CCA reiterates commitment to accompany Korean churches in their struggle for reconcilation and reunification

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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18 June 2020

In a solidarity message on the occasion of the 70th memorial of the Korean War and its accompanying pilgrimage of healing and unification, the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) reiterated its commitment of solidarity with the people of the Korean peninsula in their struggle for justice, reconciliation, and reunification of the Korean peninsula.

The CCA General Secretary, Dr Mathews George Chunakara, sent a solidarity message to the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) on the eve of a special event to be organsied by the PROK on 20 June 2020 to mark the 70th year of the beginning of Korean war.

The PROK will be organising a special worship service in the DMZ, which aims to guide participants through a ‘liturgical pilgrimage’ comprised of four stages – recollecting the memory, reconciliation, peace, and reunification, which will then culminate in a Peace Declaration.

“The new initiative undertaken by PROK to intensify the renewed commitment towards a pilgrimage of healing and reunification is a valuable additional impetus to intensifying the wider ecumenical efforts towards Korean reunification,” said Dr Mathews George Chunakara.

The year 2020 is the 70th year of the start of the Korean War and it reminds us of distressing political and ideological conflagrations in international relations that revolved around it. The still simmering tension on the Korean peninsula is a residue of international power games that stretch back to the troubled 1950s. The long history of the Korean War and its aftermath have proved that wars and military conflicts bring nothing but fear, enmity, destruction, and suffering, commented the CCA General Secretary in the solidarity message to PROK.

The CCA General Secretary also stated that it was reassuring that the reaffirmation of the vision of peace and the assertion ofthe Korean reunification process was rooted in the aspirations of  the people themselves.

The PROK initiative will also be an ocassion for a  reflection on the commitment to ‘walking together with everyone in the ecumenical family on a pilgrimage of healing, reconciliation, and reunification’, added Dr Mathews George Chunakara.

Please click here to read the full text of the Solidarity Message of the CCA General Secretary to PROK.