With the participation of the Deputy Director of the

Volos Academy for Theological Studies

June, 22 2018, Geneva, Switzerland

On June, 22, 2018 the second consultative meeting of the Network of Institutions of Higher Ecumenical Theological Education was successfully held in Geneva in the framework of the Ecumenical Theological Education Project of the World Council of Churches (ETE/WCC). Participants included the members of the Network as well as members of the Central Committee of WCC, with expertise in theological education, who were present in Geneva, on the occasion of the 70 years anniversary of WCC.

During this second meeting a variety of issues concerning the future of the Network, the importance of theological education, the next steps to be taken in view of the forthcoming General Assembly of WCC in Germany in 2021, and the successful organization of the GETI meeting (Global Ecumenical Theological Institute) in Arusha, Tanzania last March, 2018, were discussed.

At its meeting in February 2015, the World Council of Churches’ Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, established a small task force group to guide a process towards the creation of a network of theological educators from leading ecumenical institutions from all over the world to accompany the programmatic work in the field of regional liaison with ecumenical theological institutions and to strengthen ecumenical theological capacity development on a global level.

In May 2016 then, a selected group of representatives of institutions with longstanding experience in ecumenical theological education met in Halle, Germany, to discuss and work further on this proposal.

The Volos Academy for Theological Studies was represented by its Deputy Director, Dr. Nikolaos Asproulis, who is also the coordinator, since 2014, of the Network of Ecumenical Learning in Central and Eastern Europe (NELCEE).