CCA Trains Ecumenical Enablers in Timor Leste

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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03 October 2022
Participants of the CCA's Ecumenical Enablers Training Programme in Dili, East Timor

A training programme organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) for enabling the pastors and church workers in Timor Leste was held from 21 to 22 September at the headquarters of the Synod of the Igreja Protestante iha Timor Loro Sa'e (IPTL) in Dili, Timor Leste.

This capacity-building training aimed at reaching more church workers and equipping them with a basic understanding of ecumenism and the ecumenical movement.

In conjunction with the CCA's 2022 programme theme, ‘God of Hope, Sustain Your Creation in Harmony’,  the training mainly focused on the discussion of living in harmony with God’s creation and sustaining harmony with God’s creation in the oikos.

The first session about ‘Oikoumene and Ecumenical Movement’ was led by Chalvin Tehuayo from CCA. There were sessions on key themes such as 'A More Visible Church', 'Encouraging Young People', 'A Pluralistic Environment', and 'A Mission with Meaning and Purpose'.

Rosiana Indah Purnomo of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) facilitated three sessions on the theme ‘Participating in God’s Mission: Our Understanding’, ‘Reading the Bible in Our Context’, and ‘Christian Leadership: Stewardship, Servanthood and Accountability'.

Ms Purnomo reminded participants that the mission belongs to God and churches are called to participate in God’s mission, which is to bring life to all creation. From an ecumenical perspective, the Church is the household for all creation and is the witness of the resurrected Christ to all inhabitants. Therefore, the mission is a movement: a dynamic force to work together to do God’s mission. She concluded the session with a reflective question on whether the church in Timor Leste is involved in facilitating an ecumenical movement or in building an ecumenical monument, the former being dynamic and the latter being static and unresponsive to the groaning of creation.

In ‘Reading Bible in Our Context’, the participants were divided into four focus group discussions and given four different bible passages to reflect upon and to try to link with the current struggle or situation in Timor Leste. 

The sharing from the participants was mostly on the efforts to deepen the identity of the Timorese as a people and also of the church and on ways of bringing into fruition the messianic message of the church. Since the majority of the congregation are farmers, it is important for the church leaders to also be concerned about agriculture development and to engage with this issue through their sermons and their diaconal ministry.

She then spoke about ‘Christian Leadership’ which sees Christ as a model of leadership, based on which one is called to be a servant, called to be responsible and to become a steward for all creation in this Oikos.

In the Timor Leste context, pastors and church leaders need to observe, to be aware of the issues in the community, to participate, act, and become models for the congregation, and to replicate: as a leader is someone who creates more leaders.  

Levy Vasconcelos Pito, coordinator of the Theological Learning Centre of the IPTL, led a session on ‘Church in Accompaniment with People and Community’. Mr Vasconcelos Pinto spoke about the church’s responsibility of being aware of the crisis in our surroundings, and also of the ecological crisis and human rights violations in Timor Leste and the ways in which the local church could get involved in the efforts to overcome them.   

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, General Secretary of CCA, who spoke at the closing session, encouraged the participants to reflect on how those who belong to the Church in Timor Leste could develop their own theology based on their experiences of long struggle for the right to self-determination—searching for, and establishing, their indigenous identity as an indigenous church in Timor Leste.

About 30 participants attended the training, including representatives from different denominations across the country.