The Ecumenical Theological Education programme of the World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted the first meeting of the International Planning Group of the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) 2021 in end-January in Karlsruhe, Germany, the venue of the future 11th WCC Assembly.

The 16-member group, representing a broad confessional and regional diversity, developed a conceptual framework for GETI 2021 and an outline of the thematic foci. They also confirmed the venue, with the Karlsruhe Local Assembly Office on hand to offer contextual advice.

GETI 2021 will take place alongside the 11th WCC Assembly as an academic activity that will engage young theologians and early-career theological educators on ecumenical themes, facilitated by experienced ecumenical theologians and academics. The institute is a short-term study exposure within the WCC’s long-term strategy of nurturing of leaders for the ecumenical movement.

“GETI 2021 will take place at a historic turn in the life of the WCC. A generational change is happening over time as we witness ecumenists that founded the WCC and several senior ecumenists going or preparing to go into retirement and emerging leaders coming to the forefront,” reflects WCC Programme Executive for Ecumenical Theological Education, Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba. “To that effect, GETI 2021 serves as a platform for the transmission of the collective memory of the ecumenical movement to the next generation and shaping the future.”

Nalwamba added: “It is a symbolic passing on of the baton and equally an auspicious occasion to gather the input of present and future ecumenists. A sustained ecumenical vision requires such an ongoing cultivation of the younger generation.”

Applications for GETI 2021 will open towards the end of 2020.

Ecumenical Theological Education

Source ⇒ WCC