Asian church leaders search for grassroots perspective on Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace

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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13 September 2018
   (Reported by WCC News/12 September 2018)

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General secretaries and other high-ranking national church leaders from nine Asian countries gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 September to pave the way for a coherent and well-coordinated Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace (PJP) Asia Focus-2019.

Convened jointly by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), the preparatory consultation was held at the CCA headquarters in Chiang Mai. Its special objective was mobilising Asian churches to reflect bottom up on the current situation, both in each country specifically and in Asia in general, and prepare the churches to respond within WCC’s PJP framework.

“We felt a need to identify issues and concerns within the broader framework of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace which could be filtered down to a common thread. Quite a thorough exercise was undertaken to identify a common theme and prioritise the programmes of PJP Asia Focus-2019. Asia is diverse and every country has its own specific problems”, CCA general secretary Dr Mathews George Chunakara explains.

After three days of meticulous work a list of the most pertinent issues and concerns had been distilled into an Asian contextual thematic focus proposal: “Building Peace and Human Dignity”, or “Building Peace and Upholding Human Dignity”.

These themes cover a broad scope of challenges facing Asian countries, such as ethnic tensions, civil wars, political violence, religious intolerance and extremism, poverty, human trafficking, statelessness, forced migration, militarisation, arms build-up, caste discrimination, authoritarianism, etc.

“Having undergone this consultation and working process we are better equipped now to plan, coordinate and implement the PJP Asia Focus in 2019 properly, involving all member churches of both WCC and CCA. It is an opportunity to demonstrate unity which will strengthen the ecumenical movement”, Chunakara continues.

Listening to grassroots voices, the CCA general secretary believes, is the key to understanding ground realities and needs essential for establishing a sense of ownership by the member churches and national ecumenical councils.

“The important aspect through this process is to bring the PJP-message to the churches and members, to understand it and embrace it. This will then enable us to have a common platform to work from”, he says.

The theme proposed by the Chiang Mai consultation will now be presented to the WCC leadership group for affirmation.

To highlight the PJP focus, Pilgrim Team Visits to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines will be arranged in 2019. Most of these visits are scheduled for 27 February-3 March, after which the annual meeting of the PJP Reference Group will be held in Chiang Mai from 4-7 March.

“As the representatives of Asian churches have been brought together to initiate and plan the PJP Asia focus, as well as to identify the pertinent issues systematically from a local context and grassroots perspective, we now have a solid foundation in place for a successful PJP Asia focus next year”, Chunakara adds.

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