Young Christian Leaders, Come on Down!

The William Wilberforce Foundation in Australia are offering an outstanding opportunity for young Christians to polish their skills and become the leaders we need for tomorrow.  The Foundation, takes the name of the famous evangelical Christian and anti-slavery campaigner, William Wilberforce and see the need to continue the tradition of Christian concern associated with his name.

They want to bring together 23 to 35 year old emerging Christian leaders on the Gold Coast in September for ‘Gathering Twenty 18′. The reason? So they can be inspired, connected, activated, mobilised and equipped as influential change agents for social transformation through fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives. Be quick nominations close very soon! 

Jonathan Green CEO of the William Wilberforce Foundation is passionate about the opportunity. “We sponsor 100 plus of the best up and coming Christian leaders, from right across Australia, and bring them together on the Gold Coast for ‘Gathering Twenty 18′. We put them with an exceptional group of established Christian leaders. We send these young people home with pathways and a plan to live out their faith in the world.” he told Stephen O’Doherty on ‘Open House’. 

“‘Gathering Twenty 18′ is based on the success of ‘Gathering Twenty 17′, which had over 250 nominations and we were able to sponsor 105 delegates to be a part of. Of the 105 delegates at Gathering Twenty 17, 86% of delegates felt that it helped in clarifying their calling and 96% felt inspired to go back to their community and be a social reformer. This level of impact and the significant interest from people wanting to be delegates indicated to us that this was meeting a real need and made it clear that we needed to run it again in 2018.” says Green.

“Last year we had young people from many different Christian traditions. We had people who are Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Greek Orthodox, Presbyterian, Pentecostal and many others. So this is one of the most significant multi-denominational gatherings of the next generation of Christian leaders in Australia. Many of those who attended last year hold significant roles such as chief-of-staff to Government ministers, senior lawyers, senior bankers and business owners.

The calibre of the mentors is also outstanding. Mentors already locked in for Gathering Twenty 18 include: Simon McKeon (Chancellor of Monash University), Ruth Limkin (CEO of The Banyan’s), Toby Hall (CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia), Fr Michael Tate (Former Attorney-General of Australia & Ambassador to The Holy See & Netherlands), Fiona Pearse (Director at World Vision Australia), Rev Tim Costello (Chief Advocate at World Vision Australia/CEO of Micah Challenge), Markus Koch (Chairman of Daniels Corporation), Claire Madden (Founder & Director of Hello Clarity), Richenda Vermeulen (Founder & CEO of ntegr!ty), Jason Smith (Group Director of Back in Motion Health), Kevin Bailey (Chairman of the William Wilberforce Foundation), Dave Hodgson (CEO of Paladin Corporation) and Melinda Dwight (CEO of Alpha Australia).

To nominate for Gathering Twenty 18 go here. To learn more about the role of evangelicals like William Wilberforce in shaping the history and culture of Australia you can go to the  ‘Open House’ story ‘Australian History’s Missing Link’ . It is about the recently published book,  ‘The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740-1914’ by Stuart Piggin and Robert D Linder. It is published by Monash University Publishing and is available at Koorong online or in their stores.

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