A group of up to 20 current and future church leaders will have the opportunity to attend the Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management (GEM School) for an Economy of Life from 21 August to 1 September 2023, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Jointly initiated by Council for World Mission (CWM), World Council of Churches (WCC), World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and World Methodist Council, the GEM School responds to recommendations formulated for them in the Sao Paulo Statement: International Financial transformation for an Economy of Life and in the document Economy of Life for All Now: An Ecumenical Action Plan for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA).

GEM School seeks to develop churches’ competencies in economics, and strengthen their voice on global economics, so as to address the issue of the Church’s ethical and theological perspectives on the global economy having little impact on financial and economic policies, business practices and perspectives.

To do so, GEM School is aimed at building economic literacy in churches by equipping participants with the tools and languages to effectively advocate for urgent transformations in the global financial and economic sector.

Among candidates who meet the nomination criteria, participants will be selected with a view to achieving regional, gender, and denominational balance. The application deadline is on 24 February 2023. Selected participants will be informed by 24 February 2023.

Download more information here:

Invitation to apply
Application form
Participant guidelines
Programme and curriculum

Dated 15 March 2023