What inspired the creation of RETI Latin America 2027? Dr Ghazaryan: RETI Latin America is inspired by the transformative experience of GETI and by a clear call from the churches. At the WCC 11th Assembly in 2022, churches asked us to develop stronger regional expressions of ecumenical theological formation. Latin America, with its extraordinary theological heritage and vibrant ecumenical witness, should not be excluded from this global journey. RETI Latin America will not belong to one country or institution. It will be an open continental platform bringing together churches, theological institutions, universities, ecumenical organizations, activists, and grassroots movements from across the region. This initiative also builds upon decades of engagement between the WCC programme on ETE and Latin American churches and theological institutions, including the historic relationship with the Ecumenical Theological Education Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (FETELAC). RETI is described as a new model of shared regional ownership rather than an event centred in one country. How will this collaborative approach work? Dr Ghazaryan: Shared regional ownership means that RETI Latin America must grow out of the region: its churches, theological traditions, people and hopes for the future. The WCC will facilitate and accompany the process, but RETI will be shaped by the churches and partners of the region themselves. Building on GETI’s experience, its curriculum and methodology will be contextualized through dialogue with local theological traditions, social movements and local realities. We are exploring a model combining continental learning with national gatherings and encounters with local communities. One country may offer hospitality, but RETI will belong to the whole continent. In this way, participants will help create the institute, making the preparation itself an ecumenical journey. Why is it important for the theological formation of a new generation of ecumenical leaders to be rooted in Latin American realities? Dr Ghazaryan: In my view, theology cannot be separated from the lives, wounds, struggles, and hopes of people. Latin America possesses extraordinary spiritual and theological richness, but it also faces inequality, migration, ecological devastation, structural racism, gender injustice, political instability, and deep polarization. Liberation, decolonial, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, Black, feminist and contextual theologies are therefore not secondary topics. They ask fundamental questions: From whose experience do we read the Bible? Whose voices have been silenced? How can Christian faith resist injustice and become a source of reconciliation, dignity and life? We want to form leaders who do not fear difference, but transform it into encounter; leaders who connect spirituality with justice and faith with the healing of creation. What is your invitation to churches across Latin America that may be hearing about RETI for the first time? Dr Ghazaryan: Do not see RETI as someone else’s programme. It is your space, your process, and your shared responsibility. The WCC draws its life and vision from its fellowship of member churches, of which many churches across Latin America are an essential part. RETI therefore grows from within this fellowship. Latin American churches can identify the urgent questions facing their communities, nominate emerging leaders, contribute faculty and pedagogical experience, join the working groups, propose contextual encounters, and help ensure the participation of communities that have too often been marginalized. This is your RETI. Come and create it with us. Let us make the very process of building it together a living sign of the unity we seek. WCC member churches in Latin America Learn more about the WCC work on Ecumenical Theological Education | 
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