World Communion of Reformed Churches
Global Institute of Theology
Living together and learning as a global community
The 2025 Global Institute of Theology (GIT), a programme of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), will offer a unique opportunity for a community of students from around the world to live together, learn and do theology in a fully inter-contextual and ecumenical way, connecting theology from the local to the regional and world levels.
The 2025 the Global Institute of Theology will be held on 1-14 October 2025 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“From Creed to Confession: Nicaea to Accra”: The Theme and its Significance
The theme of the General Council is “From Creed to Confession: From Nicea to Accra.” 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Nicean Creed, an ecumenical creed which is the basis of the common doctrinal formulation of the church. It is the most widely accepted Christian symbol that connects Christians from all over the world. Yet we recognize that the formulation of an official creed and its imposition emerged out of the church’s acquiescence with imperial power and culminated in the church’s complicity with the logic of empire. Yet the church has also not always been on the side of empire and has had its continual, though sometimes marginal, critique of power. This has been particularly envisaged in the 2004 Accra Confession which called the churches to see economic justice as a faith imperative and named Empire as the coming together of political, military and economic power.
This GIT seeks to flesh out the different trajectories of theological thought that have emerged through history in the church’s engagement with empire and seeks to lift up the critical imperatives that move the faith community from being a body that is not defined by confessional boundaries but rather as a confessing community. A community that asks in faith, why this and why now?
The 2025 GIT will be held before and alongside the 26th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The General Council is the highest decision-making body of the WCRC and will bring delegates from its member churches all over the world. The theme of the General Council 2025 is “Persevere in your witness.” Participants of the GIT will have the opportunity to be present at the General Council in an observer status and will have the privilege of special sessions with speakers and participants at the General Council as well.
Applications for the 2025 GIT are now open
Applications are invited to the Global Institute of Theology from theological students or those who have just completed their theological studies and are below the age of 35.
Applicants should have a particular interest in ecumenical theology and mission. The student body and faculty will reflect gender and regional balance, and thus the diversity of the Reformed family in the world today.
The WCRC is committed to the inter-contextual formation of new generations of Reformed leaders fully aware of the faith dimension of contemporary challenges such as economic injustice, environmental destruction, gender justice, interfaith solidarity, spiritual renewal, an inclusive welcoming church and Christian unity.
Applications are due by 1 December 2024.
The specific goals of the GIT are fourfold:
- To build a community of learning and faith as students and faculty work together on vital themes in the Bible and theology today and create for ourselves an immediate international context;
- To encounter contemporary biblical and theological approaches in our interconfessional, intercultural and interreligious dimensions and on lived and living missiologies;
- To introduce the varying contextual perspectives on the Christian witness of the global Reformed family—bearing in mind our understanding of God’s mission in every continent and being aware of what our churches can learn from each other’s witness in the world;
- To strengthen global networks of sharing and reflection among theological students and faculty, church workers, theological institutions and churches for continuing action and reflection in the WCRC. This will also contribute to the ecumenical formation of a new generation of church leaders within the Reformed community.
These goals will be reflected in the way in which the institute is being organized. There will be core courses, which all students will be required to attend, as well as elective courses from which students may pick.
The GIT in cooperation with theological institutions from around the world
Through the GIT, the WCRC intends to strengthen its ties with theological institutions related to its member churches, as well as facilitate further communication and cooperation among theological schools from different regions of the world.
Significant aspects of the Institute, such as the recruitment of prospective students, securing the financial resources necessary to enable students from countries in the Global South to participate and the general academic requirements for its operation, will be considered in consultation with supporting theological institutions.