1. Training Without Uprooting
•The internet makes it possible for students to be trained effectively and quickly without relocating. They can keep their job while they study, and can remain embedded in their community. This is especially strategic for people 30 and older seeking a path toward bi-vocational or fulltime ministry.
•They can also continue study after they begin planting a church or serving in a congregation.
Click to see some sample courses:
Systematic Theology II
Church and Ministry
2. Freedom from Debt
•CLI training is financially accessible to every called and accepted student. Thus far most students have been able to study tuition-free, thanks to full scholarships funded by supporters who share CLI's vision. Students are only required to purchase their books for each course as well as a pay a small technology fee.
•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.
•More churches can be planted and remain viable if leader training costs are lower. (Leaders need higher pay if their training requires paying eight years’ tuition for college and seminary and losing eight years’ income during their training. It is not financially viable for debt-laden leaders to live on the lower salaries that smaller groups are able to pay.)
3. Cost-effective
•CLI has little overhead in comparison to the typical educational institution.
•Donors can be confident that excellent training is provided at a fraction of what seminaries cost. CLI offers an excellent ministry diploma for $4,000 dollars for the entire program. That cost covers forty-five credit hours of instruction.
4. Mentorship Model
•CLI partners with local pastors to mentor aspiring leaders in sound theology and vital ministry.
•CLI’s vision is to support pastors in reproducing Christian leaders.
•For those interested in ministry in the Christian Reformed Church, the office of Ministry Associate has much potential. CLI has positive interaction with David Koll, Duane Kelderman, and Jerry Dykstra.
5. Mission-minded professors
•CLI faculty members combine keen intellect with enthusiastic experience in outreach and evangelism.
•All CLI professors have planted a church.
•All professors have advanced degrees.
•All seek to make disciples of all nations.
•Several profs have overseas experience.
6. Tweener Training
•CLI training is positioned between traditional seminaries and local church classes. CLI offers the best elements of seminary education without the bells and whistles.
•Aspiring leaders need not choose between the extremes of either eight years of fulltime academic study after high school, or else starting a church with no training.
•Tweener training is key for raising up a large, skilled army of church planters and leaders.
7. Contextual Communication
•CLI emphasizes actual ministry activity.
•Class assignments are not footnoted research papers, but sermons, witnessing dialogues, and counseling conversations.
•We aim to equip leaders who excel in contextual communication.
8. Home Discipleship
•A daily walk with Jesus and godly leadership in the home are foundational for spiritual leadership.
•CLI requires specific courses on cultivating daily worship at home.
•The whole CLI curriculum and training approach emphasize character and spiritual connectedness.
9. Bible Culture
•The Bible is the Word of God, and this truth directs all teaching and learning at CLI.
•We cultivate patterns of daily Bible reading and memorization for our students and those they will lead.
10. Multicultural
•CLI is training people from different ethnic groups for their ministry callings.
•Our current faculty includes Hispanic and African American professors.
•Several of our professors have overseas ministry experience.
•CLI is currently working on a Spanish-language division in partnership with the Bible League.
