Set in a historic centre of Coptic monasticism located southwest of Alexandria, the unique setting offers an exceptional opportunity for spiritual encounter, theological formation, and contextual immersion within one of the oldest Christian monastic traditions. The theme of GETI 2025—“Where Now for Visible Unity?”—invites theological discernment and spiritual imagination. It calls us to revisit the roots of Christian communion while facing today’s fractures with honesty, courage, and hope. Unity is not a static goal but a shared Pilgrimage of Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation. Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, WCC programme director for Unity, Mission, and Ecumenical Formation, said that GETI’s blended learning model is a microcosm of unity-in-diversity. “The 2025 Faith and Order Conference here in Egypt could be a kairos, if you claim your seat at the table – as I believe you’re doing,” she said to the GETI students. “Young people have always been the ones to stretch the boundaries.” Nalwamba noted that Christians trace their lineage to Nicaea, where bishops confessed one faith amid empire and division. “But history is not a museum,” she said. “The ecumenical movement has always been renewed by young people who ask uncomfortable questions.” The GETI students are part of that prophetic tradition,” she said. “Like the early desert monastics, you are called to strip away illusions, the illusion that unity is mere doctrinal agreement, or that youth are merely ‘the future’ and not also the now of God’s movement.” In a sermon, His Eminence Bishop Abraham, from the Coptic Orthodox Church, preached about lessons from the life of St Anthony the Great and St. Athanasius the Apostolic. “Today, as we — young people — gather in this holy place, pray that you may receive the spirit of true discipleship: a heart that accepts and understands the words of God, so that you may return not only with knowledge, but with spiritual depth and divine grace as well,” he said. Prof. Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, coordinator of GETI 2025, said that the gathering was filled with joy, gratitude, and a deep sense of purpose. “After months of planning and connecting across distances, we are finally here — together, in one place, face to face, heart to heart,” she said. “In this sacred space, our learning becomes life, our dialogue becomes friendship, and our faith becomes a shared journey.” GETI is the moment when everything comes alive, when ideas turn into encounters, and unity becomes something we can see and feel, she added. “Together, we are not just starting a program; we are living a movement of faith, hope, and transformation that reaches far beyond these walls.” Rev. Dr Teddy Chalwe Sakupapa, from the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, vice moderator of the WCC Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, said that GETI will be a shared pilgrimage of learning, discernment, and encounter. “The world today is in a situation of crisis facing the predominant challenge of the reality of empire,” he said. “In this embodied phase of learning, we move from conversation to encounter, from study to shared experience, and from reflection to the living of ecumenical community.” Photo gallery Learn more about GETI 2025
As GETI opens, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II to young people: “you are the heartbeat of Christianity” (WCC news release, 13 October 2025) | 
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