September 23rd, 2025
September marks the start of our 14th mentoring season at Church Renewal International (CRI), and we want to take the opportunity to step back and have Ray Duerksen, CRI Founder and CEO, explain some of the overall vision of CRI.
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Ray Duerksen, CRI Founder and CEO
In our newsletters throughout the year, we share stories of how pastors, guided by the renewal principles, are using different strategies and tools to renew their churches. But for you to fully understand these practices, it’s helpful to take a step back and look at the challenges facing those in ministry today. Ray said he sees three main issues affecting pastors globally:
Lack of formal training: According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, of the estimated five million pastors in ministry around the world, only 5% have any sort of formal training. Pastors are entering ministry without knowing how to disciple others, and they lack mentorship and tools to help guide their congregations to spiritual maturity.
Increase in bivocational ministry: Due to inflation and rising housing costs in the West, many churches can no longer afford to employ full-time pastors. In America, 47% of evangelical pastors are bivocational, and most global pastors also work additional jobs — meaning pastors must split their time between work, ministry, family, and countless other pressures of everyday life.
“It's becoming more and more complex to lead churches in our postmodern society,” said Ray. “If they're running a full-time job while pastoring, where are they going to be able to do the kind of studying they need to answer questions properly?”
Inability for believers to self-feed: Ray explained that in today’s world, when the Church is facing censorship from governments and corporations (stay tuned to hear about this in our October newsletter), it’s vital Christians know how to grow in their personal walk and minister to others. After all, Ray asked, if believers are relying on their pastors to do all the ministering, what happens if their churches are shut down?
How do we teach believers to self-feed? One word: Discipleship. In Matthew 28:19 (BSB), Jesus tells his disciples,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”
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Ray explained that discipleship extends far beyond preaching a sermon or evangelizing to an unbeliever — as important as those practices are. It’s about fulfilling the Great Commission. This is an intentional process of walking alongside believers and equipping them to stand firm in their faith and become effective ministers.
“Making disciples is the most challenging work that you'll ever do,” said Ray. “People do not change into Christ-likeness, or receive Christ's character, without discipleship.”
At CRI, we walk alongside pastors in weekly mentoring to help them to renew their churches and disciple their people. To equip pastors in doing this, we give tools and resources to help them bring renewal practices to their congregations. These include the Hearing God Seminar, TheWay Discipleship Pathway, Empower Retreat, and Set Free! Retreat.
After implementing these tools, CRI directors and coaches regularly share testimonies of believers hearing God’s voice for the first time, dealing with deep-rooted sin struggles, and spending regular time meditating on scripture.
But as pastors and churches grow in a hunger for discipleship, their desire for more resources grows, too.
In response, Ray continues to develop new tools, including a conference we launched in March 2025 called the Things To Come Conference. This three-day conference explores God’s plan for the End Times and eternity, a topic especially relevant in today’s chaotic world. Coming up, we are also developing tools and resources to help parents and churches disciple the next generation.
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To close, we’d like to thank our supporters for praying for the ministry, volunteering in a variety of roles, and giving financially so we can offer mentoring and resources free of charge. Your support makes it possible for us to continue our mandate of mentoring pastors so they can renew their churches and disciple their people.
If you would like to get involved in our ministry, we’d love to hear from you. You can visit our contact page to get in touch.
Expansion: That more pastors would sign up both to be mentored as participants, and to mentor as CRI coaches.
Formation: That CRI would continue to build more tools to help the Church become a place of intentional discipleship.
Implementation: That pastors would be able to successfully implement these renewal practices and tools in their churches.