Hello, I am Thomas Jena, a male 32 year old, I am doing ministry training in India through CLI’s online Bible school. Let me share with you about the unique ministry method I use in my country. My country name is India and I am staying in the south part of my country. To do ministry there we need to get the permission of Government, this and some political pressure, makes it very difficult to do direct ministry work, but there is a way: to start with social work then slowly introducing Christianity and ministry opportunities, like church planting and other.
I was born and brought up in a Christian family, but I was not a true believer in Christ until after my 10th class when my family faced a big problem, which made me go to church and pray. Slowly God spoke me through His servants and I accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.
Soon after I went for theology studies and after completion of my course I started ministry with one organization. Due to a financial problems at the time I was doing part time job and part time ministry. I finally joined an organization where I can do full time ministry. My dream is to become a good preacher and do successful ministry for God’s kingdom here.
I’d like to become an evangelist and church planter. It gives me joy and happiness in life. I want to promote in ministry to those of other religions. But the local church must have support to reach the people though conducting cottage prayer (visiting homes) and taking care of fellow believers. It is very much related to family in ministry here, unless there is support from family, we cannot stand in ministry.
If I get the privilege of a scholarship at CLI, I can complete all my theological degree which will help me to grow deeper and deeper to know God ‘s word clear and right so we may divide God’s word in right ways to preach, teach, and counsel for the effective ministry of God.
Please pray for my study, ministries and for my languages, to communicate in local languages. and church planting ministry .
– Thomas
I am currently residing in New Zealand, but originally came from South Africa. Coming from a background where church and state was intertwined, to a country where these two entities are separated made it difficult to settle at first. My other challenge was to get used to communicating about God and Christianity in English. It sounds trivial, but to go from your mother language to a foreign language, especially combined with something as emotional and culturally ingrained as one’s faith, is not easy.
I have grown up as a Christian and in the church. This was fully supported by my whole family. In my later years, my faith has grown as I grew into my own worldview. I have realized that a life without God, is not a life worth living. I work in a high stress environment and need my faith to sustain me on a daily basis. It is through working in a secular country and a secular work environment, that I have come to the conclusion that I need to focus more on living a life walking with God and that I can through this, develop leaders by making use of a Christian foundation. This has been highly successful as a face-to-face endeavor as well as an online movement.
I realized I needed more than just my current Bible knowledge to do this work effectively. I do hold a PhD in Education, but needed what CLI is offering to support my teaching ministry.
Approaching my studies through CLI allows me to carry on with my current position as a High School Principal as well as my other passions of Leadership Development. I see myself at the level of Pastor in my ministry functions. Interacting with people and sharing the word of God with them, as well as how this foundation can support leadership in any workplace, is very satisfying and I would like to build this out further. A Scholarship at CLI will make it possible for me to enhance this ministry and will allow me to serve as a bi-vocational pastor.
As stated before, I work in a secular environment (underpinned by law) and have found that Christians who are in the same situation need more support. This environment makes it difficult to operate within, especially if you do not want to lose your Christian identity. My vision is to enhance my Leadership Development teaching by building in on a foundation of Christianity. I passionately believe that the world will be a better place if more leaders and managers approach their tasks from a Christian perspective. I am fully supported in this endeavor by my wife.
Hello and Blessings in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. My name is Jacqueline Lambert and I live in a small rural community which is located in the United States which is in Mississippi. I am married with 3 children. I was raised in a Christian home not really understanding what that was. We were raised to go to church, but that was about it. I have 1 sister that knows the Lord and attends church and 1 brother that goes to church and 1 that has turned his back on the Lord, but were saved as children.
Religious beliefs are protected here in the USA although a lot of people either don’t believe the true gospel or don’t live what they once believed.
I was brought up to serve the Lord, however I made my decision to really serve the Lord in my teens. I rededicated my life back to the Lord when I was 23 and that decision was life altering. I was a person who came from the slums of the streets from alcohol every day to sober mentality in Christ. My life has not been the same. I was filled with the spirit of the Lord and he began to show me things and teach me his heart and mind that was so different from what I had been taught by traditional church.
Right now my Ministry dream is to continue to tell as many people about the Lord and show them how once you accept the award of God as law for your life it will and can change you. It is to start a ministry in my community that can become a safe haven for the people by teaching the unadulterated word of God.
I am a assistant pastor in my local church but I wanted this course to be better equipped in my knowledge as well as better equipped to lead the people of God and I found out in order to do that you yourself must be equipped in your walk. In which case I have not told anyone that I am doing this course and will keep it that way until the Lord impresses me to reveal it.
I am pursuing this Ministry course because I want to be available and equipped for whatever the Lord wants me to do. I am not doing it to be something. I’m doing it to so that I will be equipped for whatever job the Lord has me in.
A scholarship for me to continue in this course is essential because I currently only have one income in our household, which leaves our income limited so I would not be able to afford to do any type of course if I had to pay for it.
My prayer is that I will be ready and equipped for whatever the Lord wants for me to do and that I will forever walk close to Him and be in His perfect Will.