Mission Philippines: What is it going to take to reach the Philippines for Christ? The first missionaries were sent by the Catholic Church holding their first service on Easter Sunday March 31, 1521. Eight-five percent of the country has a Catholic heritage. In recent times, other evangelical ministries have opened in the Philippines from various denominations such as Baptist, Pentecostal and Christian Reformed. Ministries such as Bible League have taken mission Philippines seriously.
The Efforts of these ministries and many missionaries has resulted in yielding a new generation of leaders who need advance training. Mission Philippines needs thousands of new leaders who have advanced training.
Meet Loren Angeli Estavillo who just finished her Christian Basics Certificate. This next generation Philippino Christian leader claims,
“I know God intricately designed every fiber of my being and carefully planned out all the details of my life story, even before I came into existence 22 years ago. With that in mind, I couldn’t thank Him enough for greatly blessing me to live in the Philippines where it’s free to bask in His glory through the Christian ministry.”
Loren did not always have it so easy…
“In my growing up years, I was accustomed of going to church with my family as a form of a weekly habit. Back then, I had no sense of what it truly means to be a Christian. But everything changed since the moment I came to know Christ. I was spiritually reborn during one of my lowest moments. I never felt so alone and helpless back then due to the fact that my parents decided to separate ways.”
Mission Philippines: God heals the broken heart
“Their estrangement negatively affected my outlook in life. I became emotionally drained and spiritually crushed as an aftermath. It seems to me that I’ve no one to turn to. Yet suddenly, I felt the love of God consuming me in a heartbeat. I was in complete awe of His glorious presence overcoming me. I didn’t have the strength to control the burst of emotions rushing through me. I tried holding it back but my tears just kept falling. I cried hard and traded all my deep-seated setbacks. I repented of my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I couldn’t put into words how God transformed me into the person I am today.”
Loren was being prepared for ministry. Loren was being called to mission Philippines.
She writes, “God never gave up on me despite my weaknesses and failings. He never let me go. Because of that, I began my spiritual walk with Him. I started anew by reflecting and meditating on His Word deeper than before. I engaged myself in a church where I grew stronger spiritually by means of associating with my new found spiritual family.As I continue my walk with Him, He began to let me see the world through His eyes. He unveiled a deep surge of calling in ministry service that I couldn’t resist. I know that whatever plan He has in store for me will work out for good. So I yielded to His voice wholeheartedly and trusted Him to light my path wherever He may lead me.”
Christian Leaders Institute trains is training a new generation of leaders for mission Philippines. These Leaders are getting advanced training.
“I’m driven to help people create a genuine and lasting relationship with our Lord, to delve deeper into the Word of Truth by it’s spread across the nation, and to build a strong foundation of fellowship with God and other sharers of faith as well. I’m aware that being in the ministry requires full dedication, effort, and great amount of time – of which I’m very much willing to commit. And having a scholarship at Christian Leaders Institute will be of great assistance for me in reaching my ministry goals of serving others under God’s authority. I appreciate your prayers as I turn my ministry dreams into reality. I strongly believe that the Lord God Almighty, the Author and Perfecter of my faith, will be with me as I step into this new chapter of my life story. To God be the glory! :)”
Mission Philippines will benefit from leaders like Loren Angeli Estavillo. Please consider making a donation to Christian leaders Institute so that the mission Philippines can boldly move forward raising up a new generation of ministry leaders.
Make a donation now to help Loren and thousands more like her get a high quality Bible school training free. Donate now!
The professional clergy are not the only ones who start revivals. Many revivals began with lay leadership. Lay leadership played a pivotal role in spiritual revivals in American history. Christian Leaders Institute is developing a new course called, “Evangelistic Missiology.” Dr. Bruce Ballast’s book, “Ordinary People – Extraordinary Things – How God Brings Revival” highlights impact of lay leadership in revivals. In fact, Dr. Ballast himself will be featured in the course.
Lay Leadership Starts Revivals
Dr. Ballast points out that lay leadership start revivals. Ballast talked about the “Great Revival of 1857” in the USA. This revival was started by Jeremiah Lanphier. Here was a lay leader working at a mercantile business in New York, NY in 1850s. As a lay pastor, he took over a dying church with few members. The professional clergy had vacated this work. This bi-vocational lay pastor canvassed the area, but still hardly anyone came to his vacant church. Then he started a prayer group on Wednesday. Revival started at this local church. What did he do?
Jeremiah Lanphier
Jeremiah passed out cards with this simple paragraph written down,
- “As often as the language of prayer is in my heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of temptation; as often as I am made sensible to any spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit. In prayer, we leave the business of time for that of eternity, and the intercourse with men for intercourse with God.”
At first the prayer group was not that large. In a short time his church started to grow. Churches all over New York City got involved. The professional clergy joined the lay leadership supporting prayer. This movement spread through out the United States so that by 1858 churches were praying and growing everywhere. Check out Jeremiah Lanphier at Christian History Magazine and find out more of his excellent lay leadership.
Christian Leaders Institute Helps Lay Leadership for Free
At Christian Leaders Institute we have plans for the lay leadership of the English speaking world. We will help lay leaders get free ministry training to become pastors to spread Christianity everywhere. Who knows, maybe God will use you to bring revival to a nation? Let the lay leaders get trained!
Seminary Online Benefits
1. Seminary Training Without Uprooting
Seminary online makes it possible for students to be trained effectively and quickly without relocating. They can keep their job while they prepare for ministry, and they can remain in their community. This is especially strategic for people 30 years old and older seeking a path toward bi-vocational or full-time ministry. Seminary or Bible School training is finally available to you!
Seminary Online fits Lacramioara’s goal to strengthen her counseling skils in the U.K. Read and like her story at Facebook
2. Seminary Training and Freedom from Debt
- CLI training is financially available to every called and accepted student. Thus far students have been able to study tuition-free, thanks to full scholarships funded by students, individuals, foundations and churches who share CLI’s vision. Ministry students only need to purchase books for a few courses. Most of the online seminary courses now have the written materials in the course which makes the course even more accessible.
- Financial freedom allows for bi-vocational ministry or serving a smaller group. This is vitally important because 75% of American churches have fewer than 150 members; 95% have fewer than 350. Internationally most churches are very small and scarcely funded. Seminary training online is practical for bi-vocational leaders.
- More churches can be planted and remain viable if leader training costs are lower (Leaders need higher pay if their training requires that they pay for years of tuition for college and residential seminary. It is not financially viable for debt-laden leaders to live on the lower salaries that smaller groups are able to pay).
- Much has been written recently about how debt negatively affects bi-vocational seminary students Check out this post from Kurt Willems.
3. Seminary Training that is Cost-Effective
- CLI has little overhead in comparison to the typical seminary or Bible School.
- Donors can be confident that CLI offers excellent training at a fraction of what traditional Bible schools and seminaries cost.
4. Seminary Mentorship Model
- CLI partners with local sponsors and pastors who mentor students. These local leaders come alongside of the student to encourage and sponsor them in their ministry training journey..
- CLI’s vision is to support pastors in reproducing Christian leaders by allowing local pastors to have an effective option in training the new leaders who are being raised up.
5. Mission-Minded Seminary Professors
- CLI faculty members combine keen intellect with enthusiastic experience in outreach and evangelism.
- Most CLI professors have planted a church.
- All of CLI’s online seminary professors have advanced degrees and experience
- All of the professors seek to make disciples of all nations.
- Several of CLI’s online seminary professors have overseas experience.
6. Tweener Seminary Training
- CLI training is positioned between traditional seminaries and local church classes. CLI offers the best elements of seminary education at local levels everywhere on the globe.
- Aspiring leaders need not choose between the extremes of either years of full-time academic study after high school, or else starting a church with no training.
- Tweener seminary training is key for raising up a large, skilled army of church planters and leaders.
7. Contextual Communication
- CLI emphasizes actual ministry activity not the distraction of a resident seminary journey.
- Class assignments are not footnoted research papers, but quizes, papers, and interactions that support your academic training.
8. Home Discipleship
- A daily walk with Jesus and godly leadership in the home are foundational for spiritual leadership.
- CLI features an emphasis in your seminary training on cultivating daily worship at home.
- The whole CLI curriculum and training approach emphasizes character and spiritual connectedness.
- We cultivate patterns of daily Bible reading, prayer and memorization for our students.
- The first part of the getting started class focuses on home discipleship and faith foundation issues.
9. Bible Doctrine Culture
- The Bible is the Word of God, and this truth directs all teaching and learning at CLI.
- The second part of the getting started class focuses on Christian Basics that ground you in Biblical doctrine and grounds your seminary training.
10. Multicultural Seminary Culture
- CLI is training people from different ethnic groups for their ministry callings all over the world.
- Several of our professors have international experience and they bring that experience to your seminary training.