CCA to move its office to Chiang Mai

The 12th general assembly of the CCA has accepted the recommendation of a task force to relocate the CCA office to Chiang Mai in Thailand.

The relocation is to be effected within 18 months. Before this happens, the existing CCA property in Hong Kong will have to be sold at a best possible price so that after establishing office in Chiang Mai, an additional amount of US$ 1 million will be available, which is proposed to be used as an endowment fund.

The previous general committee had set up the task force to work out the details of the relocation.

One of the reported reasons for moving to Chiang Mai is the low administrative cost there compared to Hong Kong. According to the task force, moving to Chiang Mai also means large savings in salary costs.

The general assembly also decided to maintain a small office with minimum staff in Hong Kong for the time being.

The CCA is planning to acquire the status of a foundation in Thailand so it could buy property in Chiang Mai.

Asian history books, God who matters, released

The two volumes of A History of the Ecumenical movement were launched during the 12th general assembly of the CCA in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Once of the CCA presidents, Rev Jennifer Dawson unwrapped the volumes in the presence of the assembly participants, and they were distributed to the voting
delegates.
A scene from the history books launch

Dr Ninan Koshy, author and editor respectively of the two volumes spoke on the occasion.

The books are written from an authentically Asian perspective, and challenge several long-held assumptions in ecumenical and church history. Ninan in the first volume affirms that Christianity is an Asian religion.

The significant role played by Asian ecumenical consciousness for more than nine decades in broadening and widening the ecumenical vision is highlighted in the two volumes.

Representatives of the three sponsoring organisations of the History Book project, Dr Ahn Jae Woong, Mr Yip Kok Choong and Rev Shin Seung Min were present on the stage during the short book launch.

Also present were the committee members of the History Book project, Dr Moon Kyu Kang, Dr Sang Jung Park, Rev Ron'O Grady and Dr Wong Wai Ching.

Mr Geoff Alves, who copy edited and produced the book was also present on the occasion.

"God who matters," written by Ahn Jae Woong was also released by a CCA President Bishop Joseph Mar Irenaeus on the second day of the assembly. It is a collection of ecumenical sermons and ecumenical lectures delivered on different occasions during Ahn's tenure as the general secretary of the CCA.

Assembly started and ended with worships

As Chiang Mai burnt under a hot afternoon sun, CCA assembly delegates and local Christians gathered and worshipped at a local church, which marked the opening of the 12th general assembly of the CCA on 31 March.

Some 500 delegates from different parts of Asia and outside converged on Chiang Mai to attend the six-day CCA general assembly, which is the supreme decision making body of the CCA.

Celebration of the ecumenical journey of people, who have attended previous assemblies, beginning from the 1957 Prapat assembly till the last one held in Tomohon, was one of the highlights of the opening worship which began at 4 pm at the First Church of the Church of Christ in Thailand.

After the four CCA presidents welcomed the worshippers in their own language to the 12th assembly, they exchanged greetings of peace with one another.

The worship was interspersed with Thai traditional dances, songs and prayers.

A Karen choir, directed by Garrett Intorn, sang an anthem during the worship.

The worshippers heard the sermon by Moderator of the Church of Christ in Thailand, Dr Boonratna Boayen.

They sang the assembly theme song, "God of Asia, God of all," before the benediction and a blessing dance.

The CCA General Secretary Ahn Jae Woong, CCT President Boonratna Boayen, CCA President Anthony Row and the CCT General Secretary Sint Kimhachandra planted two trees after the worship in the church premises as symbols of shades of peace.

The delegates were treated to a sumptuous dinner and cultural presentations before they returned to the venue of the assembly, Lotus Hotel, for national meetings.

On Sunday, 3 April, the assembly participants worshipped at some 40 churches in and around Chiang Mai. Some of the ecumenical leaders preached during the worships.

Sixteen leaders, representing different ecumenical organisations and agencies brought greetings during the assembly.

Cultural presentations by traditional northern Thai dancers were held during the dinner, opening and closing worships. A cultural troupe, the National Group of Music and Dance from Korea performed Korean traditional music and dance on 1 April.

Taepyeongso with orchestra (Instrumental ensemble), Taepyeongmu (Folk dance), Geomungo Sanjo (Instrumental folk music), Gayageum Byeongchang (Vocal fold music), Salpuri (Folk dance) and Pangut (Instrumental folk music) were presented by the troupe.

The assembly closed with worship at the chapel of the Payap University on 5 April. Senior ecumenical leader and a former general secretary of the East Asian Christian Conference, Dr Kyaw Than delivered the sermon.
Chapel at the Payap University in Chiang Mai (Photo: Philip Mathew)

CCA general secretary calls for setting up peace forum

Presenting a report to the 12th general assembly of the CCA in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Dr Ahn Jae Woong, CCA general secretary called for setting up an Ecumenical Peace Congress (EPC) as a forum to explore possible ways of peace building in our times.
"The EPC could be an open forum to share each other's vision and hope to build communities of peace in our midst," he told the 31 March to 6 April assembly.
It could be an autonomous body comprising ecumenical bodies to coordinate peace building efforts, he said.
Ahn Jae Woong presenting report at the assembly

Among the tasks he suggested for the EPC were, policy development on peace building, strategy formulation for peace education and advocacy work, resource sharing for exchange of personnel and experts, information sharing or networking for peace mission, and articulation of theology of peace.

According to him, ecumenical organisations sometimes have difficulties in expressing their views and comments on certain sensitive issues and a forum like EPC on their behalf could express comments and responses based on people's aspirations.

Earlier, explaining the three ecumenical mindsets as Veritas (truth) Unitas (unity) and Caritas (love) he said that the true God will help us to know about the matter of faith and matter of life, which should be the true way for all God’s people.
Unity is an important religious value to promote peace, justice and equality as the basis for living together, he noted.

Speaking on Caritas, he said that it requires action. To extend Christian love, we need to engage in Caritas.

"Ecumenical movement has moral obligation to demonstrate Christian compassion to ourneighbours."

He urged the ecumenical movement to focus on the following areas.

--Witnessing the gospel to the whole world until such time that
"they may all be one."
--Consistently emphasising God's mission for all God's people
--Engaging fully in building just peace
--Upholding the enhancement of human dignity and people's security.
--Taking care of the whole of God's creation.

Spirituality and social activism go together

Worshipping God is fighting injustice, said Swami Agnivesh at a panel discussion on interfaith cooperation in Asia.

Swami Agnivesh, a social, spiritual and human rights activist from India, said that spirituality is not just doing meditation or feeling good about oneself, but getting involved in social problems and issues. Spirituality and social activism are the two sides of the same coin, which should complement and supplement each other.

He told the assembly participants that religion is all about relationships, "relationships with the creator and the creation."

A simple way to accept God was to accept truth and love, Swami said at the 12th general assembly's last DT Niles Memorial Lecture, which was designed as a question and answer session moderated by an Old Testament scholar from Myanmar, Dr Anna May Chain.

Responding to a question about gender justice, Swami noted that as long as there was no equality between man and woman, there will be no communities of peace.
He urged the participants to inculcate in the children "the three Ds—doubt, debate and dissent."

Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, an Islamic scholar and social activist from India in his answer to some of the questions said that faith in religious values is the only way to build communities of peace for all. He felt that instead of faith in values, religious rituals are given importance and that seems to be one of the causes of increased violence and intolerance in our societies.

Engineer expressed the view that various religious interests play an important role in causing violence. "Clash of interest brings about religious violence."
He stressed the importance for being answerable to our conscience, and practising what we preach, which he felt was important tasks of building peace in our societies.
He was of the opinion that religion was not the problem, but "power" was.
Citing an example of the term "jihad" in the Koran, Engineer made it clear that it only meant "efforts." But, people with other interests have misinterpreted it to mean holy war.

He expressed the view that most people worshipped God out of fear or greed and not out of love for the creator or creation, which is a manifestation of God.
Answering a question about the need for equality between man and woman, he made it clear that the patriarchal system served as a stumbling block in bringing about gender equality.

The Koran stands for equality between man and woman, and theoretically there was nothing to stop a Muslim woman from becoming a priest in Islam, he noted.