7 Ways the GLS is Inspiring Leaders in Nigeria

Piboere grew up in Nigeria, a country of both beauty and strife. While Nigeria is notorious for corruption, injustice and poverty, Piboere sees opportunity for transformation.

As a young girl who wanted to help people and take action for her country, she decided to go to law school. Right out of law school, God lead her into ministry at her church. That’s where she learned about the GLS.

In 2008, her church hosted its first GLS. Two years later, Piboere became a GLS producer who now produces and trains other producers at some of the 60 sites across the country.

Her experience has not only impacted her own life, but also the more than 20,000 leaders who are attending the GLS in Nigeria this year alone.

Ministry in a place like Nigeria isn’t easy.

“In 2014, I wanted to give up. I was battling things in my mind, and I was on the verge of running away,” Piboere shares. “I’d been working in ministry for 10 years. At the time, the GLS was starting to take off in my country. God spoke to me, and I realized what I could do for the GLS and how I could help other churches get better. So I stayed.”

With God’s strength, Piboere did not quit, but pursued her vision to help churches get better.

“A culture of excellence can be built anywhere,” says Piboere. “Whether you’re a small church or you’re a big church, as long as you put certain principles in place, you can make it work better. It doesn’t even have to do with financial resources, it’s just somebody making up their mind to say we can do it.

“I want to enter a church and ask, Oh! What God is this?” Piboere exclaims. “I want to see real and original content. We have a lot of artistic people in Nigeria, but they just don’t know how to plan it well. That’s why I’m passionate about it.”

Here are the 7 ways the GLS is inspiring leaders in Nigeria to step up and say “We can do it!”

1. The GLS inspires excellence

At the GLS, the value of excellence inspires churches to step up and take advantage of the skills and talents in their own communities. As a result, churches are creating experiences that inspire others and prompt people to ask, “Who is this God?”

2. The GLS looks beyond race

The GLS helps people see beyond race and the stories of their past. “That’s one thing I’d actually change in Nigeria,” says Piboere. “It can be as simple as accepting people in whatever situation they’re in, and sharing a common ground. Sometimes they just need someone to hold their hand. I was on a plane when the lady sitting beside me said she was scared of flying and asked if she could hold my hand just before the plane took off. I did. It was warm to me because she didn’t know me, but she was comfortable holding my hand.”

3. The GLS opens doors

The GLS opens up doors for leaders who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity. “There are a lot of church denominations in Nigeria,” Piboere explains. “Some denominations don’t like to associate with people from other churches or other places. But we were able to hold the GLS in a church that used to close its doors to other denominations, and they are hosting it again this year. It’s amazing. The GLS opens those doors for us to be able to go into places where we couldn’t have gone before.”

4. The GLS empowers Christians

The GLS empowers Christian women like Piboere to use their gifts. With the reminder of who she is in Christ, and the influence she offers as a Christian leader in the community, she was empowered to follow God’s call on her life to help other churches get better. “I was able to train quite a number of mentors this year, and in one of the places I was the only female. Sometimes I am the youngest person in the room. But pastors listen to me,” Piboere shares. “The GLS has given me an opportunity I wouldn’t have had if I were sitting in my office. As a woman, I’m able to stand tall and do what God wants me to do.”

5. The GLS raises the next generation

The GLS calls out the younger generation, and empowers them with the idea that they too can follow God’s call on their lives and influence their communities, no matter what age they are. “Young people want to take a risk and do more. I hope to see more young people in Nigeria allowed to carry the leadership baton, and more leaders not so afraid to let it go,” Piboere says. “That’s a major prayer request because they are the ones—we are the ones—who will take it forward.

6. The GLS changes communities

With a vision to help Christians grow in their leadership and maximize Kingdom impact, the GLS is gaining traction in Nigeria. “The principles we get from the GLS are helping many of the churches, and if it can help one church in Nigeria, it can help many more,” Piboere says. “People have done amazing things with the GLS in their own communities. That’s what we need. We don’t want Nigeria to be looked at as a country that is corrupt. We want that to change and we believe that the GLS will do that.”

7. The GLS gives space to hear God’s voice

At the GLS, people have given God space to speak to them, challenge them, fill them up and spur them on. Many leaders have come to the GLS uncovering their “holy discontent,” and they leave with the courage to take action. “God is always speaking. There’s always a prompting in your heart,” Piboere shares. “It’s a holy discontent. The hardest thing is to follow it. You may be scared of what will happen tomorrow or how will people take it. But a leader should follow the prompting God places on his or her heart, and know that if God is leading you there, God will sort it out.”

Thank you!

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Thank you for supporting leaders like Piboere in Nigeria. It’s incredible to see how God is working to strengthen the church through the GLS, and using young, courageous leaders like Piboere to bring change to a nation.

To learn more about how to support leaders like Piboere
or expand the GLS around the world
go to www.willowcreek.com/give