History & Legacy
From Brooklyn housing justice to citywide education reform, Bishop Dr. Raymond Rivera’s life work has formed a movement—holistic churches and ministries equipped to serve a captive world with Spirit-filled clarity, public compassion, and measurable community restoration.
A Council Born for a Captive World
The Council of Holistic Christian Churches & Ministries (CHCCM) is not simply an institution—it is a response. A response to neighborhoods where the line between sacred and survival has always been artificial, and where the church must be more than a weekly gathering.
CHCCM exists to heal the fracture history normalized: separating altar from action, prayer from policy, and private faith from public responsibility. We raise up leaders who can preach with fire, organize with wisdom, and build communities with steady hands—leaders formed to bring liberty where captivity has become routine.
“In a captive world, ministry must be both sanctuary and strategy.”
FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT: Bishop Dr. Raymond Rivera: A Life Forged in the City
Bishop Dr. Raymond Rivera has served as pastor, preacher, denominational executive, organization founder, and community builder. Across decades, his calling has carried one consistent message: the gospel is not smaller than the city—and the church is not faithful if it refuses the public wounds of the people.
He is a spiritual father to many, including holistic ministry practitioners across the country who now serve as respected leaders in their own right. His legacy is not only seen in institutions established, but in leaders formed—women and men trained to bring healing, justice, and wholeness into real systems: housing, education, health, family life, and community development.
“Holistic ministry is not a trend. It is obedience.”
Bishop Rivera’s work proves a simple truth: when the church organizes with love, communities gain both hope and infrastructure.
“We don’t only serve communities. We build leaders who will outlive the crisis.”
Captivity Theology: Ministry That Names the Real World
Bishop Rivera’s framework of captivity theology gives language to what many communities already experience: captivity is not only incarceration—it can be housing insecurity, predatory systems, spiritual despair, violence, underfunded schools, untreated trauma, and normalized poverty.
When we recognize captivity clearly, new models of ministry become possible—models that are pastoral and public, Spirit-filled and strategic.
Watch. Listen. Be transformed.
Bishop Talks offers timely conversations on faith, culture, and justice—rooted in spiritual depth and grounded in real-world leadership.
Listen In.
Bishop Rivera sharing with City to City on Captivity Theology
Episode 4: Ministry in the Context of Captivity
Bishop Raymond Rivera explains his framework of “captivity theology” and the models of ministry in the city that become possible when we recognize we all minister in the context of captivity. The How to Reach the West Again Podcast is based on the booklet by best-selling author and pastor Tim Keller.
Watch and Experience.
Panel discussion and Q&A with esteemed Dr. Tim Keller and Bishop Ray Rivera.
September 16, 2013.