Interview
Can you please comment on the ecumenical aspects of the Vancouver School of Theology?
Dr Topping: Being an ecumenical institution means that the three main relationships—with The United Church of Canada, the Presbyterian, and the Anglican churches—are not just ecumenical as a theoretical commitment but it means having regular conversations about the needs of the church and where theological education is headed. It means listening to them as people on the ground who know what’s happening within their denomination.
I also find denominational leaders remarkably open to the context of my learning about them, so they ask me about what’s gong on in other denominations—there’s a real willingness. It’s remarkable the common challenges we face together. We’ve just come through a period where we managed to get the whole network of theological schools in The United Church to apply for a grant that requires collaboration, and so we got a grant from The Lilly Foundation and maybe more than half the value of the grant is that it got us speaking to one another, making a coordinated effort to drop the competitive bid, and we did that around emphasizing that we’re not all doing the same things, so we seeking a relationship that’s complimentary rather than all of us trying to get more and more, of less and less, so there’s nothing left to get. It’s the same with a meeting with the House of Bishops of the Province of British Columbia, and listening to what their needs and their circumstances are. The real key is being a conduit for people to talk to one another and to cooperate in the common enterprise of theological education that is really for the life of the Christian Church, for the flourishing of congregations. It’s learning that not every model works in every place, that there’s contextuality and locality to expressions of churches.
Then, that feeds back to the school. We now have courses on how to start a church, how to do church planning. Why? Because all of our denominations are telling us that’s needed, and that in many congregations you might go to, it’s going to be a lot like starting a new congregation.
We see the analogies, the strengths, the opposites, and what we have to offer one another in that process. For example, the Anglican Church in Canada is now in dialogue with the Mennonites of Canada. Anglicans, United, and Presbyterians—we’re used to being sort of mainline official churches. We’re all learning how to be missionaries to cultures we thought we owned. The Mennonites have a lot to teach us about how to do church without privilege, without the bulwark of culture reinforcing your place in it.
Would you reflect on the contributions of the international students at the Vancouver School of Theology?
Dr Topping: The international students add a whole new flavor into ecumenism. All the boundaries—people come here and ignore them, and it’s like a balm in Gilead. It’s like medicine to us because things can get hardened and set, and then you get international students coming in where they’re a small minority in their country, and they’re just happy to find another Christian. They bring a curiosity about our culture that calls to the surface some of the ways we might be more intelligent.
I suppose underneath all of that I think of the Edinburgh Conference of the World Council of Churches. Ecumenism and mission are really tied tightly, aren’t they? If Christians can’t be on speaking terms, it does create credibility problems. I have to say, my own identity —I’m a Presbyterian—but my identity is very ecumenical. I see the good things everyone is bringing to the table.
Do you look around and see alumni playing leadership roles in ecumenical circles?
Dr Topping: I do. I’ve seen people graduate from here, a Pentecostal who came here from Indonesia, study to do an M.Div., is still Pentecostal but now doing a PhD at a college in Toronto that is Presbyterian. They’re not afraid of ecumenism. They see richness in it. Here you have to be careful because you could minimize the accomplishments of an ecumenical mindset because it’s so taken for granted now. You immediately look for allies and friends among multiple denominations because you have experience from then all when you studied theology together.
For example, two of the current board members of the Vancouver School of Theology are former students of mine. They’re interested in coming back and serving in an ecumenical school. One is a bishop and one is a United Church clergy person. You see alumni in ministerial groups across the country. I studied at the Toronto School of Theology. That has a certain kind of ecumenism with federated colleges. But at the Vancouver School of Theology, students take their theology classes together. When you speak in class about somebody else’s views that are different than yours, they are present. When the people you are speaking about are there, it generates generosity, kindness, and nuance. I’ve watched the students do that wonderfully. It’s marvelous to see that witness to the gospel in those communities.
The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Can you reflect on the possibility of building bridges between the Vancouver School of Theology and Bossey?
Dr Topping: I was in Bossey, I think in 2007, with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, now the World Communion, and it was the upcoming birthday of John Calvin, the 500-year anniversary of his birthday. We were all working together to put on some events. Just being there was an experience, the service in the chapel, was multi-linguistic. It was hard to figure out what denomination it was, but it didn’t feel piecemeal either.
It felt integrated and wonderful to be there. I do think the Vancouver School of Theology is ecumenical. But to have courses on ecumenism would be one way a relationship with Bossey would be important to deploy. With technologies now, you can have people into a class to speak. I have a man from Indonesia come into my class to talk about religious pluralism. It’s a whole different key. There’s a connection at Bossey from Canada with the totem pole from the World Council of Churches assembly in 1983 here. That connection is not just a notion—it’s in my heart for Bossey. I would love to travel there myself. Would there be an opportunity with transfer of credit? With current technology, so much of that is more easily available.
Any final thoughts?
Dr Topping: It’s been a joy to have the group here at the Vancouver School of Theology. In some ways, the World Council of Churches coming to Vancouver about reconciliation is of great value to us. It kind of reminds us who were are. We were born in 1971 in the heyday of ecumenism of certain sort that aimed more at organic kinds of ecumenism. What we are now here is more receptive ecumenism, and this is about reconciliation, that listening to the other for what they can offer, that none of us has all the gifts, that denominations have charisms, and together we bear a common witness to the gospel. I’ve come to take that quite seriously for the work that we do here—serious in a quite grateful way. We’re not in it alone.
Photo gallery: WCC Pilgrimage Reference Group meeting in Vancouver
Let’s paddle together: companionship in a local context (WCC blog, 21 September 2026)
WCC Pilgrimage Reference Group to gather in Vancouver (WCC news release, 15 September 2026)
Learn more about the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity
