How did CPI begin ?

Our CPI vision for training potential leaders in evangelism and church planting was birthed in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1980 when we opened commenced the ACTS Bible Training Centre.

During our first twelve months in Africa in 1975, I had conducted numerous large crusades with many “conversions” recorded.. It was relatively easy to draw a crowd and to see hundreds of people “make decisions” for Christ. The real challenge came after the crusade when we would seek to integrate those “converts” into the Body of Christ and a truly Christian lifestyle. I had begun to realise how crucial it was to train local pastors in the principles of church growth and development. I began to organise Pastors Seminars in various parts of Africa to provide solid teaching and training. The next challenge came in 1979 when God led me to start a Bible College in what was then Rhodesia. We obtained an old guest house/motel and commenced a one year training course conducted in three semesters. The years was structured in this manner.

1st Term. Personal foundations and soul winning.
2nd Term. Ministry skills and church planting.
3rd Term. Christian leadership and church growth.

 

 

During a three week interval following term one, the students went out in small groups and won more than 600 people to Christ. After term two, they returned to the same areas and planted churches among those they had previously won. At the close of term three the graduates returned to their converts and consolidated the churches introducing training programs whereby the believers were trained to plant more churches. This pattern has since led to the planting and establishing of several thousand new churches throughout Southern Africa. Pastors and churches of some twenty seven denominations in Zimbabwe, are now using our training course. One of our founding teachers planted a church in Harare that now has more than 10,000 members. This church has also planted a further 140 local churches. One of our young graduates that first year has since planted some thirteen churches all of which are are still flourishing.

In 1992 we received a “Macedonian Call” from Asia to place our training program into some 30 new Bible Colleges in several parts of S.E. Asia We were based in Singapore and the colleges were in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. As Elizabeth and I travelled to many of these colleges we became aware that even if there were 3,000 colleges these still would not begin to meet the tremendous need for training that existed throughout Asia. As we prayed about this challenge we felt that God encouraged us to format our material into manuals that could be offered to local churches to enable every church to become a training centre. It took a few months to accomplish the necessary editing and printing. After this we began to organise pastor’s conferences at which our strategy could be shared and the materials may available to all pastors that desired them.
The first of these seminars were held in The Philippines in cooperation with Dr. Ralph Mahoney and the World Map ministries. During the following months more than 9,000 churches applied for and received the course. We still receive exciting and encouraging reports from hundreds of these churches. One church in Manila planted 58 new congregations in the first three years of operating the CPI program.

Indonesia was our next target. The program was translated into Bahasa and offered to thousands of pastors in the many seminars we conducted there. One church in Bali that began using the program has since grown from some 300 members to more than 10,000. They have
graduated some 300 students and planted more then 30 new churches in the surrounding region. A new Bible College in Sumatra that began to use our program as their core studies, now has some 500 students annually. In the decade since 1992, they have planted some 3,000 new congregations.

Myanmar, (formerly Burma) also became a fruitful field as hundreds of pastors and churches from all denominations began to use our program. The young Bhuddist scholar who undertook the translation role became a committed Christian during the translation of Module One. Six young men, graduates of the course conducted in a Methodist Church launched out as a travelling evangelistic team winning more than 700 people to Christ and planting five churches during their first year of ministry.

India has become a very fruitful field since we first launched the program there in 1992. More than 3,000 churches have embraced the program and commenced training courses. Hundreds of new congregations have been planted throughout India. I shall never forget an elderly pastor excitedly shouting out, “We have the manpower, please give us the materials.”

China has proved to be one of our most fruitful areas. The church there is multiplying at such an exponential rate that the training of leaders has always been a number one priority. Much of our teaching course has been included in the Shepherd’s Staff, published by World Map. Many Chinese pastors have said that receiving a copy of this book has been like inheriting a gold mine. The CPI course is presently being placed into a group of churches in which there are more than One Million members all of whom will be given a chance to train in evangelism, leadership and church planting.

The Russian edition of our program is being used in many parts of the former USSR. including Ukraine, Kazakstan, Siberia, Russia, and Israel.

Africa has remained high on our priority list since is was there that the program first took shape. Zimbabwe has been our most fruitful nation. Many of our graduates there have been actively involved in TARGET 10,000 an inter-denominational program that has been responsible for planting 10,000 new churches in the past decade. Despite its present political, social and economic problems, Zimbabwe has also become a missions sending nation, sending church planters into several surrounding nations. We also have many churches using the CPI initiative in Lesotho. Botswana, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Malawi, Bukino Fasa, and Namibia. Most recently the program has been launched into strife torn Liberia where the church is committed to reversing the downward path of that nation.

Three years ago God opened a door to Nepal. Initially we knew only one couple there but through our first visit we were led to many other evangelists and pastors. Soon the three volumes were translated into Nepalese and we began to conduct training seminars to make the course available. The national church in Nepal has recently exploded growing from approximately 10,000 members in 1951 to 400,000 at this present time. Most of the pastors have had no training whatsoever so our course was greatly appreciated. We have so far distributed the Nepalese version to some 1,500 pastors and centres and this number is constantly growing. Our course is also being introduced into several restricted access nations in close proximity to Nepal. Among our students there are many former Buddhist monks who are now in training as Christian evangelists.