Why a Central Valley Institute for Christian
Studies?
The desire of our Lord Jesus is to see more and
more healthy, multiplying churches populating all communities
throughout the world.
This is the objective of every state convention, association, and
church. The challenges
are many, but primary is that of finding prepared workers and team
player who can minister and see the multiplication of disciples and
churches.
As you read and study Acts 11:19 through Acts 21
the Bible records varying strategies of how churches were
multiplied. The one
constant was an on-going process of recognizing and grooming people
to be leaders of these new churches.
There was a training institute in the hall of Tyrannus in
Acts 19: 9-11, an all-night training session at Troas in Acts 20:
6-11, and a sustained coaching network evidenced in 14: 21-25, 15:
40-16:5, 18: 22-23, and 20: 1-5, 17-35.
Reflecting on what happened in the early church
along with what church history has documented for us (and what
current church experiences have verified) there is a need for a
disciple and church multiplication farm system in every locale.
The sports world and even the business world have proven the
wisdom and benefit of this intentional strategy.
In sports, players who are groomed from within the system
become productive, loyal contributors.
Businesses sustain greatness through recognizing the
potential of their employees and encouraging and facilitating their
growth and development.
Jim Collins’ team validated this through their research.
In Good to Great the very first observation from the
research on all companies which had turned a plateaued situation
into a sustained, thriving corporation was:
Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in
from the outside are negatively correlated with taking a company
from good to great. Ten
of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from inside the company, whereas
the comparison companies [which failed to turn around] tried outside
CEOs six times more often.
(Jim Collins, Good to Great, (New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 2001), p. 10.)
Our aim with the Central Valley Institute for
Christian Studies (CVICS) is to equip and encourage the lay members
and staff members of our Central Valley Baptist Association churches
(and those outside our association) to become stronger servants and
leaders for Jesus Christ.
The studies of the CVICS are intended to strengthen church
members in their present ministries and also see some called by God
to go out in teams to plant new churches.
The diploma in Vocational Ministry Leadership is
a sixty hour program of studies to give the student a confident
handle of what is the wisdom and works needed for churches to
multiply disciples and churches.
The diploma leads the student into key areas of knowledge and
applications for this end.
The CVICS involves classroom course work and
their home church cooperating together to equip leaders for Christ’s
service. “On-the-Job”
ministry experience relating to the student’s studies and a mentor
support person is arranged to give students encouragement and
wholesome accountability for growth and development.
God can do more than we
expect, but we must make ourselves available for His Son’s work.