Approximately 30 national leaders of The Foursquare Church worldwide, representing some 17 countries and 4 continents, will be meeting in Atlanta from June 4-6, immediately following Foursquare Connection 2010, for the first-ever Global Leadership Training Network (GLTN) event.
The intent of GLTN—a brand-new initiative of FMI in partnership with the Foursquare Global Council—is to have a combination of key U.S. and global leaders train national and emerging leaders, as well as encourage them to pass that training along to the emerging leaders in their countries and regions, says Raul Irigoyen, regional relations coordinator for FMI.
“As a former national leader in Panama,” Raul told Foursquare.org, “I’m excited to see a training initiative that taps into both U.S. and global resources to facilitate a community of learning experiences for national leaders. I look forward to seeing our national leaders grow and pass on not only the content, but also the process to emerging leaders for real, life-changing results for years to come.”
GLTN is different from anything FMI has done in the past, says Raul, in that it is facilitating an educational, “learning community” experience that will engage current and future national leaders in training and consultation encounters that are designed to assist them in providing culturally relevant leadership to their national movements.
In other words, it’s not about any one nation telling the rest of the world how to do things—it’s about partnering with global leaders in new ways to produce culturally relevant training that will shape the future of Foursquare worldwide and increase the movement’s impact for the kingdom of God.
“Leaders around the world in our Foursquare family are constantly pursuing strategic opportunities of training and consultation,” notes Jonathan Hall, director of FMI. “Over the past two years, it has been FMI’s privilege to partner with the Global Council in efforts to design creative and life-changing opportunities for leaders around the world at the national board level, to meet for consultation and interaction.
“The intent is to offer them,” Jonathan continues, “with invited younger leaders from each country, a partial scholarship toward the opportunity of gathering with other global leaders for an intensive time of consultation, connection and learning. These events will be designed by the Global Council, regional councils and our area missionaries at regional and global levels, and we hope they will provide a very unique opportunity and learning community for our leaders in 140-plus nations and 65,000 churches.”
Two GLTN events are planned for 2010—the first in Atlanta following Foursquare Connection; the second in Israel, from October 6-15. In 2011, FMI hopes to host between three and five GLTN events: one after the annual Foursquare convention; multiple regional events; and a global event, again in Israel. Dates are yet to be determined.
Raul notes that pastors looking for a way to serve the national leaders can make a difference by sponsoring, or providing a scholarship for, a national leader to attend one of the upcoming events.
“We’ll be investing in the leaders who could transform their nations in our generation!” he affirms.
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By: Bill Shepson, a Foursquare credentialed minister and freelance writer in Los Angeles
