World Communion of Reformed ChurchesInstitute builds global community
Question: What do you get when you put over 30 students, faculty and staff from more than a dozen countries on a seminary campus in Central America for three weeks of classes, worship and immersion experiences?
Answer: A global Christian community of future ecumenical leaders.
Gathering under the theme “Transforming Mission, Community and Church” the WCRC’s fourth Global Institute of Theology (GIT) took place this July on the campus of the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (Biblical University of Latin America) in San José, Costa Rica.
“The GIT is one of the most effective gatherings for young Reformed theologians with a longing to meet other open and committed Reformed students,” said Bas Plaisier, president of the GIT and a faculty member. “This mixture of worship, study, lectures and exposure in a particular culture and church is unique and extremely meaningful. Each GIT ‘delivers’ a lot of new committed ecumenical theologians and a new network of young Christians all over the world.”
The Institute’s course work was structured around the theme, with a different core course each week attended by all students:
- Mission: Mission as evangelism and service
- Community: Places of Epiphany/Reformed presence in the world
- Church: Reformed Church challenging the ecumenical world
Students were also given a variety of elective courses from which to choose. Topics for this GIT included Contextual Bible reading, Christian mission in Latin America and Reformed identity and the search for vital churches, among others.
Immersion experiences included attending local churches for worship each Sunday, traveling to sites around Costa Rica and visiting churches’ outreach projects. But it was the sharing between students that will likely have the longer- term impact.
“Students come with their stories—stories of hope, joy, grief and concern—and they share that. And when they go home, they are part of a global community,” said Douwe Visser, WCRC executive secretary for theology and GIT secretary. “This is a very deep once-in-a-lifetime experience for them.”
Aruna Gnanadason, GIT dean of students, agreed: “It’s very earth-changing because the students’ horizons are broadened so much. They learn a lot about world Christianity listening to so many people from different contexts. I think it helps to understand your life more when you encounter other peoples’ lives.”
As student Cate Burton from New Zealand said, “It provides us an opportunity to have in-depth conversations with people from all over the world about issues that we previously only read or heard about on the news. To meet real people from such places, and hear their stories, is challenging and profound.”
“Clearly the number one experience for participants is the formation of an international Christian, spiritual community in which they feel blessed by hearing the stories of others,” said Peter Wyatt, GIT dean of faculty. “I think it introduces students to the ecumenical context on a global basis and opens up possibilities and vision.”
“The importance of the GIT for me is not only to listen,” said Joanna Hipp, a student from the United States. “We’re part of a global body, and like each of our own bodies, we have to move, we have to act. The impact of the GIT also taught and inspired me to move, to be part of a movement to the fullness of life.”
The GIT is made possible by the generous support of the Evangelisches Missionswerk in Deutschland, the Council for World Mission East Asia Region, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the United Church of Canada, the Evangelisch-Reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Zürich and the Fondation pour l’aide au protestantisme reformé.
The next GIT is planned to take place in the weeks preceding the 2017 General Council in Germany.