The inspiration for WCC’s GETI reaches back to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches—now WCRC—General Council in 2004 in Accra, Ghana, where a visionary gathering of young theologians planted the first seeds of what would later become GETI. 

Prof. Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, coordinator of GETI 2025, noted: “Together, we celebrate both institutes—GETI and GIT—as expressions of the same vision: to form, empower, and connect a new generation of ecumenical leaders who will carry the light of unity and hope into the future of the church.

Prof. Henry S. Kuo, dean of the WCRC Global Institute of Theology, opened the program by noting that “today is an extraordinary collaboration—and I really hope this is the first of many more collaborations in the future.”

Keynote speaker Dr Allan Boesak, a South African theologian, spoke of the importance of theological institutes. “There is almost nothing more important for the church than how we can equip the next generation of theologians in the world,” he said. 

In his presentation Boesak urged students, in their struggle for justice, not to disengage from the fact that Jesus is Lord. 

GETI facilitator Suk-yi Pang, executive secretary for the Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China, and a member of the WCC Commission on Education and Formation, responded to Boesak’s address, reflecting that today’s struggle for social justice is both spiritual and theological. 

If we don’t insist on wrestling with these difficult questions, Pang, said, “we perpetuate a form of injustice as much as the empire does.”