CCA General Secretary encourages member churches and councils to become ‘first responders’ in efforts to combat gender-based violence on International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women

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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25 November 2021

CHIANG MAI: The Christian Conference of Asia’s (CCA) General Secretary, Dr Mathews George Chunakara, released a special statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on 25 November each year. In the statement, the CCA General Secretary writes, “Asian churches must become ‘first responders’ in the efforts to combat all forms of gender-based violence.”

The CCA General Secretary further called upon member churches and councils to “break the silence, speak out, and most importantly, read the Bible through an ‘orange lens’ throughout the upcoming 16 days of activism”, in keeping with the annual theme of the year, ‘Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!’. The colour orange represents a brighter and transformed future which is free of violence against women and girls.

“There is an urgent need in our Asian Christian communities to revisit and reinvestigate episodes of violence—physical, sexual, and psychological—against women in the Bible. If we ignore or consciously refuse to engage with the issues of gender-based violence in the Bible by taking neutral or aperspectival stances, we may run the risk of reinforcing or buttressing such problematic power dynamics,” reads the statement.

The statement further continues, “The CCA reaffirms its own commitments to accompany its member churches and councils in concerted efforts to fully eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The CCA also encourages its member churches and councils to identify and call out signs and symptoms of gender-based violence in their communities by understanding the dynamics of abuse and prioritising the safety and wellbeing of all women and girls.”

“The church is one of the first places that survivors of violence reach out in order to get help. Asian churches must become ‘first responders’ in the efforts to combat all forms of gender-based violence. Together, let us ‘Orange the World’,” concludes the statement.

The full text of the CCA’s Statement on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women–2021 can be found below: