The Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management (GEM) for an Economy of Life aims to build economic literacy within churches by equipping participants with the tools and languages to effectively advocate for urgent transformations in the global financial and economic realm.
Held annually as part of the NIFEA project the GEM School gathers current and future leaders representing churches worldwide in a ten-day exploration of economic justice.
It is a space for learning—including from each other—why and how to advocate for urgently needed transformations in the financial and economic architecture by exploring new economic concepts and exchanging tools, languages, and models.
The curriculum addresses the following objectives:
- Identify theological starting points for economic justice (i.e. why and how theology and ethics are deeply related to economic life)
- Provide a basic understanding of mainstream economic thinking
- Identify, relativize and contextualize methodologies and normative fundamentals of economics
- Widen the horizon of economics by introducing ecological, feminist and other pluralistic approaches
- Develop an interdisciplinary structure for bridging theological dimensions with economics
- Lay out the political and strategic implications for churches and their advocacy for an Economy of Life in the context of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.
The GEM School, as part of the NIFEA program, is a cooperative effort by the Council for World Mission, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, World Council of Churches, and World Methodist Council. It is supported by funding from Otto per Mille.