The 8th Global Leadership Summit sponsored by the General Conference (GC) was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from January 27 to 29, 2015. The Leadership Summit is usually held in a different Division every year. Together with their spouses, thirty-five church executive leaders from the thirteen Divisions, Middle East and North Africa Union, Israel Field, and some academic institutions gathered to report on the previous year’s activities and to present their studies on critical issues each Division has been facing and how to address those issues and conflicts as leaders. At the meeting, Michael Ryan, GC vice president, expressed his appreciation as he emphasized the significant development of leadership training programs in each Division and the academic institutions’ contribution to leadership development.
Dr. Jairyong Lee, president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD), and Dr. Joo MinHo,NSD assistant to the president, attended the meeting and reported the activities of NSD in the area of leadership in 2014. To begin with, NSD established the Leadership Training Center (LTC) in Jeju Island to train church leaders and started training sessions last year. Pastors and lay leaders from Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan, and China, have come to LTC for spiritual training and to renew their hearts. The report was followed by a presentation of a specific issue NSD had emphasized in relation to mission, which was retention and discipleship. In the presentation, Dr. Joo emphasized teaching as an integral part of discipleship especially after baptism.
Other Division representatives presented various issues, such as unity in diversity, women ordination, homosexuality, etc. This revealed the various challenges faced by church leadership. It shows that the world church needs, more than ever before, unity in diversity through continuing leadership development.
On February 29, all leaders flew to Izmir, Turkey, to visit the archeological sites of two ancient churches, namely Smyrna and Ephesus, among the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. According to the tour guide, ancient Smyrna is still buried under the site of the newly established city. The archeological site of Ephesus was much excavated, and ruins of Ephesus’s glory in Paul’s days were visible. Ephesus’s theater, partially devastated because of quakes, reminded them of rioters’ cries against Paul’s evangelism in Ephesus. Meanwhile, church leaders agreed to have the next meeting in Jerusalem in 2016.