Word & Deed

Our mission is to share the light of Christ with the poor of our time in Word & deed.

This is

Hill Country

Children’s Relief International is a passionate network of people on mission to share the light of Christ in Word and deed with the poor.

Those within CRI’s reach include widows, refugees, orphans, and the poor in Malawi, South Asia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Mexico, Jordan, Mozambique, and Uganda. Together, with our International Missionary Partners, we enable ministries that share the light of Christ.

CARE Outcomes

Care

We address the most urgent spiritual and physical needs in our world through Christian education, nutrition, homes, and more. We begin with children, but our care extends to the whole community.

Awaken

We share our experiences with others. As we were awakened to the needs of the poor, our goal is to awaken God's people to compassion and generosity through team experiences and storytelling.

Raise

For those open to considering a life of missions, we offer the opportunity to combine trade skills and ministry exposure in internships and short-term overseas experiences.

Enable

We recruit, train, send, and support international and Western missionaries, building living bridges that bring life and hope to the people around them.

Our Story

Our journey as an organization began when Alan and Melody Pieratt returned from a decade of missionary service in Brazil. While on furlough in late 1999, they felt called to start a mission working among the poor and enabling native missionaries with a heart for their people.

The first meeting of the board of directors took place in March of 2000. Since then, CRI has grown from one ministry in Mozambique to more than a dozen, from one staff member to more than 50, and from one program that delivers aid to more than 20.

Accountability

“Accountability starts with me, the founder of Children’s Relief International. I have the privilege of being the first in the line of accountability to our board of directors, to staff, to donors, to the IRS, and to the ECFA. I have the privileged position of sharing Christ with the poor and enabling and encouraging others to do the same. To the extent that I can show that we do this well, I honor both the One who called us and the stakeholders who make our work possible. Financial accountability is essential because our donors’ funds are sacred. They have been given into our hands to fulfill our mission of sharing Christ with the poor. They are no less reserved for the pursuit of the Kingdom than funds given to the Temple in the Old Testament or to a church in the New Testament.”

Dr. Alan Pieratt, PhD, MNM

Founder & Chairman

Statement

of Faith

Children’s Relief International’s Board of Directors produced our doctrinal statement. It gives an overview of a biblical doctrine that is evangelical in nature while reflecting the historical Christian creeds and confessions. The Statement defines the biblical perspective that guides our mission.

Statement of Faith

Children’s Relief International’s board of directors produced our doctrinal statement. It gives an overview of a biblical doctrine that is evangelical in nature while reflecting the historical Christian creeds and confessions. The Statement defines the biblical perspective that guides our missions.


  1. We believe that God is one and living, the fountain of all being and beauty, of Whom, through Whom, and to Whom are all things (Rom 11:36). In the unity of the Godhead, there are three persons, one in substance, power and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

  2. We believe that God the Father is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is (Ps 135:6; Ac 17:25-28).

  3. We believe that God the Son is Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, true God, and True man, "the one mediator between God and men" (1 Tim 2:5). "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Ac 4:12). Jesus Christ is the holy and righteous one who was put to death for our sins, "the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (1 Pet 3:18).

  4. We believe that God the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier of God's people (1 Cor 6:11). Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, our witness to Jesus is futile (John 16:8-11). The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin, impart faith and new birth, and provide Christian growth.

  5. We believe that human beings were created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), the acme of earthly creation, designed for communion with the Triune God. But because "sin came into the world through one man and death spread to all because all have sinned" (Rom 5:12), men and women are "dead" in their sins (Eph 2:5) apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

  6. We believe that salvation is not earned by any good works or merits of our own but is received through faith: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8) Faith is not merely intellectual assent but an act of the whole person, involving the mind, the will, and the affections, issuing in a changed life (Eph 2:9-10)

  7. We believe that all human beings will be raised from the dead in the next life (1 Cor 15:42-44). Those in union with Christ shall be raised by the spirit for honor and joined to a glorious body (Phil 3:21). The lost shall be raised to anguish and distress in hell. (Rom 2:8-9; Lk 16:23-24)

  8. We believe that all teaching, life, work, and ministry are accountable to the final authority of Holy Scripture, which is the Word of God in written form (2 Tim 2:13-17; 2 Pet 1:21). The Scriptures are the inspired revelation of God, totally true and trustworthy, the only infallible rule for faith and practice.

  9. We believe the church consists of everyone who is personally united to Jesus Christ. By the spirit, every Christian is united to every other true believer in Jesus. The one church becomes visible on earth in all local congregations that meet to do what Scripture commands the church to do (Eph 2:19-22, 4:1-16).