The Impact of the GLS | Church Attendance Increases in Lithuania

Pastor Saulius Karosas has been pioneering the Global Leadership Summit in Lithuania since 2010. Knowing the need for servant leadership in Lithuania’s post-Communist culture, he grabbed hold of a vision to build up the next generation of leaders, and  provide opportunities for Christians in Lithuania to discover their leadership gifts and the call that God has on their lives to impact their communities.

This year was the sixth year we organized the Summit in Lithuania. It has grown from 300 participants in 2010 to 1,200 participants in 2015! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve the leaders through GLS. I am blown away by how the GLS has been a blessing to me personally and many, many participants I get to talk with.

Here are just a couple comments I heard this year:

“This is my fifth conference. Five years ago when I attended here for the first time, my worldview was changed. I left my corporate job in a big international company. My wife and I slowed down. We adopted a girl, who is nine now. Our kids are grown and moved out, but we can still invest ourselves into this girl‘s life. We are happy now.” – GLS attendee, Lithuania

“We all need to know that we are on the winning team with Jesus.  We can do much more than what we are doing now. You and other priests need to convince everyone in the country who the winner is. This message needs to reach everyone.” – CEO of a large company in Lithuania

Every year we see the same people returning and bringing their collegues and friends, which means we are building a community for whom the servant leadership model becomes a lifestyle. This is such a unique model of leadership to present in our post-Communist culture, where we really need to build up and raise servant leaders in this new generation.

One of the most powerful moments during the conference occurred during Brian Houston’s interview. We were able to transition from the song I am a child of God on screen right into the live version of the song sung by the worship team in Lithuanian. People broke down into tears and prayer. After the session, our prayer room was overflowing. The impact was powerful.

35% of the participants are not from the faith community.
As a result of the Summit, they often start attending church.

Many leaders who attend, leave wanting more, desiring a community where they can learn year-round. In addition to new attendance at church, leadership clubs have formed out of the Summit. We now have five cities where leadership clubs gather once a month to learn from and grow with each other.

I pray a blessing that the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. May His holy, sweet presence be with you and your families.