- Church and Ministry (3 credits)
- Pastoral Care and Marriage (3 Credits)
- Church History (4 Credits)
Discipleship Training at CLI then includes four more diploma levels. You can check out the entire program at Christian Leaders Institute. Click here
Ray Vander Laan’s class was inspiring and informative. I would love to have Ray Vander Laan become a professor at Christian Leaders Institute. I was inspired to stay close to Christ and learn where the grass is located so that I may lead others.
Minister Training – Pastor Bob De Vries preached a stirring message yesterday about the training method of Jesus. Jesus called ordinary people, some of them hardly educated, the “B” team. He schooled his leaders in an 18 month minister training course, which included mentorship, teachings, and practical experience.
We call that discipleship.
Minister Training – Three Lessons
First, He really did call a “B” team. Jesus called leaders for minister training who had much less than a college diploma (Fisherman). He called leaders with a past (Saul of Tarsus). Jesus called outsiders (Matthew, the Tax Collector).
Third, minister training is necessary. Jesus did not just call them and send them. He spent time with them giving them teachings about the kingdom and solid doctrine, which have been passed on to us. He mentored them about life issues. He also sent them out two by two into ministry situations. Then he helped process their experiences in order to prepare them for ministry after he was gone.
Christian Leaders Institute is seeking to mirror that method of Jesus for minister training. Jesus still calls leaders into ministry. We welcome all leaders, but we specialize in training “B” team types. People who have a past and are now outside the normal curve. People who would not get into a seminary, but have a calling. Leaders who have little money, but will give their lives to Christ. These leaders are from everywhere the gospel has been preached. They are the spiritual children of the missionaries. They live in the inner cities of the US and Nigeria, for instance. They are the children of single moms and the poor. They are older than 70 sometimes; they are younger than 20 sometimes. They all have a story and we are glad to be part of it!
God is gathering this “”B” team and Christian Leaders Institute has found a way to keep them with their local mentor/pastor. CLI will deliver high quality minster training to these leaders with free tuition.
Are you called to ministry? Do you want to receive minister training? Click here to start filling out your application into a getting started class that secures your scholarship. Get your advanced minister training on the web brought right where you are!
Preach the Gospel – Emmanuel needs training the preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior in Ghana. He shares his testimony and journey in this article.
“My name is Emmanuel Gyimah and I am currently in the Ghana. In Ghana is very interesting and wonderful to preach the gospel. The country is a christian country but most of the people are glued to the doctrines of their church other than what the bible actually teaches. By the grace of God gradually people are being brought back to what the bible actually says. And also as for some people like myself we are faced with the challenge of the fathers not allowing us and encouraging us but rather bringing our spirits down and discouraging us.
Currently most of the youth are being raised by God to take up certain positions and do marvelous things and preach the gospel. I was born into a christian country but I was much of a church goer than a believer. I encountered the Lord when I felt very sick at age 12 and in the course of my sickness I had series of dreams of dreams where I usually walked with God and He always spoke to me about what he is going to do with my life and for about two weeks I started to see angels as normal human beings with bodies.”
The power of Jesus has inspired Emmanuel to preach the gospel
“I became interested in the things of the lord and am going to preach the gospel because of what I had seen and the promises he gave me. My dream is to help young ministers by way of training them and deploying them to all parts of the world to spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to prove the power of His might. Also to let people be aware of the coming of Christ. A scholarship at CLI will help me to acquire more knowledge on what to do and what not do as a minister and also to gain more knowlegde to train others.
Currently it is very expensive and difficult for some young ministers like myself to enroll in institutions that equip us to preach the gospel like CLI in Ghana because my parents are not in support of my calling. I want you to pray for me so that the grace of God will be much on me and God should open doors for me to serve as an inspiration to my colleagues and also to gain more knowledge to train the people that God will bring into my life. Thank you and God bless you for what you have availed yourselves to be used as vessels to bless some of us when we thought all hopes are lost. Amen”
Emmanuel has finished the Christian Basics Certificate. He continues to preach the gospel thanks to generous donors of Christian Leaders Institute.