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50 Leaders F.A.Q.Category:
As the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund celebrates its 50th anniversary, the 50 Leaders program will work with fifty young (aged 16-30) Anglicans in Canada to discern and develop the gifts that the Spirit has given them. Developing Christian leaders involves not just learning, but prayer, Bible study, and experience of the ministry of God’s people in the world. 50 Leaders will provide opportunities for all of these facets of leadership development. By transforming participants’ gifts and passions into positive action, these leaders will be advocates and champions for PWRDF and justice in their communities throughout their time in the 50 Leaders program and into the future. Through their ministry, they will bring new inspiration to the Anglican Church of Canada by helping Canadian Anglicans to live out the gospel call to bear witness to God's healing love in a broken world.
50 Leaders involves several activities: 1. Orientation weekend On November 20-22, 2009 participants and the leadership team of the 50 Leaders program will gather in Toronto (all travel arrangements will be made through PWRDF) to learn about the program and the work of PWRDF, to get to know each other, to spend time discerning our gifts, and to worship and pray together. Participants will also begin to develop their self-directed education plan (see below). 2. Self-directed Education Once participants have determined the gifts they wish to develop through 50 Leaders to enable them to be stronger advocates and leaders for justice in the Anglican Church of Canada, they will develop (with the leadership team of the program) a self-directed education plan which they can undertake in their home communities. Self-directed education (SDE)is a learning process where the participant works with the 50 Leaders team to develop a list of things that they want to learn, and then develops strategies to learn them in ways that will be best for them. Some people learn through reading books, some through discussions, others through watching videos, others through trial and error. SDE allows each participant to design a curriculum that will allow them to best learn the material to be covered. 3. Mentor and Spiritual Director After participants return home, 50 Leaders will help them to find a mentor in their home community to accompany them as they learn about their gifts and how to apply them to leadership in justice issues. Additionally, we strongly encourage all participants to work with a spiritual director during their time in the program to help them to integrate their justice work into their lives of faith. 4. Immersion Experience All participants will have the opportunity to participate in some form of experience. Examples of possible experiences include: 5. Leading Justice Initiatives at the Local Level 50 Leaders participants will be expected to take on leadership of at least one (and hopefully more in the future) justice initiatives in their local communities. These initiatives will likely be as varied as the participants!
The 50 Leaders program will run for approximately 5 years, with orientation sessions taking place annually to bring new participants into the program. Our goal is to begin with 10-12 participants for the 2009 orientation. The Orientation weekend for the 2009 session will take place the weekend of November 20-22, 2009 at the Sisters of St. John the Divine Guest House in Toronto. After that, participants will work on projects and learning at their own pace. A list of possible immersion experiences will be presented in November, and more will be distributed through email as they become available. The 50 Leaders program is intended to run for between 12-18 months for each participant. There will be another orientation session for new participants in 2010.
The 50 Leaders program is open to Anglicans in Canada aged 16-30. Through the course of the program, we are hoping to work with as diverse a group as possible: geographically, ethnically, urban/rural, education, profession, age, etc. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are also welcome to apply to the program. Applicants must be able to travel to Toronto for the weekend of November 20-22, 2009 in order to be eligible to join the program in 2009. A selection team will meet after the September 30 application deadline for the first year’s program and review all applications. Successful applicants will be informed by October 15, 2009.
50 Leaders will give participants a chance to develop skills to more effectively engage their passion for justice in the world. They will also have a chance to meet other young Anglicans from across Canada who are involved in this work. The skills that are developed through 50 Leaders will be applicable in a wide range of settings, both professional and voluntary. Participants will know that through their work on justice issues and in support of PWRDF, they are helping to bring about another world, one where God’s justice can reign! The honest answer is that we are not sure yet, because it will depend on what kind of immersion experiences people participate in, how much it costs to travel to the orientation weekend, etc. Our best guess at the moment is between $2000 and $2500, but that is an estimate. PWRDF will pay for travel to and involvement in the orientation weekend, with the expectation that participant fundraising will reimburse those funds. What we can say is that we will be providing a package to help participants to learn how to fundraise: templates for letters, information on how to run a fundraising event, etc. Being involved in the fundraising will also help to develop concrete skills that the 50 Leaders participants will be able to use in the future to continue their justice work and to work on behalf of PWRDF. More information about the 50 Leaders program, including an application form, can be found here. You can also contact Simon Chambers, 50 Leaders staff, by email or by phone at (416)924-9199 ext. 366. |
