The Asia Sunday-2019 will focus on the theme ‘Stateless and Trafficked People: Our Co-Pilgrims’

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.

26 February 2019

The Asia Sunday-2019 theme will be focused on ‘Stateless and Trafficked People: Our Co-Pilgrims’.

Asia Sunday is observed every year on the Sunday before Pentecost, and the Asia Sunday-2019 falls on 2 June.

The member churches and councils of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), as well as churches and ecumenical partners around the world, observe Asia Sunday annually as an occasion to offer special prayers and organise worship services with focus on the Asia Sunday theme.

While highlighting the importance of this year’s Asia Sunday  theme,  ‘Stateless and Trafficked People: Our Co-Pilgrims’, CCA General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara stated, “As the consequences and impacts of statelessness and human trafficking are enormous, the Christian response warrants to address these contemporary  problems of dehumanisation with urgent priority”.

The CCA General Secretary further stated, “The observance of Asia Sunday with a focus on this particular theme will be another attempt of CCA to sensitise and mobilise Asian churches to be aware that the Church, as an instrument of caring for God’s creation, must protect those who have been trafficked to exploitation and those who are forced to live in our midst as stateless”.

 “There are numerous issues linked to statelessness and human trafficking as well as movement of people within and beyond borders including the rampant rise of inequality, ethnocentrism, racism, violence and extreme nationalism. All these dehumanising factors are increasingly evident in Asia and degrading the image of God and the basic dignity deserved by every human being. It is important for the churches in Asia to be concerned about migrants, trafficked and stateless who are our co-pilgrims and sojourners intimately connected or interdependent in our human family”, said Dr. Mathews George Chunakara.  

Statelessness and human trafficking are grave and widespread human rights problems of the contemporary world; statelessness puts a person at greater risk of becoming a victim of trafficking.

Forty per cent of the identified stateless population of the world live in Asia and the Pacific. The Rohingyas are the most vulnerable stateless people in Asia.

According to the UN estimates, 2.5 million people are in forced labour, including sexual exploitation, of which 1.4 million are in Asia and the Pacific. A large number of trafficked people also become ‘stateless’.

As part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP), the year 2019 will have the PJP focus on Asia with a common theme ‘Building Peace and Human Dignity’. Statelessness and Trafficking in persons are among the priority concerns addressed as part of the PJP Asia Focus.

An international consultation on ‘Stateless and Trafficked People’ will be jointly organised by the CCA and WCC from 20 to 23 May 2019, and held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

 For Asia Sunday Worship Resources, please click download
Asia-Sunday-2019 (Word Format)
Asia-Sunday-2019 (PDF Format)