Not Starting From Scratch

Umbral Formation is the current home of the work Joel D. Aguilar Ramirez has done for more than 15 years, across Guatemala, the United States, and Latin America.

• As Director of Leadership Development at the Center for Transforming Mission in Guatemala City, Joel developed training and consulted for over 60 organizations. More than eight years after he left, 55 of those 60 organizations remain active.

• He conceived and led an executive coaching initiative that paired Guatemalan business leaders and professional coaches with grassroots nonprofit leaders — a bridge between sectors that took root on both sides.

• He has served in academic leadership as Dean of Postgraduate Studies at CETI Continental, and teaches with Bakke Graduate University and The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology.

• His formation practice grows from a long belonging and collaboration with Street Psalms.

Joel holds a PhD in Practical Theology from the University of Pretoria and an MA in Global Urban Leadership from Bakke Graduate University. He is the author of A Human Catechism: A Journey from Collective Woundedness and Violence into Peacemaking (Wipf and Stock, 2024), and is ordained by Street Psalms as a formationist. He was formed in Guatemala City and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.