GLS Leadership Team: Beth Dahlenburg, Lucky, Dave Wright, Eric Hood - Grafton St, Dublin

One of the great blessings of 2011 was the opportunity to join Willow Creek’s leadership team in Dublin for the Irish version of the Global Leadership Summit.

The GLS is hosted each August in the states by Willow Creek via simulcast to almost 200 church sites.  Over 70,000 leaders participated in the event in 2011. Following on the heels of the US event, the GLS takes to the road and is hosted in hundreds of cities globally throughout the fall.  I was privileged to attend Dublin’s hosting of the Summit in November.

During one of our breaks, I had a chance to interview Sean, an Assemblies of God pastor from Newbridge.  Here are some of the things I learned from him:

Jarrett Ruffino, GLS International Team

  • Ireland is ethnically very diverse:  of the 500 people in his congregation, there are 16 nationalities represented (Newbridge is a town of 20,000 in county Kildare)
  • Ireland is 1% evangelical Christian
  • Ireland is 95% Roman Catholic
  • 20% of the local population attends church each week
  • Since gaining independence from the British almost a century ago,  individual responsibility for personal leadership and moral decision making has been abdicated to the Catholic church.  The tools required for moral decision making are a rapidly fading part of individual consciousness.
  • Due to its history with the British, religion is primarily a question of nationality, not of individual decision
  • In 2011, an average of 1,000 young people leave the country each week due to the global economic downturn.  Many go to Australia to work construction jobs created by the 2011 floods.

Peter Mercier: Irish Businessman and Host for the Dublin GLS

My thoughts frequently return to this amazing trip.  I’m looking forward to seeing how God will leverage the trip for future (and, as yet, unknown) purposes.  At this point, I’m learning all I can about how partnerships, collaborations and other connections may aid the leadership development effort in Ireland and other countries.

I’d be interested to hear how you are mentoring, training and developing leaders, both at home and abroad.  I’d be especially interested to hear of leadership development efforts you may be familiar with in Ireland.

Blessings!

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