CCA Shares Concerns of North and South Korean Churches

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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15 June 2015
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

North-South Korean Church leaders express concern over Revisions to "Guidelines for US-Japan Defense Cooperation"

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) shares the concerns expressed by the North and South Korean church leaders about the revisions to the “Guidelines for US-Japan Defense Cooperation” which will be a threat to peace and security in East Asia.

The General Secretary of the CCA, Dr. Mathews George Chunakara commented that “the anxiety expressed by the leaders of the North and South Korean churches in a joint statement issued on 8 June 2015, is valid in Asia’s emerging geopolitical context”. He has stated that “As the U.S-Japan bilateral defense cooperation makes new provisions, the peace and security in Asia is threatened especially in contexts of Japan revising its defense posture as well as the Japanese government’s decision to reinterpret a constitutional provision to allow Japanese participation in collective self-defense”

The CCA General Secretary added that “the churches and the ecumenical movement in Asia will have to closely monitor the evolution of the U.S.-Japan alliance and its geopolitical implications in East Asia while being engaged in Churches’ mission of moving beyond conflicts and working towards peace with justice and reconciliation”.

A joint meeting of the leaders of the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) in the Republic of Korea (South) held in People’s Republic of China last week, two churches stated their position calling: for urgent action to immediately abolish the revisions to the "Guidelines for US-Japan Defense Cooperation" which threatens peace in Asia; the US Government to abandon its plans for expanding military supremacy and the Japanese Government to abide by its Peace Constitution, and stop the move for increasing militarization.

The church leaders also expressed their apprehension that the “US-Japan agreement surely insults those Asians and especially Koreans who suffered under Japanese Occupation” and that “the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula will be jeopardized, and the extremely unstable state of affairs between the South and North (North and South) will persist”.

North Korea and South Korea Church Leaders Joint Statement on Revision to the Guidelines..Click here Photo Credit: Internet sources