CCA mourns the passing away of Bishop Dr. George Ninan

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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22 June 2015
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CCA mourns the passing away of Bishop Dr. George Ninan

Bishop Dr. A. George Ninan, former Associate General Secretary and Executive Secretary for Urban Rural Mission (URM) of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and former Bishop of Nasik Diocese of the Church of North India, passed away on Sunday, 21 June, in New York.

Bishop George Ninan, who was actively involved in the Asian and global ecumenical movements for several decades, was an excellent organiser, visionary, theologian and practical ecumenist and a proponent of wider ecumenism and mission in a pluralistic Asia. He served CCA from 1985 to 1990 as its Associate General Secretary and from 1979 to 1985 as Executive Secretary for URM.

In a condolence message issued today, the General Secretary of CCA Dr. Mathews George Chunakara  recollected Bishop George Ninan’s contributions and stated that “he enabled the Asian ecumenical movement to articulate a new vision of ecumenism that should go beyond the concept of a narrow sense of mission to a more inclusive concept of the mission of the church in local  contexts”.

The CCA General Secretary added that Bishop Ninan in his capacity as CCA URM secretary had “initiated several innovative  programmes and projects to support pastors and church workers who were at the forefront of the democratic and human rights movements of people’s struggle for justice and peace in Asia.  His contributions and commitments to support the church workers and human rights activists who were imprisoned by authoritarian dictatorships in the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, leaders and activists of trade union movements working with the slum dwellers in many parts of Asia, will ever be remembered by the ecumenical movement”.

The funeral service will be on Saturday June 27 at 9 am at the St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Pearl River, New York and followed by burial at the Cemetery of the St. John in the wilderness Episcopal Church in Stony Point, New York.

Please see full text of the Condolence Message

It is with great sorrow that we received the news of the sad demise of the Rt. Rev. Dr. A. George Ninan, former Associate General Secretary and Executive Secretary for URM of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and former Bishop of Nasik Diocese of the Church of North India. He passed away on Sunday 21 June in New York. 

An excellent organizer, visionary, theologian and practical ecumenist, Bishop George Ninan was a proponent of wider ecumenism and mission in a pluralistic Asia. 

Bishop George Ninan, who started his ecumenical journey through the Youth Christian Council of Action (YCCA) in Kerala, India during his student days, was actively involved in the Asian and global ecumenical movement for several decades.  His leadership in the Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD) and the innovative programmes he initiated through working among the slum dwellers in Bombay were concrete examples of the real meaning of social justice in the context of mission and witness of the church. He had played an important role in initiating Christian Action Groups in many parts of India in the 1970s, which came into being as a result of responses to faith and witness of committed Christians who worked in rural and urban situations of poverty, exploitation, injustice and corruption in society.  He was an ardent proponent of churches’ participation in people’s struggle for structural changes in an unjust society.

Bishop Ninan was instrumental in building up the URM movement in several Asian countries in late 1970’s and 1980s. He enabled the Asian ecumenical movement to articulate a new vision of ecumenism that should go beyond the concept of a narrow sense of mission to a more inclusive concept of the mission of the church in local situations and conveying the essence of the Gospel, good news to the poor. While serving as the Executive Secretary for URM of CCA, he initiated programmes and projects to support pastors and church workers who were at the forefront of the democratic and human rights movements of people’s struggle for justice and peace in Asia.  His contributions and commitments to support the church workers and human rights activists who were imprisoned by authoritarian dictatorships in the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, leaders and activists of trade union movements working with the slum dwellers in many parts of Asia were widely recognized. He served on the URM programme committees and various Working Groups of the World Council of Churches in 1980s.

The Christian Conference of Asia deeply mourns the passing away of Bishop George Ninan. On behalf of CCA, I express our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family and friends. May his soul rest in peace.

Mathews George

General Secretary