LEADStrong works alongside a redemptive initiative, the first of its kind in the country, that seeks to provide comprehensive support in mental health care—offering family education and spiritual encouragement, direct care and also works to reduce the stigma attached to a mental health diagnosis while raising community awareness. This passionate group of caseworkers also hope to provide training to communities and schools in peer-led emotional and mental well-being. We are providing leadership training and organizational consulting, as well as caregiver and case-management training to this first-of-its-kind mental health case-management initiative in Rwanda.

The dream is big and the team is starting small, but nearly 30 people attended the first training, which covered all aspects of care—spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical—for patients and their families walking this journey. More training has been requested, and this relationship will be an ongoing journey as the project continues to grow rapidly.

The growth of the church throughout Africa is astounding and has far outpaced the continent’s current capacity to provide comprehensive, accredited theological education to those in need of pastoral leadership training. LEADStrong’s Dr. Jones is currently filling a faculty role in Leadership and Organizational Development coursework at a western-accredited college in their post-graduate diploma program, soon to become a Master of Arts in Theology. These classes are full and expected to grow significantly over the next few years. Additionally, other schools are opening to try to meet the vast needs in the region for higher education and more opportunities for teaching are in development.

It is a great joy to see so many young leaders engaging in higher education but a great many support partners are needed to help meet this growing need!

LEADStrong partners in the development and leadership training of an incredible team in Burundi, serving as the non-profit partner and board leadership for a truly amazing, novel initiative. The unique community center that has been built and launched in the past year is active in a wide range of redemptive initiatives: child sponsorship initiatives, conference and seminar work, counseling, outreach to those disenfranchised by mental health struggles and those struggling with addiction, community development work, micro-finance opportunities, maternal/child well-being, and youth programming, to name just a few. LEADStrong International continues to walk closely with the leaders of this center, providing leadership training, coaching care and consistent board oversight as our organization grows and develops. We are AMAZED at what God has done in this first year and look forward to seeing the growth of new locations in the coming year.