Your Time to Give

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New ROM - Renewing Our Minds Assistant Director Bojan Ruvarac, with his wife Rachel and their son Simon

Dear Friends,

It is that time of the year when Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation looks back with gratitude, and forward with renewed vision, passion and joy.

Let’s first share a few 2016 highlights:

ROM – Renewing Our Minds Leadership and Reconciliation Gathering 2016, held in Fuzine, Croatia this August was one of the most diverse ROM gatherings in many years. In the group of sixty-five participants from 19 countries, five of them were refugees currently staying in Croatia. Their presence and the vulnerability by which they opened their hearts to us were a precious gift and blessing for everyone attending. To the refugees attending ROM was a statement of hope that better days are coming. The words of Jesus, “Whatever you did for the least of those, you did for me” informed the entire two and a half weeks of the 2016 ROM Gathering.

Fuzine, Croatia, Home of ROM and EDI

EDI - Economic Diplomacy and Integrity Forum continues to grow in strength and impact. The EDI Forum 2016 held in July in Fuzine, Croatia gathered 30 participants from 10 countries. The relevance of the themes, all of them anchored in the person of Jesus, and calling for the formation of political and business leadership with integrity, continues to make EDI Forum an appealing and transformative experience. The vision and appeal of EDI is often picked up by the participants who are encouraged to organize EDI weekends in their own countries. Thus, very successful 2016 EDI Albania, 2016 EDI Costa Rica and 2016 EDI Transylvania were held in Albania, Costa Rica and Romania in March, May and November of 2016.

Forum Regathering 2016 was held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania at the end of September. Forum Regatherings take place once every two years with the intention to gather together the alumni who attended any of the Forum projects in the Balkans and beyond in previous years. This time 60 participants from 10 countries came together to share their stories, inspire and encourage each other, and go through the refresher course of what it means to be leaders who pursue leadership of service and reconciliation, informed and modeled by the person of Jesus.

Small Group activity at EDI 2016

Golden Rule Project continues to place a special emphasis on the needs of refugees, who are at this time the most vulnerable group in Europe. Recently a group of refugees, currently staying in Zagreb, Croatia received warm winter jackets, shoes and other winter clothes to help them face the cold winter months in Croatia, and more will be helped soon. Golden Rule Project is a practical tool of Forum through which the principles of servant-leadership, taught at ROM and EDI, are applied in the challenging, real-life circumstances.

Let’s now share the key plans for 2017:

Key Programs in 2017: The 2017 summer months in Fuzine, Croatia will be occupied by the 2017 ROM Leadership and Reconciliation Gathering, and 2017 EDI Forum. Between those two transformative gatherings we are expecting a diverse international group of at least one hundred participants from twenty countries. Also, in 2017 we are planning four EDI national events, and two ROM follow up or team building events in various countries of mostly Southeast Europe, and continue practically serving communities in need through our Golden Rule Project.

ROM 2016 one of the most diverse ROM gatherings

ROM Assistant Director Elected:  The most exciting news and a new development in 2017 will be the investment into developing a sustainable core and regional representatives team in the Balkans with the vision to lead ROM and Forum projects in the Balkans beyond 2019 when we will celebrate 20 years of ROM history and service. To that end the Forum Board recently elected Bojan Ruvarac from Serbia, a young leader with an outstanding and committed history of leadership in the ROM team to assume the role of the ROM Assistant Director from the January 1, 2017.  Tihomir Kukolja, who has been serving as the ROM Director since 2001, will invest the next two years into mentoring the new assistant director, and thus gradually hand over the baton of ROM leadership into the hands of the emerging director. Bojan’s wife Rachel Ruvarac will assist Bojan in his leadership. From now on Forum will be placing a special emphasis in our fundraising efforts to build a sustainable financial platform to help Bojan and Rachel Ruvarac move quickly to the full time directorial commitment to ROM.

JoinUs in Finishing This Year Strong and Starting Next Year Well

To close our expenses in 2016, and with our eyes firmly set on 2017, we would like to ask you to donate generously to Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation at this Christmas Season.

To donate to Forum is easy. Send the check with your generous donation to The Antioch Partners, 7132 Portland Ave, Suite 136, Richfield, MN 55423 (“Forum” in memo), or if you would like to donate online visit CLICK HERE and follow the instructions. Make sure that the “Project of your choice” is set on “Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation”.

Forum Regathering 2016, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Your generous gift will help us finish the current year well, and have an energizing start of the year 2017 as we continue to work on the development of leaders transformed by the person of Jesus in a divided world.

Thank You. May the blessings of our Lord be with you at this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year.

Martha S. Weiss, Board Chair

Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation

Tihomir Kukolja, Executive Director

Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation

More about our needs at this time.