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Patricia Fatima Santos, from Église évangélique Pentecôtiste Sion, said she chose the course because the theme was very interesting to her. “We all come from different church denominations, diverse cultures, and different countries,” she said. “Here, we can listen and learn from one another—and it is this difference that makes us very rich.”
As she met the group, Santos said, she discovered that their thought processes might be very different from one another's. “What is very meaningful to me is the body inside the difference that brings us together—and that is Christ,” she said. “As a result, what unites us is more significant than what divides us.”
Taimetua Jonas Nahei, from Église Protestante Maohi (Polynésie française), said the course was recommended by a friend. “A friend of mine thought it would be helpful to share my point of view from the Pacific,” said Nahei. “It is very important for people to have my point of view, my ideas. I believe it is also worthwhile for people to learn the point of view of other people from other cultures.”
Simon Vianou, Etudiant à l'IPT Faculté de théologie de Montpellier, with a mother from Nigeria and a father from Benin, grew up surrounded by different cultures. “As soon as I discovered this course, I found it very interesting and wanted to know more about it,” said Vianou. “Whenever I attend this course, I learn about the cultures of each individual.”
Jacqline Serex, from Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, said that, every time the class meets, she finds it very interesting. “In spite of the fact that we are almost at the end of the course, we have a WhatsApp group where we can communicate with all participants,” she said. “I do not regret taking this course.”
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Photo:
Gloria Koymans/WCC
Rev. Dr Benjamin Simon, professor of Ecumenical Social Ethics, said that the intercultural theology course is a vital tool and step on our pilgrimage to more reconciliation, to more justice, and more unity among the churches. “This is because we need to understand each other, and the intercultural theology course gives us the tools on how this understanding can be done respectively,” he said.
This Formation en Théologie Interculturelle course is a partnership between World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, OPF (Neuchâtel), Témoigner ensemble à Genève, DM (Lausanne), Défap Service missionnaire (Paris), Institut Protestant de théologie (Montpellier and Paris).
The Ecumenical Institute Bossey
