Our History
National Leadership Institute scientific and cultural non-governmental organization was founded in 2000 in Yerevan.
The organization's primary goal is to develop lay Christian leadership among young people by providing them with knowledge about the Bible and the Mother Church, counseling, and support for living Christian principles in their lives, so that they contribute to strengthening the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The organization's founding president is Doctor of Theology Petros Grigori Malakyan, whose rich life experience and education played a decisive role in the organization's establishment. Born in Gyumri, P. Malakyan inherited the foundation of Christian faith from his repatriated parents, with whom he left for the USA after the devastating earthquake of 1988, with the desire to receive a theological education and return to his homeland.
In 1999, P. Malakyan received a doctoral degree at Fuller Theological Seminary in California and returned to Armenia with his family. Here he met the founder and first dean of the Faculty of Theology of Yerevan State University, Archbishop Shahe Achemyan. With his blessing, he began teaching at the Faculty of Theology of YSU. At the same time, he founded the "New Life Institute" a scientific and cultural non-governmental organization, which in 2003 was renamed the "National Leadership Institute" (hereafter - NLI).
On the recommendation of Archbishop Shahe, P. Malakyan starts conducting conversations about the Bible in the student union of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was attached to the Faculty of Theology, and invited fifteen young people who regularly attend there to participate in the "Christ-like Leadership Development" course organized by the National Academy of Sciences. That group of church-loving young people, participating in the Holy Liturgy in Saghmosavank, expresses a desire to form an amateur choir and go to Saghmosavank every Sunday. This initiative received the blessing and encouragement of not only the local spiritual pastor Father Ghevond Gaboyan but also the vicar of Aragatsotn Diocese at that time (currently the head of the Armenian Diocese of Vir) Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanyan.
Thus, since 2001, teaching at the NLI is combined with the implementation of various projects for the church by the students. The place of implementation of the programs is mainly Yerevan, but the students of NLI didn't miss any opportunity to leave the capital. With the blessing of Bishop Mikael Adjapahyan, leader of Shirak Diocese, regular courses and pilgrimages were conducted in Gyumri, Harichavank, and elsewhere. Haghpatavank (Gugarats Diocese), Gandzasar Monastery (Artsakh Diocese), and Kecharis Church (Kotayk Diocese) are among the favorite sanctuaries of NLI students for holding seminars.
Among the regular programs of the NLI, the most notable was the establishment of a Sunday school next to Saghmosavank in 2002, which was later implemented in the neighboring Ohanavan, Karbi, Mughni, and Ush communities. That program operated until 2013. During 2003-2009 the series of cultural events representing Christian values through art, the "Christian integration for disabled youth" program, the "Kantegh" program aimed at implementing Christian education in orphanages and special schools, as well as many other programs and seminar-pilgrimages to various shrines of Armenia and Artsakh.
Since 2006, by the initiative of the founding president of the organization, the NLI was taken over by his students, and P. Malakyan had the opportunity to engage mainly in scientific work. In 2007, Dr. P. Malakyan was ordained by Archbishop Kchoyan of Navasard, vicar of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese, and at the same time, the NLI, with the blessing of the same holy father, began to operate under the auspices of the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese.
Now, the spiritual pastor of the youth gathered around the National Leadership Institute is the coordinator of the church-loving youth unions of AHT, the spiritual pastor of the Ararat Union Father Petros senior priest Malyan.
