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2023 Leaders of Christian Organisations (Emerging) Network

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Equipping European leaders for faithfulness and excellence

The Leaders of Christian Organizations Network: Emerging Leaders Track seeks to equip younger leaders to direct the continent’s Christian churches and organizations in a way that ensures the greatest impact for God’s Kingdom. This Network seeks to provide practical wisdom, useful leadership insights, and biblically-based solutions to key problem areas, as well as to encourage leaders facing key organisational challenges. This Network also addresses significant issues that new leaders may encounter, from how to deal with their own assumptions of personal integrity and virtue, to topics like strategic planning, vision-casting, time management, and delegation, prioritising organisational objectives, and assessing finances and resource development.

Based on feedback from past years, the networks for Leaders of Christian Organisations will follow a different format this year, with more focus on working together as a learning community. Each day will incorporate mixed modes of learning, combining expert input, working on live leadership issues, working through tools and frameworks that you can take away and apply back home, time for peer learning exchange, and the opportunity to pray together as fellow leaders. We hope this will enable each participant to contribute from the richness of their own experience in leadership, as well as providing space and support to apply learning to the specific leadership challenges and opportunities you face. 

Prior preparation will be set for all applicants.

Applicants should be leading or helping to lead Christian organisations or churches.  They should be seeking practical tools and biblically-based solutions in key problem areas of the leader's role.

Network Leadership

John Stevens is the National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, a family of over 500 Bible-centred churches in the UK, a position that he has held since 2010. Prior to this he was one of the founding pastors of City Evangelical Church Birmingham, which was planted in… Read more
Jen Charteris, originally from South Africa, is the executive director of Crosslands, which provides in-context theological training from Foundation to PhD level across the UK, Europe, and beyond. Previously she spent over 25 years working in strategic change, organisational consulting, and board… Read more

Network Speakers

Jen Charteris, originally from South Africa, is the executive director of Crosslands, which provides in-context theological training from Foundation to PhD level across the UK, Europe, and beyond. Previously she spent over 25 years working in strategic change, organisational consulting, and… Read more

Ross Hendry serves as CEO of CARE since his appointment in November 2021. Prior to joining CARE, he was the CEO of Spurgeons', one of the UK’s largest children’s charities. He has also served as Deputy CEO at the office for the Children’s Commissioner in England and as Head of Public Policy… Read more

Dave Patty has been involved in training youth leaders and leading national and international youth movements in Europe for over 30 years. He serves as the president of Josiah Venture. He is also a founding member of Concentric, which mobilizes and equips youth ministry trainers in over 60… Read more

Peter Saunders was born in New Zealand and originally trained as a general surgeon before serving with the Africa Inland Mission in Kenya and completing two years of mission training at All Nations Christian College in the UK. From 1992 to 2018 he served full-time with Christian Medical… Read more

Network Programme

Sunday, 21 May

What does it mean to be fully human? This session will look into the biblical perspective of the Imago Dei, contrasting it with the surrounding world view. We will explore how distinctive leadership is exercised under Christ and in community.

This session will give time for small groups to work through a case study related to connected leadership, with time for discussion and questions.

Monday, 22 May

This session will look at how to apply the biblical principles of “being fully human” to ourselves as leaders. How does this understanding shape our posture, patterns, priorities, and practices? In what ways are we tempted to deny our identity, createdness, and finitude? We will explore how a leader can be proactive and intentional in providing the vision, ethos, structures and patterns that enable effective gospel ministry by the whole community.

This session will give time for small groups to work through a case study related to proactive leadership, with time for discussion and questions.

Tuesday, 23 May

How can we apply the biblical principles of “being fully human” to teams and organisations? In this session, we will examine how to exercise Godly leadership in circumstances that are not of our choosing or clearly out of our control, looking at both crisis and complexity angles. How can our strategies, culture, structures, and systems reflect the worth and finitude of the people we lead and the people that our organisations serve?

This session will give time for small groups to work through a case study related to responsive leadership, with time for discussion and questions.

Wednesday, 24 May

Knowing both that we and our world are fallen and that our hope is certain is a transforming perspective. How can we apply this perspective to how we lead? This session will explore what being 'professional' should and should not look like as a Christian, delving into the connection between spiritual life, family life, and life as a leader.

This session will give time for small groups to work through a case study related to integrated leadership, with time for discussion and questions.