4 minute read
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.
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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.
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
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.
