Creation Ministries International
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Creation Ministries International (CMI) is one of the world's leading Young-Earth creationist organisations, with offices in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. Each of the seven branch ministries has its own governing board. In addition, CMI Worldwide is a federating body to which each of the national bodies is a party. The Managing Director of the parent ministry (Australia) is Dr. Carl Wieland and the CEO of CMI Worldwide is Gary Bates.
CMI is an overtly Christian ministry that concentrates on encouraging and equipping the Church. They are also the publisher of the popular magazine Creation and the technical Journal of Creation (formerly TJ).
Its statement of faith includes the following:
- The scientific aspects of creation are important, but are secondary in importance to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer and Judge.
- The doctrines of Creator and Creation cannot ultimately be divorced from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[1]
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Creation Ministries International (Australia) |
Ministry
- Main article: CMI events
Most outreach ministry is done in churches, with small amounts done in Christian schools and occasionally in universities in conjunction with Christian student organisations. Unusual ministry activities by CMI in Australia include the Creation Bus (now retired) and the Ark Van.
Speakers and writers include Dr Don Batten, Dr Tas Walker, Dr David Catchpoole, and Peter Sparrow based in Australia, Richard Fangrad and Dr Emil Silvestru based in Canada, Adrian Bates based in New Zealand, Dr Johan Kruger based in South Africa, Philip Bell based in England, and Dr Rob Carter, Dr Jonathan Sarfati, Gary Bates, and Michael Oard based in the United States of America. Many of the speakers have conducted meetings and seminars in other countries also.[4]
Use the contact form to book a speaker.
Darwin film
In 2009, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, CMI released a US$1 million documentary film highlighting the impact of Darwin's views on the world. Titled Darwin: The Voyage that Shook the World, it was "among the biggest documentary film projects undertaken by any faith-funded Christian organization in the world".[5]
Ted Baehr of MovieGuide described it as "one of the best-produced documentaries ever made".[6]
Support Groups
CMI operates with the help of volunteer support groups, mostly located in the Australian state capitals. These groups assist speakers with setting up and manning resource displays (sales tables), transport, and accommodation, and also conduct ministry themselves, either with a local volunteer speaker or by projecting a DVD.
History
Formerly known as Answers in Genesis, Creation Ministries International began in Australia. Dr. Carl Wieland set up the Creation Science Association in 1977 as the first creationist organization in Australia. In 1980 it joined with the Creation Science Educational Media Services started in the late 1970s by Mr. Ken Ham (now president of Answers in Genesis-US) and Mr. John Mackay. The new organization was known as the Creation Science Foundation (CSF). CSF adopted the Answers In Genesis name around 1996 after opening an office in the USA, where the word "foundation" in the name was problematic.[7]
AiG expanded to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and South Africa, each being a separate autonomous organization, but working closely together.
In early 2006, the U.S. and U.K. ministries "withdrew" from the other AiG ministries while retaining control of the AiG website. The Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, and South African organizations changed their name to Creation Ministries International and started their own website. Later in the same year they opened offices in the U.K. and U.S. initially as distribution points for CMI periodicals, though both are now also speaking ministries. Around the same time, AiG in the United States announced that they would no longer be distributing Creation Magazine and the technical publication Journal of Creation, replacing the former with a new magazine known as Answers Magazine. (NOTE: Creation Magazine and the Journal of Creation, are still available to US and UK subscribers from CMI's US and UK online stores). A Singapore office was opened in 2007.
In November 2008, CMI Worldwide commenced, this being a federating body to which all the national bodies are members.[8] The federation was implemented to "to bind all CMI offices together into permanent cooperation towards the same common goal till the Lord returns—regardless of any future developments, or personalities coming and going", to provide "global checks and balances and accountability", and to prevent the situation where an individual or a national board might take a particular national ministry in a different direction to the rest of the ministries.
A more detailed history (including the history of Answers in Genesis, and the reasons for the new structure) is available on the CMI web-site
References
- ↑ What we believe Creation Ministries International
- ↑ Worldwide Contact Information Creation Ministries International, Accessed January 17, 2011.
- ↑ http://creation.com/creation-supercamp-2010
- ↑ Who we are: the people involved Creation Ministries International
- ↑ CMI's 'Year of Darwin' Documentary, Creation Ministries International.
- ↑ Baehr, Ted, TV Review: The Voyage that Shook the World, 1 May 2000
- ↑ What we are Creation Ministries International
- ↑ CMI–Worldwide. A new concept, a new era in creation ministry!, 2 December 2008.
Additional Information
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