Christian Leaders Institute

Christian Leaders Institute (CLI), founded in 2001,^[1] offers free online religious education.^[2][3]

History

Christian Leaders Institute was founded by Rev. Henry Reyenga Jr.,^[4] Rich DeVos, Sr. and Ron Parr on September 20 of 2001, prompted by the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.^[5] Reyenga contacted DeVos and Parr to support a freemium model of high-quality ministry training.^[6]

Rev. Reyenga had planted churches and worked with the Bible League before co-founding Christian Leaders Institute. He has spoken at various conferences throughout the world,^[7] in places like Winebrenner Theologial Seminary.^[8]

Dr. David Feddes, previously the English broadcast minister for the Back to God ministries,^[9] became the Provost in 2008. Feddes is a PhD graduate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

The President of the CLI Board of Trustees is Brian DeCook. He is also the President of Peacefire.

Free Quality Religious Education

Christian Leaders Institute uses moodle^[10] as its digital campus^[11] and wordpress^[12] as its marketing platform. Their world-headquarters are located in Spring Lake, Michigan.^[13] CLI uses moodle in such a way as to include the tracking of quizzes and assignments for the establishment of quality accountability, transcripts, and feedback. Christian Leaders Institute offers over 120 credits of quality religious training that helps reproduce balanced Christianity.^[14] One CLI graduate, John Ntui-Abung was published in 2017. In his "acknowledgement" of "The Chaos of the Prosperity Gospel: A Case Study of Two Prominent Nigerian Pastors with Churches over 150 Countries Revealed to Be Spreading Fraudulent Gospels", Ntui-Abung credited CLI's education as correcting his prosperity gospel views in Nigeria.^[15]

Donation-Driven

Christian Leaders Institute is funded by donations. Some donations are for the non-profit mission, while other donations are for services. CLI characterizes themselves as a “generosity-driven” model of ministry training. They offer religious education certificates, diplomas, and degrees. They are incorporated in the states of Illinois, Florida, and Michigan.^[16]

Local Non-denominational Ordinations

Christian Leaders Institute is non-denominational, but Reyenga and Feddes are graduates of Calvin Seminary with ties to the Christian Reformed Church.^[17] CLI began offering local non-denominational ordinations in 2014. These ordinations require ministry training and three local endorsements. In the CLI system of ordination, Christian leaders are ordained locally and then are included in the Christian Leaders Alliance.^[18]

Graduates

CLI claims that over 20,000 programs of study have been completed since 2006.^[19] The school's educational methodology is to decentralize the distance learning to include mentor centers. These mentor centers can form accountability for local learning and practice. Such mentor centers that have been created by students are as follows: Godstar Miracles of Life Ministry, LLC, GatewayCRC,^[20] Christian Discipleship Center,^[21] Prevailing Power Ministries International,^[22] Study To Serve Institute, and People Church.^[23] These mentor centers provide local accountability to online ministry learning.

Accreditation

Christian Leaders Institute is accredited with the non-traditional accrediting organization called The International Association of Bible Colleges and Seminaries (IABCS).^[24] This accreditation association was founded in the 1950s, but is not connected to US Federal Government Accreditation agencies, which oversee schools that are connected to student loans.

CHEA seminaries such as Calvin Seminary,^[25] Western Theological Seminary and Northern Seminary will accept merited students with the CLI Bachelor of Divinity Degree within their individual acceptance guidelines.^[26]

References