Slovenia: GC Global Leadership Training Council

February 18, 2008 Rogaska, Slovenia 

“Rapid change describes this world today and its future. The questions to be raised include: Is leadership ready to deal with these challenges in a responsible and appropriate way?” “Has our leadership in the Church at all levels been positioned or trained in a manner that will give appropriate responses to the changing world with the challenges that are coming with those changes?” Dr. Mike Ryan and Dr. Pardon Mwansa, General Vice Presidents of the General Conference who head the Office of Global Leadership asked in their Welcome Message to the participants of Global Leadership Training Meetings held in Rogaska, Slovenia from February 10 to 13, 2008.

 

Pastor Stanley Ng, Coordinator of Leadership Training at the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) represented NSD at the meetings. Participants included 2 General Vice Presidents from the GC , all 13 Division Leadership Training Coordinators, Dr. Paul Brantley, GC Director, Office of Assessment and Program Evaluation, Dr. Skip Bell, Professor and Director of the Christian Leadership Center at Andrews University and Dr. Leslie Pollard, Vice Chancellor of Loma Linda University and Vice President for LLU Adventist Health Sciences Corporation.

 

Participants spent time brainstorming and developed a Vision Statement for the Leadership Training. Presentation and reports were given by the Division Coordinators and Institutions. During the council, the document voted at the 2005 General Conference Session, entitled “Profiling Seventh-day Adventist Leadership” was reviewed and discussed.

 

The meetings set out to achieve the following objectives:

 

1. Propose a system of gathering information, developing tools for assessment, and creating a consortium of leaders who will help design leadership training that serves the diverse needs of the world field.
 

2. Review the 2005 GC Mandate of Leadership Training and develop plans to implement the same.
 

3. Explore leadership training needs around the global church and a view to identifying critical areas in which those elected to leadership can be oriented.
 

4. Explore processes that lead to developing a good Division Leadership Training Program.

 

The loyalty and vision of elected Church leaders will be critical to the future unity of the Church. The Church must nurture a leadership culture that understands the Biblical basis of Church unity, authority, responsibility and accountability.