Hong Kong Small Group Leader
CLI Student, Abigail Nickell, is studying at CLI so she can become a trained Hong Kong small group leader. Abigail is passionate and on fire for sharing her faith.
Read her testimony below:
My name is Abigail Nickell. I am originally from the U.K. but right now I live in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a thriving international melting pot where many cultures mix and mingle. There are a lot of churches here of many denominations, and God is certainly here using his church to seek new believers. The largest religions in Hong Kong are Buddhism and traditional ancestor worship, but Chinese people seem to be among the most open to hear the gospel and learn about Jesus, which is very encouraging. The biggest obstacle that brings challenges to sharing the gospel is a language barrier, especially for older generations. The culture barrier also might make it hard to connect with nonbelievers.
Coming to the faith I have in Jesus Christ now has been a life long journey, as I was born into a Christian home. At 10 years old I was baptized by my father, and after this, I would say my journey to discover Jesus really began. I am still on that journey today with Christ molding and making me every day! I hope and pray that I can continue on this journey and that CLI will help me along the way.
As of this moment in time, I do not have a world-changing ministry dream, but I want God to be able to use me in whatever way He sees fit, and I know that strengthening my own faith and becoming more like Jesus will help me to achieve whatever God has planned for me. So far, this class has helped to strengthen my walk with God, as it has deeply encouraged me to pursue my walk with God with more certainty, fervor, and more devotion.
I think that so far, I most identify with Hong Kong Small Group Leader. I am not a very loud person and I like to make deep connections with people. I like to really get to know people, to know where they are, where they want to be, and who they are. I want to be able to help and guide people with the little knowledge that I have. However, I do not do particularly well in large group settings. I like the intimacy of a small group where people can really feel comfortable to open up and delve deep. I know that in this world, people long for and crave true community and connection and that God intended us to be in community with one another, and I think that small groups can really help to cultivate this.
I think that the Bible always brings transformation when it is read. Even in seemingly small instances. I first really connected to the Bible when I was a 17 years old. I had been praying that I would want to read the Bible and that I would feel some desire to connect with it and God answered my prayer, surprisingly through reading Samuel and Kings. I suddenly found myself completely lost in the story of Israel and Judah and I didn’t want to stop reading. The story of the different Kings and how they led just enraptured me and I couldn’t really understand why, but God answered my prayer and allowed my mind to transform through reading and feeling the desire to read.
My church has always supported me, and they continue to support any member who wants to attend CLI. They are fantastic. My husband is also very supportive of me. He is a wonderful husband and he is also attempting CLI as well. We are very grateful that CLI exists and can allow us to further our walks with God and help us to further other people’s walks too.
My ministry dream is not, as yet, defined although I do have a strong leading towards small groups, I know that CLI with the scholarship will help me and be important in helping me to become the Hong Kong small group leader that God can use. I want to be able to help as many people as I can in their walk with God and therefore I want to be as prepared as possible. I want to be able to help people in the right way, with the right knowledge. You can pray that I will never take this opportunity for granted and that I will be able to finish CLI strong, not give up, and that I will be able to give back one day as I have been given.
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Ordained House Church Minister
CLI has provided this student with the training he needs to be an ordained house church minister. He has gone from prison to becoming an ordained house church minister in his local area.
Read his testimony below:
I was born in Quezon City Philippines and migrated to Simi Valley California on May 1982. I have a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and an MBA concentrating in Project Management. I have been married (Jaylene) for almost 24 years with a 22 years old daughter (Larissa) and an 18 years old son (Ryan).
When I was 3 years old, my parents separated and I grew up mainly with my grandmother. I barely saw my father for he is a merchant marine who is always out of town so I never really know who he is. I didn’t know my mom very well either although we migrated to the US in May of 1982 both of which a regret – I should have been matured enough to find the time to get to know them and this is something that I wished I could change.
Since I never really have a father figure, I got in many trouble although not until when I was over 18 years of age. I was in and out of jail for a day or 2 and one day, there was a rumble that I was not even a part of and my sworn enemies pointed fingers at me as part of that rumble and I was sentenced to 6 months of jail time. It was then that I was first introduced to the Bible and there was one inside my cell. I read the entire bible twice although it was very confusing. I was also introduced to this person who prayed for me in tongue and that really scared me for I have no clue what he was saying. This was in 1990.
While in jail, I have all the time to evaluate my life and it was not looking good so I decided that I need to go to college and make something of myself. I also knew that I needed to leave California in order to get out of trouble and that I needed to find a woman from out of town. So after getting out, my sister took me in and I went and get my bachelor degree in DeVry University and that is where I met my wife of 24 years. I could see now that Romans 8:28 and Jeremiah 29:11 is so real as this happened to me.
It was not until July 2007 that I accepted the Lord Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and although I have many ups and down, I am so glad that He never gave up on me. I have served many positions in churches – Administrator, Bible teacher, Men’s Ministry President, a church deacon. I have the desire to continue on and advance to serve Him more and more.
I searched for a long time to find a school for free and after a year or so of searching, I found CLI and started studying daily since Dec of 2016. CLI courses are well written and very detailed. The quizzes are challenging as well that is why I found it really good and really recommend it. Being ordained by CLI will help me with church planting, house churches as well as to be a pastor if God is willing for me to do so.
I have been praying that God will allow me to plant a church but I was not certain where and during our house hunting, we made many offers to many houses all over the place and none of them went through except for where we are right now in Rahway NJ. I asked God to allow me to plant a church here and in April 2017, my church split up because of a different view of buying a building and now I have no church. This is where I need CLI to help me out.
I do have about 4 or 5 families now to plant a church. We do small group (house church) but not every week as many are on vacation but intend to make this to a weekly basis. We need all the prayer we can get. Please pray for us, ask the CLI people to pray for us.
I am deeply thankful that God allowed me to find CLI and able to study and I only have about 3 courses to get my bachelor degree in divinity but I intend to take many more classes outside the requirement to further my knowledge of Greek and so on.
May the good Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus continue to bless CLI.
Become an ordained house church minister at CLI today!