CCA Calls on the United Nations to reiterate Jerusalem’s international status

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).

First Preference:
General Secretariat (GS)
Second Preference:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
20 December 2017

NR photo

The United States of America’s move to veto the  motion of  the U.N. Security Council Resolution yesterday, as well as a decision of the U. S. President to shift the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem would jeopardize the prospect of peace for Israelis and Palestinians; the U.S policy now contradicted international law and ignored U.N. Security Council resolutions, stated the General Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara.

While responding to the latest action by the United States of America to veto the Resolution initated by Egypt yesterday at the U.N Security Council, the CCA General Secretary added that the U.S. President Donald Trump’s unprecedented move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is part of a strategic move for the consolidation of Israel’s settler colonialism and the practice of apartheid, which effectively eliminated publicly the two-state solution.

Mathews George Chunakara further stated that Jerusalem now is a microcosm of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By excluding Palestinian voices from the Jerusalem debate, U. S support  Israel’s position to close the doors for others and intensify gross human rights violations which impact on the lives of Palestinians.

CCA General Secretary said that CCA reiterates the position of the international ecumenical community that “Jerusalem could become a force of stability and coexistence rather than a source of division and conflict. This could be aided by international encouragement for a special religious and political status of Jerusalem.”

Jews, Christians, and Muslims revere Jerusalem. Hence, the religions of the Abrahamic faith must have equal access to this holy city. A fully open city is possible with a form of symbolic, shared, or divided sovereignty replacing the imposed barriers and blockades within the city boundaries.

Mathews George Chunakara added  that the position of CCA is that, “as Jerusalem is a religiously diverse city in which Jews, Christians, and Muslims cohabitate for millennia,  the U. N.  General Assembly  should condemn Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and  must reiterate unequivocally  the U.N position according to which  the status of Jerusalem must be an international city as it was intended to be to which the three monotheistic world religions must continue to have free access.”