CCA Urges Prayers and Solidarity with Victims of Floods in Kerala

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).

No preference updated.

20 August 2018

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The State of Kerala in India is currently experiencing a devastating situation due to heavy floods, unprecedented scale of torrential rains, overflowing of rivers and lakes, release of waters from dams and a series of massive landslides.

Hundreds have been killed and several thousands have been displaced and rendered homeless. While the official death toll is close to 400 as of 20th August 2018, the figures are still rising; many continue to be missing.

Dr. Mathews George Chunakara, General Secretary of CCA offered condolences to the bereaved families and expressed solidarity with the affected people experiencing colossal damage in their lives due to the disaster of this magnitude.

The CCA General Secretary urged all CCA member churches, as well as churches and ecumenical organisations around the world, to pray for and express solidarity with the affected people in Kerala, and also respond urgently to this humanitarian disaster.

An appeal with updates on the situation issued by the CCA based on reports received from CCA member churches and governmental sources described the devastating deluge that the people of Kerala had not faced since 1924.

It was reported that 35 of the 36 dams in the State were forced open, releasing nearly 700,000 litres of water per second.

More than a million people were evacuated or rescued from their homes, and a large number of people left their homes voluntarily to take shelter elsewhere in homes of friends, relatives and well-wishers. Thousands of people have been rendered homeless; more than 740, 000 people now live in 5,645 relief camps set up over the past five days.

The rescue operations and relief support are being coordinated by the State Government agencies. Faith based organisations and volunteers are actively involved in relief operations in local areas, especially to provide food, clothing and medical care in the relief camps.

Almost all churches and other faith based organisations are directly involved in relief operations. Schools, colleges and hospitals owned by churches and other religious organisations have been converted to relief camps. The CCA member churches that are directly involved in relief operations in affected areas include the Church of South India Dioceses in Kerala, Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

Rescue operations are being intensified amid frantic calls for help from hundreds of stranded citizens. Hundreds of fishermen from Kerala’s southern coastal districts reached the affected areas in the central and northern parts of the State with their own boats and undertook massive rescue operations, battling strong river currents and heavy rain to bring stranded citizens to safety. The Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard are involved in rescue operations via helicopters and navy boats.

Thousands of people continue to be stranded in isolated houses in several areas. A respite in rainfall has aided the relief efforts but it will take a gargantuan effort to get all the stranded people to safe shelters. Transportation and communication systems in the State have been ruined as major roads are damaged, telephone networks are down and electricity is cut-off in many areas. The main airport in Kerala has also been closed; trains and buses offer only limited services.

Another disturbing news reported lately was that a parallel crisis unfolded in another low lying region of Kerala, Kuttanad, where rising floodwaters inundated thousands of houses and impelled a mass evacuation.

The CCA General Secretary, a native of Kerala said, “The impact of the devastation will remain long term. There is an urgent need to rebuild and rehabilitate the lives of the people and communities and restore normalcy, for which timely intervention and assistance are needed on a large scale”.

Click here to download Appeal for Prayers and Solidarity with Victims of Floods in Kerala_CCA.pdf