The GLI Mission
To mobilize restless Christian leaders from the Great Lakes Region, create a space for their transformation and empower them to participate in God’s mission of reconciliation in communities, organizations and nations.
Mission de L'IGL
Mobiliser des leaders chrétiens infatigables de toute la Région des Grands Lacs, créer un espace pour leur transformation, et renforcer leurs capacités en vue de participer à la mission de réconciliation de Dieu dans leurs communautés, organisations et nations.
Our Partners
The four founding partners of GLI are:
African Leadership And Reconciliation Ministries(ALARM)
African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries was founded in 1994 in response to a crisis of Christian leadership in Africa following the genocide in Rwanda. ALARM works to strengthen the African church to be an instrument of transformation in the community by focusing on developing servant leaders, reconciling relationships, and transforming communities.
Duke Divinity School's Center For Reconciliation (CFR)
Duke Divinity School Center for Reconciliation was established in 2005, the center is rooted in a Christian vision of God’s mission and advances God’s mission of reconciliation in a divided world by cultivating new leaders, communicating wisdom and hope, and connecting in outreach to strengthen leadership.
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Mennonite Central Committee, a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God's love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC envisions communities worlwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation.
World Vision International (WVI)
World Vision International is a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.
Country Working Groups
GLI Country Working Groups (CWGs) are self- organising and self-sustaining groups of GLI institute alumni. The CWGs are committed to realizing a vision of reconciled families, communities, organisations and their own nations. CWGs inspire others in this turbulent region with stories and testimonies of hope and signs of new “We” and healing often where it is hard to imagine that such stories of hope can be found or even realized in a violent and uncertain context.
Une expérience du Groupe de Travail du Pays imprègne l’espérance
The GLI South Sudan CWG is an excellent example of a self-organised and self- sustaining GLI alumni. In spite of an ongoing war since December 2013, the group has shown commitment to being Christ’s ambassadors for reconciliation. The CWG become very active upon return from the January 2015 Leadership Institute. A meeting was organised in March 2015 inviting all alumni who had participate in GLI events since 2006. 25 individuals met, deliberated on their challenging context and agreed to meet and pray for their nation every 15th day of the month without fail on a particular theme. Other activities proposed were encouraging key Church leaders to work behind the scenes with informal leaders of the ongoing conflict, mobilise other Christian leaders across the ethnic and political divide to participate in GLI 2016 Leadership Institute and raise funds for their participation.
One Catholic Bishop and one Anglican Bishop who participated in the 2015 GLI Leadership Institute have been active members in the Churches’ Delegation Team involved in mediation of the conflict. The Anglican Bishop was able to lead a group of his Colleagues on a Reconciliation learning tour to Rwanda. While there he connected to the GLI Rwanda Country Working Group members and they had fruitful sharing of experiences. As a CWG, South Sudan members have been able to mobilise 30 individuals to apply for the 2016 Leadership Institute, 12 of whom they found sponsorships for through local partners in South Sudan.Personal transformation among individuals has also taken place. One of the GLI South Sudan steering committee members narrates that before he came for the Leadership institute and the subsequent CWG Content and Design Workshop he was not sleeping well. ‘The restful time with different people from different contexts and hearing their own stories of living in challenging conflict situations has brought me relief and healing from the traumatic events I have gone through, seen and experienced in our South Sudan context. I have been able to sleep soundly unlike before I came to the GLI. Relationships among the ethnic divide has not hindered our meeting and working together. This is a true testament to reconciliation as God’s mission’.