15th General Assembly of CCA to be held in Kottayam, a historic city in southern Indian state of Kerala in 2023

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

No preference updated.

04 December 2022
Christian conference of Asia, Asia christanity

CCA Executive Committee Meeting–2022

Chiang Mai: Kottayam, a historic city in the southern Indian state of Kerala has been chosen as the venue for the 15th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), scheduled to take place from 27 September to 4 October 2023. About 500 participants from across Asia are expected to gather for the General Assembly and will reflect on the theme, ‘God, Renew Us in Your Spirit and Restore the Creation’ The Executive Committee of CCA, which met online on 2 December 2022 took the decision unanimously about the new dates and venue of the next Assembly, which had earlier been postponed.   The General Assembly is the supreme body of the CCA, which normally meets once in five years; the Executive Committee resolved in 2019 to hold the General Assembly in India in September 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic added to the uncertainty of organising the Assembly as per the original schedule and subsequently it was twice decided to postpone it till the situation became conducive. The CCA General Secretary of the CCA Dr Mathews George Chunakara reported to the Executive Committee that the heads of five CCA member churches in India’s southern state of Kerala and the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) had welcomed the CCA Assembly to be held in Kottayam. They offered their wholehearted support to the plan of organising the General Assembly in the historic multi-religious city, where Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam live together in harmony for centuries. The CCA General Secretary added that the next step of the preparations for the Assembly will begin in consultation with the NCCI and with CCA member churches that have their parishes in Kerala. Besides being the host city for the triennial summit of theologians, namely, the Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS), Kottayam will also be the venue for pre-Assembly events for women, youth and for the physically challenged. A special ‘in memoriam’ prayer was offered for the late Archbishop Willem T.P. Simarmata, who had been elected as the CCA Moderator at the 14th General Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia, and who faithfully served in that position till his untimely demise on 17 June 2022. To fill the vacancy of the posts of CCA Moderator, and also of the CCA Vice-Moderator, Rev. Diana Tana from New Zealand, who relinquished the position, the Executive Committee appointed the Executive Committee members Bishop Dhiloraj Canagasabey from the Church of Ceylon in Sri Lanka as the Acting Moderator, and Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines as the Acting Vice-Moderator till the next General Assembly in 2023. While expressing happiness about the decision of the Executive Committee to appoint two prominent Asian Christian leaders to fill the vacuum in the CCA Officers’ team, the CCA General Secretary Dr Mathews George Chunakara stated that he had great confidence in the newly elected officers, Bishop Dhiloraj Canagasabey and Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza, both of whom are illustrious ecclesiastical and ecumenical leaders who have faithfully served the Church and Asian ecumenical movement in various capacities for decades. Both, Bishop Canagasabey and Bishop Marigza have been serving on the Executive Committee of CCA since 2015.  The Executive Committee also heard reports of the various programmes and activities that were held across the past year, including in-person programmes from August 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic subsided in Asia. After three years of online meetings, the Executive Committee will meet in person from 3 to 7 March 2023 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.