Be The Miracle: The Case for Support

Ecumenical Church & University World Missions

Juliet needs a miracle.

As the sun rises over Kabuyanda, Uganda, Juliet rises from her bed on a dirt floor on a Monday morning. She picks up a yellow jug and leaves the mud hut where she lives with her parents and three siblings. She makes her way, barefoot, along the dangerous, rocky path to the river to gather dirty water for her family.

It’s hard work. This is her job.

There’s no breakfast when she arrives home.

There is no food.

She empties the water into the trough. Her mother embraces her, knowing her little girl is hungry. Juliet wraps her arms around her mother’s waist, the top of her head barely reaching her mother’s chest. Juliet doesn’t leave for school. She picks up the jug up and makes the journey to the river again… and again… and again.

Until the sun sets. This is her job. She is six years old.

The jug is heavy when it’s full and the walk back home is uphill.

If you’re like most of us, you’ve never experienced the panic of knowing your child, or even a child you know, hasn’t eaten in three days.

You’ve never had to ask her to fetch water and gather firewood to provide for your family rather than send her to school. BUT THIS IS EXACTLY THE SITUATION THAT FAMILIES FACE EVERY DAY IN AFRICA.

9 OUT OF 10 CHILDREN in Africa can’t read.

55% of African families are living in extreme poverty.

1 OUT OF 3 women report to have experienced domestic violence.

66% of women and children die prematurely.

Girls are often married at 12 OR 13 YEARS OLD because their families can’t support them.

WITHOUT AN EDUCATION children will never be able to earn an income or lift themselves and their families out of poverty no matter how hard they try.

It’s in our best interest.

It’s in the world’s best interest.

CHRISTIAN

Can you see how Christian education is bringing life and ending poverty? At CityLight, we believe that a Christian education is the right of every child.

A lack of global education and extreme poverty puts everyone at risk. We are all living together in the same boat of life. Whether you’re in a 1st class suite or in a tiny room at the bottom of the boat, if the ship starts to take on water, we’re all at risk. When nations deny the basic human right of education for all their children, it can become a breeding ground for political unrest, poverty, broken families, and domestic violence . . .

Problems that endanger all of us!

OVER 20% of African children between the ages of 6-11 are not enrolled in school. This number increases to 60% for youth ages 15-17.

Ensuring that every child receives an education is vitally important not only to the millions of children surviving an unbearable life of poverty, but it’s important for YOU.

Together, we can change this. With your generosity and CityLight’s proven model, we can change the future for entire regions of the world for generations.

It’s not just charity, it’s Jesus.

At CityLight, we believe that a quality Christian education is the right of every child.

It’s the child’s best interest.

EDUCATION is the single most important factor to break the cycle of poverty.

Too many well-intended organizations have built schools in developing countries and in 3 years, they’re empty.

WHY?

Because you can build a school, but…

If you don’t provide clean water, girls spend their waking hours fetching water for the family.

If children get sick and there is no doctor, they can’t attend school.

If children don’t have nutritious food, they’re hungry, malnourished and can’t concentrate.

If the parents can’t generate an income, kids have to work to help provide for their families.

EDUCATION ALONE WON’T SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS.

But it doesn’t work without Right now, there is a 2-5 year waiting list for communities to receive our 5-step Community Development Model.

While they’re waiting, children will die. Every minute counts.

We’ve got a proven model that works and partners on the ground waiting to implement.

All we need is you!

YOU’RE THE MIRACLE THEY’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

JOIN US.

CityLight has a holistic solution that changes everything… creating a safer and more just world for everyone.

CITYLIGHT CATALYST CENTERS…

Provide the infrastructure for electricity, internet, clean water, and sanitation so families and kids can have access to the basic necessities for living and learning.

Serve as health clinics so healthcare professionals can visit and provide care and hygiene essentials.

We build CityLight Catalyst Centers and provide resources including training and education for CityLight graduates, community partners, and local church leaders.

Provide training and assistance to parents so they can learn life skills and generate an income to support their families.

Serve as primary school classrooms so kids can go to school and unlock their potential.

ONCE THE PROGRAM IS FULLY IMPLEMENTED, COMMUNITIES HAVE:

The tools and resources to continue to grow and expand upon the work we implemented together.

The skills and knowledge to run the program on their own within 5-8 years.

To ensure they have the skills and tools necessary to help families leave the cycle of poverty behind and achieve their true potential.

The ability to sustain themselves and will never need “charity” again.

A CHRIST-CENTERED APPROACH

In different ways and different places, Cross-Style Theology is deployed throughout all CityLight programs.

Each CityLight Catalyst Center is equipped with a “Seminary in a Box,” which includes a television, DVD player, 150 hours of the Cross-Style Theology curriculum, and a generator for villages without electricity.

This is a real and practical approach to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ that overcomes the challenges of extreme poverty in Africa.

A BUILDING CHANGES EVERYTHING

Building a building releases human potential, creates business ecosystems, and launches ministry programs beyond imagination.

Why a building?

When a multi-use structure is built, water, electricity, sewage, internet, and cell phones follow turning a single use building into an all-in-one:

✓ Primary School

✓ Healthcare Facility

✓ Council Hall

✓ Internet Café

✓ Distribution Hub

✓ University Classroom

✓ Church Sanctuary

TEACHES

WOMEN FINANCE, ENTERPRISE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS TO GENERATE INCOME THAT TRANSFORMS A FAMILY.

Women are taught how to make a profit and fund additional projects.

They become more autonomous, work with purpose, and contribute to their family’s financial success.

The Esther Women of Influence benefit from mentorships and prayer groups within their own community of compassion, safety, and faith.

CityLight strengthens the family by helping women succeed.

HELPS GIRLS REACH THE AGE OF MATURITY WITH CONFIDENCE AND WELLNESS.

The Esther Women of Influence support the next generation of girls by providing access to feminine health and hygiene products.

Statistic: Most girls quit school because they don’t have the necessary feminine health and hygiene products to get through a school day.

Female health and wellness is often neglected and is necessary for women and girls to pursue educational and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Project Hope offers comprehensive, age-specific life skills and feminine health education, and provides hygiene kits to help girls stay in school.

CityLight knows confidence helps young women thrive.

PROVIDES UNEMPLOYED AND UNSKILLED MEN WITH EMPLOYMENT AND PURPOSE.

Men build CityLight Catalyst Centers used for all CityLight activities.

These men are taught practical skills like brick making and construction.

They are also provided with mentorships to help stop the domestic violence epidemic in Africa.

CityLight strengthens the community by giving men purpose.

PREPARES YOUNG MEN FOR THE FUTURE THROUGH EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT.

This program provides formal educational opportunities for boys and young men including scholarships to charter schools across Africa.

Young men often follow the path that poverty sets before them including dirty, hazardous work , begging, or crime.

Crime is one of the key occupations that men pursue because of poverty. This endangers the entire community and continues the cycle of poverty.

Giving boys and young men educational and leadership opportunities pulls them out of poverty, prevents a life of crime, and changes the path of future generations.

CityLight transforms nations by preparing young men for leadership.

EDUCATES GIRLS AND EXPANDS THEIR HORIZONS.

This program offers scholarships for girls to receive formal education at charter schools across Africa.

Formal education is often a luxury and unobtainable for girls in rural regions of Africa.

Formal education changes a child’s path and takes her and her family out of poverty.

CityLight changes the world by sending girls to school.

TRANSFORMS LIVES AND BRINGS FREEDOM THROUGH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.

This program builds CityLight Catalyst Centers in African prisons.

The centers serve as classrooms and libraries where the Cross-Style Theology curriculum is implemented.

The men experience community and fellowship, and transform prison culture.

Jesus changes everything.

PROVIDES EXCELLENT STUDENTS AN INTERNATIONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND PREPARES THEM FOR LEADERSHIP.

The International Student Leadership Program (ISLP) sponsors 12 students to live in South Carolina and attend excellent, local Columbia schools until high school graduation is achieved.

Students must be currently enrolled in school and excelling at their studies.

For most children in Africa, living and learning in the U.S. is impossible due to poverty and a lack of resources.

ISLP offers a life changing opportunity for children to receive an elite education and prepare to be leaders who have a passion for ministry, a passion for their country, and a passion for Christ.

ISLP students will be supervised in a residential academic setting.

“I have sponsored and worked with children who have grown up and done amazing things in their local communities. How much more could be done when they are equipped with a loving family, a supportive environment, given a world-class education, access to technology, and the leadership model of Jesus Christ?” – Bishop Redfern II

“La Maison De L’évêque Et Les Enfants”

CityLight prepares for the future by equipping young leaders.

TRAINS AND DEPLOYS ECUMENICAL UNIVERSITY GRADUATES FOR A LIFE OF SERVICE, LEADERSHIP, AND MINISTRY.

The International Pastoral Training Campus (IPTC) will sponsor 100 Ecumenical University graduates to live and learn in South Carolina at the campus.

Graduates will receive pastoral leadership training for three years before deployment to the 16 southern states to establish personal support fundraising.

Graduates will be adopted by a church community who will provide financial support after the graduate returns to their home country to establish a CityLight Catalyst Center for their community.

The campus will include housing for 100 international ministry leaders, family accommodations, a cafeteria, a church worship center, classrooms, a multipurpose building, a gymnasium, staff housing, faculty housing, and a swimming pool all on lake-front property.

CityLight shares the gospel by raising up international ministry leaders.

24 Countries served by CityLight

10,000 CityLight Graduates Worldwide

500 Orphans Rescued

5 Orphanages Built

28,000 Prisoners Changed by the Gospel

8 Prisons Enrolled in CityLight programs

5,000 Students Educated

100 Elementary + Secondary Schools Built

7,500 Women + Mothers Empowered

6,500 Men + Fathers Employed

A little girl with a head full of ringworms, dressed only in an oversized, dirty, tattered t-shirt peeked through the window into the church building wondering about the excitement. Unknown to the ministry team, this little girl appeared to be another uneducated child in Africa, living a life of hardship and poverty. Curiosity moved one foot after the other until she found herself inside the church with strangers all around her.

A CityLight graduation ceremony connected local church pastors, CityLight graduates, and the CityLight ministry team to celebrate men and women who received diplomas for graduating from CityLight programs.

While all of the other children were moved aside to make way for the graduates, the little girl did not move. She was stuck in her tracks staring up at Bishop Redfern.

He smiled at her. She smiled back.

He took his seat. She moved a little closer.

He began to preach. She moved closer to listen.

At the conclusion of the program, the little girl scurried away and he lost track of her.

When Bishop Redfern returned home, he shared many stories with his wife of lives changed, hearts moved by the Lord, graduations, new church buildings, and a community transformed. He spoke of the excitement of the mothers in the village when the CityLight ministry team distributed food, clothing, soccer balls, and toys to the children.

The face of the little girl in the tattered t-shirt affected him the most.

With the help of the church pastors and village locals, Bishop Redfern searched for two days to find the little girl.

He found Juliet.

Bishop Redfern prayed with her family, gave them resources for medical treatment, and made arrangements to send Juliet to a private, Christian boarding school at no expense to her family.

If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.

Juliet’s siblings have all joined her at boarding school where they are learning to read and write in English. They are safe, sheltered, and exploring a world of choices and opportunities.

Juliet’s father was curious as to what kind of people would care for his poor village daughter with such love, requiring nothing in return. He was truly amazed and said, “I don’t know much about this Jesus you talk about. But if because of Him, complete strangers would come from thousands of miles away to care for the concerns of my daughter, I must consider this Jesus.” Juliet’s parents attend church and Bible study weekly and are watching their children thrive.

As Presiding Bishop and General Overseer of the Ecumenical Church of Christ Worldwide, Redfern II established a mission-minded church in 1995 in Columbia, SC, to reach the unchurched, homeless, Juvenile delinquents, incarcerated, single parents, and their children. Bishop Redfern, and Rev. Dr. Luella J. Redfern, now oversee the planting of churches, schools, and CityLight Catalyst Centers in 16 southern states of the US and throughout countries on five continents.

Ecumenical Church and University have planted congregations in nine states in India, twelve countries in East Africa, six countries of Central Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Bishop Redfern pioneered the idea of using one church building to plant several church congregations to train pastors in real time for ministry. The Ecumenical Church and University have sent and supported full-time missionaries to several Asian and African countries. Some of which are places where Christians are severely persecuted.

Bishop and Rev. Dr. Redfern II serve as the international directors of CityLight and Cross Style International Ministries. As the directors of CityLight, they organized a chain of worldwide prayer cells covering the eight regions of the world. In their position at Cross Style, they developed the strategic plan with Dr. Stephen Manley for 125 Bible training centers in 22 countries.

Rev. Dr. Luella J. Redfern is a Licensed and Ordained Minister with the Ecumenical Church Worldwide, currently serving as Executive Director of CityLight Women’s Ministry, The Esther Women of Influence. She equips women, teens, and young girls, with sound Biblical teaching and character development. Rev. Dr. Redfern encourages women to focus on turning ideas into action on issues fundamental to women’s spiritual growth and economic empowerment, giving them the confidence to thrive.

In 2012, Bishop Redfern founded Ecumenical University to train missionaries, pastors, and laypersons in the Cross Style Theology of Dr. Stephen Manley. The University also provides the fundamentals of a liberal arts education. To facilitate the financial growth of programs abroad, the University has added a school of Philanthropy and Non-Profit Development and Management.

Dr. Gladys Grimaud Director, CityLight

Rev. Dr. Luella Redfern Director, Esther Women of Influence

Jasmine Jones Director, Daughters of Ruth

Dr. Bernard Byrd Director, Men on the Wall

Dr. Beverly Gurley President, Ecumenical University

Chap. Edward Langat Chaplain, Prisoners for Christ

Dr. Stephen Manley Founder, Cross-Style Theology

Shelton Blue Development Specialist, CityLight

Dr. Eddy P. Donkeng Director, Sons of David

Your gifts over the next three years will multiply CityLight’s impact.

EDUCATE A CHILD - $500 PER YEAR

Children who attend school are saved from a life of hard labor or being married off at the age of 12 or 13.

TRAIN A MINISTER - $1,000 PER YEAR

Work through a rigorous 12-month curriculum named Cross-Style theology that prepares them for full-time ministry. EU Graduates teach in primary, elementary and high schools. Graduates form and lead Esther Women of Influence and Men On the Wall discipleship groups.

ENDOW A SCHOLARSHIP - $10,000 PER YEAR

Ecumenical University’s future is upon us. Endowment ensures students and ministers receive the training they require for years to come.

BUILD A CATALYST CENTER - $50,000

Build a CityLight Catalyst Center using the 5-Step Community Development Model. Thousands of men, women, and children will have access to electricity, internet, clean water, healthcare, opportunities to learn skills to earn a living, and opportunities for children to attend primary school.

Be The Miracle. Together, we can change lives and transform

communities for generations to come!

There are many reasons why a gift to CityLight is a good and smart investment. Empowering families to become self-sufficient lifts the entire world.

Your gift will help rescue children and families from the ravages of abject poverty. But most of all, your support is a testament of how strongly you believe that every person is precious, every person deserves a chance to thrive.

BE THE MIRACLE 3 YEAR CAMPAIGN