Christian Leaders Institute free Bible school

[InerrantBible]

Hello everyone.

I stumbled on Christian Leaders Institute a few years ago (I think), but I quickly lost interest.

I stumbled on Christian Leaders Institute again in August of 2020 while I was searching for "free online seminary classes."

CLI calls itself a Bible school that offers free Christian classes online.

I have been taking online classes through CLI since August.

Most of their instructors are affiliated with the CRCNA (Christian Reformed Church). CLI definitely appears to be conservative.

They offer ministerial ordination through the Christian Leaders Alliance after you complete roughly 32 classes (which could take anywhere from 8 months to 18 months, depending on how quickly you can complete each course).

Each of the mandatory 32 courses requires about 400 pages of reading.

In pursuing a Bible college-level education through CLI, that would come out to about 1,020 pages of reading material.

If you have a lot of free time like I do, you could complete each course in less than a week.

From what I can tell, CLI is doing a lot of good work. Many students appear to be from African nations.

While I do believe that taking CLI classes is a worthwhile use of my free time, I will not use the Christian Leaders Alliance ministerial ordination as my only ordination into vocational Christian ministry.

I am tentatively planning to pursue ordination in the Church of the Nazarene (yes, I know that the Nazarene Church is not Reformed, and I know that they are Arminian).

I would be interested to hear your initial thoughts on the practical utility of the Christian Leaders Institute programs. Thank you

 

[jwithnell]

Friend, do you have church elders who are guiding you as you pursue vocational ministry? Are you settled in your own understanding of what the scriptures teach? How will you stand (and lead others to stand) when the world will be challenging the church's very existence?

 

[InerrantBible]

Friend, do you have church elders who are guiding you as you pursue vocational ministry? Are you settled in your own understanding of what the scriptures teach? How will you stand (and lead others to stand) when the world will be challenging the church's very existence?

Yes, my pastor is guiding me as I pursue vocational ministry. I am pretty certain that I have made up my mind about the inerrancy of the Bible. Although I had thought that perhaps God had initiated the Big Bang (speaking creation into existence), I am now a young earth creationist (though I am unsure about whether dinosaurs lived during the same time as humans).

Though I need to hone my critical thinking skills and learning to think theologically, I am sure that if I lay a good foundation for myself in apologetics, I will be able to stand firm and will be able to help other believers stand firm when American society is actively challenging the existence of the Christian Church.

I am a seminary student who was raised Presbyterian, currently attends a Nazarene church, and who attends a Pentecostal seminary (crazy, right?). I could be a lot worse off. I could be a current student at Fuller Theological Seminary, Claremont School of Theology, or another liberal school. I am really glad that I decided not to study at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Right now, I don't need theological liberalism in my life.