Kinross, Scotland  - Sixteen young people from across Scotland took part in the Leadership Development Initiative (LDI) launch weekend for the British Isles North District, September 15 to 18, at Lendrick Muir, Kinross. The aim of the weekend was to bring together mentors and mentees, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to develop a new generation of leaders.

The participants and their nine mentors spent their time learning and dialoguing about Christian leadership ­– the kind of leaders that God seeks for His church – and how they can transform their world "in Christ, like Christ and for Christ."

“It was a really exciting and refreshing weekend, which saw 16 young leaders commit to a two-year program of ministry, mentoring and ‘radical obedience’ to God,” said Rev. Michelle Robinson, the British Isles North Nazarene Youth International (NYI) vice president and NYI coor­dinator for the Northern Europe Field. “We look forward to what the next two years have in store and how it will impact the local churches and the wider district.”

Each participant will be partnered with a local church and given a “platform for ministry.” This will be in conjunction with their mentor and local pastor and may be something they are already involved in or a new initiative they would like to explore. Leaders hope in the future the participants themselves will mentor others.

“I feel like this is going to have a massive impact on local churches,” said Amy Warner, one of the participants. “Not only will we be learning on an individual basis, which will help us to contribute more to our churches, [but] we'll be committing ourselves to an area of ministry and working as hard as we can on that to make it amazing.”

Rev. Philip McAlister, the British Isles North district superintendent, spearheaded the initiative. Along with Robinson, Rev. Derrick Thames, senior pastor of Erskine Church of the Nazarene, and youth pastor Alan Baird, were both involved in presenting the different interactive sessions and organizing the weekend.

The mentors and mentees are expected to contact each other weekly by phone, email or Skype, and to meet monthly for two years. They received a devotional to work through together and will be jointly working through a book.

According to mentor Tracy Wilson, the role of a mentor is invaluable to the Christian life.

“To have someone you know committed to praying for you, developing you, encouraging you and guiding you, is like having a springboard in your life in order to enable you to reach goals that you never believed were possible,” she said. “I believe this was the way Jesus mentored His disciples and so we should follow His example.”

The participants were involved in an ongoing dialogue about leadership surrounding each day’s theme (drawn from the Eurasia Region’s mission statement): “In Christ” on day one, “Like Christ” on day two, and “For Christ” on day three. Seminars allowed discussion on the nature of Christian leadership as well as Jesus’ sacrificial leadership.

Throughout the weekend, the group also developed a covenant. At the end of the weekend, the covenant was read to the group; McAlister anointed each one with oil and their mentors prayed for them.

“This was a great way to end the weekend, as there was a real sense of being in it together and being ready and commissioned to go,” said Robinson. “This event was just the start. The whole idea of investing in, mentoring and developing leaders will have a massive impact [on] the local church and consequently the district church. This will be a very exciting two years.”

The Eurasia Region's Leadership Development Initiative began in 2008 as a five-year plan to identify 10 to 12 potential or emerging leaders on every district. Events are designed to disciple the participants in servant leadership, regional mission strategy, and partner them in a two-year mentoring relationship with a mature leader.

LDI will be launched in Northern Ireland in May 2012.