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The WCC invites partners, friends, media and interested public to a lecture and book signing by Prof. Dr Jürgen Moltmann on 2 December.

As the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation held its biannual meeting at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey outside Geneva, Switzerland, space was given for a discussion on current concerns and trends in the area of teaching ecumenism in theological institutions today.

“What do the churches need today? And what does the world need from the churches?”, asked Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) as he reflected on the shrinking space for institutional ecumenical theological education in many contexts worldwide at the opening of the biannual meeting of the WCC’s Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, on 28 October.

A newly released World Council of Churches (WCC) publication, “For Those Who Wish to Hear,” is a collection of reflections from participants in the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2018.

An international consultation entitled “Green Reformation: Ecology, Religion, Education and the Future of the Ecumenical Movement” was held 12-15 May at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

Over 30 seasoned theological educators, emerging theologians and researchers, church ministers and practitioners engaged in grassroots adult education gathered at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland, 12-15 May, to reflect on eco-theology and theological education.

An international consultation on "Green Reformation: Ecology, Religion, Education and the Future of the Ecumenical Movement,” organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) department on Ecumenical Theological Education in cooperation with the Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany, will take place 12-15 May, at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland.

Una consulta internacional titulada “La reforma verde: ecología, religión, educación y el futuro del movimiento ecuménico”, organizada por el Departamento de Educación Teológica Ecuménica del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), en cooperación con la Asociación de Iglesias y Misiones Protestantes de Alemania, tendrá lugar del 12 al 15 de mayo, en el Instituto Ecuménico de Bossey, cerca de Ginebra (Suiza).

“Mission is not an action or activity we can choose. It is an expression of daily life. It belongs to the whole church and is not the function of just a few or of an agency,” says Father Ioan Sauca, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

Rev. Prof. Dr Rudolf von Sinner, professor of Systematic Theology, Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue as well as moderator of World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Education and Formation Commission, offered a public lecture on 13 April at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva as part of the WCC’s ongoing observance of its 70th anniversary this year.

Through a ceremony on 26 January, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey saw 21 students from 20 countries and 10 denominations embark on a future of ecumenical work in their respective home countries and contexts.

“Ecumenism without youth is ecumenism without a future”, said Prof. Dr Esther Mombo at the opening of the annual meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Education and Ecumenical Formation (CEEF), being held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 9-13 October.

“We’ve seen in the case of refugees, how the church takes a strong standpoint in welcoming those who have fled. But it isn’t always so easy in the congregations. There are many who feel fear, as we receive not only refugees but sometimes also people of other faiths. In this case, we can see a gap between what the church says, and what is actually lived.”

An upcoming Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) in Berlin, Germany, has participants like Shahriar Ashrafkhorasani, from the Church of England, looking forward to an experience that will go beyond informative into transforming.

When the Bossey Ecumenical Institute marked 70 years of formation, hundreds of current and former students, professors and friends gathered at the Château du Bossey to celebrate. Rev. Khaing Moh Moh was one of that band, but perhaps she travelled the furthest, from Myanmar, where she serves the Shan State Lisu Baptist Association about 200 kilometres north of Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city.

Thirty-five international students from the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland, are embarking on a future of ecumenism, dialogue and unity that began with months of intense study and fellowship.

The descendants of the last family to live at Chateau de Bossey before it was acquired by the WCC are elated it is now a centre that brings people from different Christian traditions and other faiths together to understand one another better.

“Bossey opened my mind and my horizon.” These words from a former student touched Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller, dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, one month ago as the two met at a conference.

“Bossey abrió mi mente y amplió mis horizontes”. Estas palabras de un antiguo estudiante emocionaron a la Rev. Dra. Dagmar Heller, decana del Instituto Ecuménico de Bossey, cuando se conocieron en una conferencia hace un mes.