As the 2025 Global Institute of Theology (GIT) concludes soon in Chiang Mai, participants from around the world are celebrating two transformative weeks of learning, worship and community.
Held Oct. 1–14, GIT brought together a global community of students, scholars and church leaders to live, learn and do theology together under the theme “From Creed to Confession: Nicaea to Accra.”
The theme marked the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicaean Creed, the most widely accepted Christian confession of unity, while connecting it with the Accra Confession of 2004, which calls churches to resist empire and economic injustice. Through shared study, reflection and worship, participants explored how the church’s confessions continue to inspire faithful witness in a divided and unjust world.
Building a global classroom
The GIT community represented the rich diversity of the global Reformed family. Together, participants examined theology not as abstract theory but as a lived practice grounded in people’s real experiences and local contexts.
Prof. Margit Ernst-Habib of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany said the experience made the idea of God’s “kindom” — kinship over dominion — come alive.
“During one of my classes at the Global Institute of Theology in Chiang Mai, I was moved when a student spoke of the ‘kindom’ of God, choosing kinship over dominion to describe what the Christian community is created and called to be,” she said. “The GIT brought together a remarkable diversity of students and faculty, and in our learning community, we experienced a tangible expression of this kindom as joyful and subversive hope. Especially in these times marked by exclusion and divisiveness, such fellowship became a sign of the Spirit’s work, inviting us to witness anew to God’s reconciling presence in the world.”
Reimagining Nicaea today
Throughout the institute, conversations revisited the legacy of Nicaea in light of today’s realities of empire, inequality and exclusion. For many, the GIT became a space to challenge colonial legacies and rediscover faith as a movement for justice.
Prof. Brian Fiu Kolia of Malua Theological College in Samoa described the GIT as a global movement for solidarity and transformation.
“The Global Institute of Theology is a movement, one that brings together voices from all over the world, converging together in the same space, in solidarity for justice and peace, against empire and colonial legacies,” Kolia said. “Scholars … were able to provide new and alternative insights in frameworks of decoloniality, in conversation with students who are indeed leaders of tomorrow. The conversations and musings sought to reimagine Nicaea today and to renew our creedal commitments in light of our pursuit for justice in contemporary society.”
A community of learning and hope
Beyond lectures, the GIT offered an immersive rhythm of worship, reflection and fellowship that embodied theology in daily life.
Prof. J. Jayakiran Sebastian of United Lutheran Seminary in the United States called the institute a “feast” of faith and friendship.
“Bringing together faculty, staff and students from across the world for two intense and enriching weeks of learning and unlearning, sharing and caring, worshipping and eating together, exploring Chiang Mai and enlarging our horizons, the Global Institute of Theology … provided a feast that challenged one description of the post-Nicaean festivities in 325 as the foretaste of God’s kingdom, to the recognition of God’s kindom of love, justice, dignity and the quest for peace and reconciliation amidst the messiness of life today,” Sebastian said.
Forming future leaders
The 2025 GIT was held alongside the 27th General Council of the WCRC, under the theme “Persevere in your witness.” Students had the chance to observe council sessions and engage directly with global church leaders and theologians.
Prof. Henry S. Kuo, dean of the 2025 GIT from Eden Theological Seminary in the United States, said the experience fostered friendships and faith formation that will endure.
“The vision of the 2025 GIT was to be a theological community that gathers to worship together, to grow deeper in our engagement with God through learning together, and to fellowship together,” Kuo said. “Over the past two weeks, we engaged the theme ‘From Creed to Confessing,’ interrogating the Council of Nicaea and the nature of confessing from the Nicene Creed all the way to the Accra Confession. … Friendships were built across ethnic, racial and other boundaries; people cared for each other deeply. … My heart is filled with hope for God’s church.”
Transformative learning
For many students, the GIT has been an experience that deepened their understanding of theology and ministry. Rev. Kherallah Atallah, associate pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Latakia in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, said it broadened his perspective on global Christianity.
“GIT was an enriching experience for me,” Atallah said. “I was able to widen my theological knowledge both theoretically and practically, especially by being exposed to varying contextual perspectives on the Christian witness of the Reformed family worldwide. … The opportunity to be part of GIT helped me deepen my insight into several issues related to church ministry in the 21st century — with its challenges of globalization, economic injustice, environmental destruction and gender injustice.”
A living testimony
In a world marked by division and uncertainty, the GIT stands as a living testimony to what it means to be a global faith community — one bound together not by creed alone, but by kinship, justice and love.
