Ministries
EVANGELISM
In keeping with the Lord’s command and our mission statement, CRM stresses empowering national believers to reach their own people. Since 2005, CRM affiliated short-term mission teams have engaged in chronological Bible storying using the Story Cloths to overcome illiteracy and worldview barriers. The Story Cloths are inexpensive to produce, easily distributed, portable, can be hung from a tree or bush, and depict culturally relevant Bible stories as the gateway to presenting the gospel.
The easily replicable chronological Bible storying method introduced to both indigenous Maasai and Sudanese people groups using the CRM Story Cloths is a powerful testimony to their effectiveness as evangelism tools. The Story Cloths equip the average man or woman of any culture to immediately begin sharing Christ with their families, friends, and neighbors. CRM also provides its national partners with God’s word in the form of hard copy Bibles and solar powered portable audio devices containing the Bible.
LEADER DEVELOPMENT
This is a top priority of CRM; we accomplish it in multiple ways. CRM affiliated short-term mission teams and national partners lead workshops to train national church leaders how to utilize the Chronological Bible Storying method in their evangelism, Bible teaching, and church planting strategies.
For example, men with little to no literacy are empowered to preach and teach God’s Word as they start small Bible studies that lead to churches. Women share the stories with others as they perform their daily chores and sit with their families and friends. All types of local church ministries are developed by those trained using Chronological Bible Storying that addresses the challenges imposed on them by their culture.
As movements are started among a least-reached people group, CRM assists their leaders with establishing local Bible schools. In some cases, CRM provides construction teams to build facilities. Graduates of the Bible schools who qualify to attend a local seminary receive scholarships. Bible school graduates create a pool of Bible school teachers, as well as guarding the growing movement against false theology and syncretism.
Humanitarian Assistance
Two of CRM’s core values are providing holistic ministry and collaborating with like-minded organizations. When CRM’s national partners face times of famine, war, or threat of injury or death due to religious persecution, we respond to their requests for assistance. CRM also has provided wells for regions and specific ministries, such as orphanages, who lack access to water. When believers lack access to critical medical care, CRM provides the funds required for the treatment they need.
The war in Sudan, for example, has presented CRM’s Sudanese partners with many critical humanitarian needs. CRM has responded by funding the evacuation of over 450 families from war zones, principally within Darfur in western Sudan. Some of the evacuees reached Uganda where CRM provides for medical care, housing, food, and children’s school fees until they are settled and back on their feet. For those evacuated to safer places within Darfur, CRM has provided funds for food.
CRM has at various times collaborated with organizations such as Send Relief, the Shai Fund, and the Voice of the Martyrs when the scale of the needs is beyond CRM’s individual capacity.
Training School Teachers
God has opened the opportunity for CRM to train public school teachers in North and East Africa how to use the Creation to Christ Story Cloth when teaching religious education. The teachers are also taught how to incorporate Bible stories when teaching vocabulary, math, and science. CRM has trained and equipped over 300 teachers to train other teachers in various East African nations. Story Cloths and teaching materials are supplied through donations to CRM. In every culture, schoolteachers exert great influence over their students and communities and play a key role in establishing and maintaining gospel movements.
CONSTRUCTION
CRM construction teams have framed church buildings and constructed church roofs for new church plants (the church members are responsible for funding and building the walls) all over East Africa, built training facilities, and constructed facilities for an orphanage deep in the Kenyan bush. This ministry offers American male believers an opportunity to utilize their construction skills for a purpose that furthers gospel movements among least-reached people groups. CRM has also funded construction equipment, such as brick-making machines, to equip local believers with construction skills.
