The CCA 14th General Assembly Opens with Color and Festivity

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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24 May 2015
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

The Spirit Moves through Music and Dance during Assembly’s Opening Worship Service Bruce Van Voorhis

Music, dance, lively colors—the gifts of culture—provided the energy of the Spirit flowing through the opening worship service of the 14th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) on Thursday night.

Through the liturgy, the delegates remembered and celebrated the 58 years of Christian life together as members of CCA and its prophetic witness in Asia as readings recalled all of the CCA assemblies, from Parapat in 1957 to Kuala Lumpur in 2010. Those attending each assembly shared in the reading, which was followed by the musical response of "Ay, Ay salidummay, let us give thanks to God".

A moving drama reflecting the tears and pleas of Asia’s suffering people accompanied by the responsive reading that lifted up today’s issues confronting the region and the world: an abundance of war and conflict, widening financial disparities that ignore the poor and leave them further behind, migration and development without a human face, the suicide of farmers, spending on greater military might at the expense of education and health, the contraction of democratic space and the expansion of poor governance, threats to religious freedom and the rights of minorities and, lastly, refugees fleeing all of the above manifestations of violence.

Words of welcome were extended by the CCA general secretary, the Rev. Henriette Hutabarat Lebang, to the delegates from throughout Asia and from Africa, Europe and North America. She also introduced the incoming CCA general secretary, Dr. Mathews George Chunakara, a member of the Marthoma Syrian Church in India who has served CCA in various capacities in the past as an assembly steward, youth intern, committee member and staff member. A prayer of blessing was offered for his future leadership of CCA and his ministry through the ecumenical movement.

After hearing the Word of God from 1 Peter 4:10—“like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received”—the Rev. Willem T. P. Simarmata, Ephorus of the host church Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP), reminded the delegates in his sermon that all of the 55 million members of CCA have received gifts and charisma from God but that each individual Christian needs to discover these gifts and charisma within themselves.

The Rev. Simarmata in his message also highlighted the challenges facing Asia today.

“There is a need for justice in our beloved continent of Asia,” he said. “Despite the efforts of all of our predecessors, we see the spirit of separation. We seem to be . . . having a growing intolerance in Asia.”

“Living together is impossible,” he added, “if there is no spirit of sharing with each other. We need to think of others.”

Among these “others” that he lifted up are the Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma and migrants from Bangladesh who are now stranded on the sea and those mourning the loss of life after the earthquake in Nepal who are working to rebuild their lives.

He further challenged the CCA delegates. “We need to be good stewards of the oikos of God (the house of God). We have to be accountable to God. We need to manage the natural resources that have been entrusted to us.” After the anthem Living Together in the Household of God by the choirs and orchestra and the prayers of the people, an inter-generational blessing by a child, youth and adult sent the delegates out into the world to be faithful witnesses of God’s love. Photo: A Glimpse of the 14 th Assembly