“Are Churches in Asia getting more fragmented and disunited than ever before?” asks CCA General Secretary

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).

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18 October 2019
CCA General Secretary Dr Mathews George Chunakara addresses church and ecumenical leaders in Dhaka, Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh: “In today’s world of changing religious configurations, Christian churches cannot remain fragmented or be diametrically opposed to each other in the name of denominations or dogmatic arguments; but need to be stimulated by the faith and witness that embraces the value of ecumenism in its essence and totality, so as to face the emerging challenges in society,” stated Dr Mathews George Chunakara, the General Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA).

While addressing a gathering of church and ecumenical leaders organised by the National Council of Churches in Bangladesh (NCCB) on October 11, the CCA General Secretary said that ‘traditional’ Christian countries in the West were experiencing a decline in Christianity, whereas the most spectacular growth of Christianity was now being seen in certain other continents, including Asia.

The CCA General Secretary further added that although the overall Christian population in Asia has increased in terms of sheer numbers during the past decades, the contemporary ecclesiastical disunity among the churches in Asia has warranted raising the serious and pertinent question, “Are Asian churches getting more fragmented and disunited than ever before?”

 “Aggressive missionary evangelism is an increasingly pervasive trend in Asia and often portrays a negative image of Christianity in a multi-religious Asian continent; especially as such attempts recast Asian countries as missionary battlefields,” said Dr Mathews George Chunakara.

With regard to some of the practical difficulties and challenges of ecumenism and the ecumenical movement faced in Asia today, the General Secretary of the largest ecumenical body in the Asian continent remarked critically, “It is unfortunate that mission societies that were active in Asia during the last century have resurfaced in Asia with new structures, styles, and strategies; and are responsible for adding more disunity among Asian Christians. Confessional bodies that operate within denominational frameworks as well as sponsored or freelancing missionaries in Asia are equally responsible for dividing churches as they promote and further advance denominationalism. In fact, such attempts dismantle and destroy the ecumenical commitment of Asian churches instead of fostering unity in witness and mission.”

“Being a microscopic minority, the Church in Bangladesh cannot afford to be fragmented or disunited especially in the face of innumerable challenges faced daily, and where growing religious intolerance only adds to their uncertainty,” thus addressed the CCA General Secretary to the ecclesiastical and ecumenical leaders of the country assembled at the NCC Bangladesh headquarters.

Accompanied by the General Secretary of the NCCB, Rev David Deepak Doss, the CCA General Secretary earlier visited two other member churches of CCA at their headquarters in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

In a Muslim-majority country, Bangladeshi Christians account for less than half a percent of the overall population of 160 million. Out of about 600,000 Christians in the country, most are Roman Catholics. About 250,000 Protestant Christians in the country are divided into more than sixty denominations and para-church groups. The National Council of Churches in Bangladesh, one of CCA’s member councils, is comprised of 19 member churches.